mind-heart evolution

29/06/2025

Learning to sit with our fear & anxiety [instead of resisting or repressing]…

Part 2

Presence with my anxiety doesn’t “solve” it, and neither did any of my other strategies, but it does create something priceless…

Self-trust.

I watch the impermanence of it.
The turbulent skies won’t stay like this forever.
In the panic, I can access the memory of smooth sailing through calmer skies…
I can remember that other possibilities are true.

I see the little girl sitting inside of me crying for safety, wanting guarantee that things will be okay. I comfort her. She keeps crying, but we are together.

I imagine holding hands with people who have soothed me through it before. My father, my partner, people who have loved me in the past. They give me a squeeze. “It’s okay,” they soothe. I remember I am loved.

‘It’s the middle of the story’. It’s always the middle.
Another truth I like to recall.
Even if this body ends, I am just in the middle of the story of humanity.
I keep my humility, I don’t know what is going to happen - but I trust the greater mystery to hold me through it.

The movies and headlines and scary imagery intrude again.
I can feel them coming like the tickle of a sneeze.
My meditation practices have let me train the mind enough to choose NOT following them further.
“Is this helpful?”

Come back to the breath.
Just this breath. Just now.
Breathing in, I feel myself breathing in.
How can I hear the sounds without assigning them stories?
How can I feel the movements in their pure, present form?
Breathing out, I calm the body.

I shift to metta practices.
May I be safe. May I be protected.
May all beings on this flight be safe and protected.
May all people in this world be safe and protected.

My practice is to keep my heart loving and compassionate even in my fear.
I remember this intention.

I imagine mentors, Thich Nhat Hanh, sitting in the front of the plane. I borrow their equanimity.

Nothing solves the anxiety, but I honor that I am doing my best to meet this moment with loving wisdom. I am training. I see my growth.

I am thankful for the practice.
But I am still looking forward to my feet on the ground. 🙏

18/04/2025

I want to share this sad and beautiful realization that I came across this morning while reading, “ZEN: The Art of Simple Living” by Shunmyō Masuno.

It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? That when we are busy, there’s no space left in the heart, and in fact, the most important things are effortlessly pushed out.

It seems that in times of busy-ness and stress, we should pause for at least one minute… a simple, quiet minute, and ask: What is truly important to this heart?

Remember.
We are the ones who remember.

13/04/2025

it’s a beautiful Sunday; the city is celebrating Songkran and the energy of playful joy is in the air. the birds are happy and the flowers are kissing my eyes. cold, fresh mango nourishes my body. my dog asleep on the cool tile floor.

so often lately I observe the distress arise with news headlines, with greed and hatred leading political decisions, with the knowledge of history and the anxiety of how much worse it can get…

time and time again I must pull myself back and pause. I gently set down my worries and plans to save the world. I water the garden. I share fruit with the neighbor. I listen to the heartfelt pain of a friend in need of support.

I sit. still and silent. I move, slowly in solitude. I remember, too, that the world has always been this way. that we are a fraction of the long-game of human evolution. evolution of both the mind and the heart.

I remember my mission. to share connection, compassion, mindfulness, and the timeless wisdoms of humanity that have been my own most precious gift. I know that I cannot move from fear or anger, I know we must move only from clarity and love.

tonight we will meet online in sangha - a sacred community of practitioners uplifting and encouraging one another on the path. we cannot do it alone. it’s not possible and it’s not ours to do. we can only do it together, with peace in our eyes and determination in our heart.

mind-heart evolution is exactly that, a journey of collective awakening, the belief that we can not only do better, but that it is in fact our true nature and calling.

message me to learn more about the path, or for some free resources to support your self-study.

many blessings - see you in sangha. 🙏

21/03/2025

the chance to go on a 10-day silent retreat is an incredible opportunity in today’s hyper-busy reality.

with so much going on in our personal and societal worlds, there is an immense and indescribable value in making time for inner pause. what arises in vipassana and on retreats is different and unpredictable every time.

Vipassana quite literally means “seeing clearly”, also known as insight meditation. By quieting the mind and body, we become curious about what arises and investigate with awareness, ultimately noticing the impermanent nature of everything that appears.

Through this process, the deep mind begins to speak - illuminating us with *insight: personal, global, or that of reality itself.

It is quite the opposite of hiding from the world, but instead the profound practice of looking directly at the raw experiences of this human life, and being with them objectively.

By learning to sit with the various emotional (and physical) discomforts that we so often push away, deny, or drown with distraction, we become less REACTIVE and better able to wisely respond. We gain the magical powers of self-control, increased compassion, and more equanimity.

It takes time. But is a most noble effort.

It is a lifelong practice. The lessons and moments of sitting in meditation or taking retreat must then become integrated in your everyday life, relationships, interactions, work, and activism. You sit for both yourself and for the world. We transform ourselves from the inside, out.

*I will be offline on retreat for the next 11 days. Be well and may you continue to be a beacon of hope, light, justice, and lovingkindness. 🙏🪷

If you are interested in learning more, or beginning your own practice of mindfulness, meditation, or self-inquiry, send me a message anytime and we can explore ways of working together. 🌀 Namaste.

31/01/2025

Now, more than ever, we need to come into moments of radical relaxation. Amidst activity, there must be stillness. In our great efforts for growth, for change, for advocacy, and even for simply managing our busy day-to-days, we *must* master the art of pause.

it is not an optional luxury, we are limited human beings, and like all of life, we need periods of rest. Intentionally carving space and slowness into your routine can be a fundamental practice that refills your reserves, and even in the turbulence can allow you to spend a moment of time in touch with the beautiful small things.

In a life of continuous rushing, we miss the opportunities to gaze out the window, or truly feel the warmth of tea as it touches our lip. We miss the precious laughter of children that will be soon gone. We forget to look around in gratitude at the parts of our life we have already built.

To sit quietly with ourselves is perhaps the greatest achievement of all. Do not mistake, that it takes exquisite concentration and mindfulness to practice setting down what we carry in order to become deeply present with our bodies, and with the slowness of this moment.

may the fruits of your practices, formal and informal, benefit all beings.

19/01/2025

peace is possible in this world.

when we learn how to transform through conflict.

when we can hold the polarities and contradictions.

when we deeply care for others, near and far.

when we understand how we are interbound with earth.

when we realize that natural suffering of illness, aging, accident, change, loss, and death, are inevitable; but that the perpetuation of suffering by subconsciously reacting from our pain, is not.

when we become dedicated to seeing ourselves clearly, to respond versus react, to become awake and aware to the vastness and mystery within each present moment.

when we know we are a small part of an unknowable something greater, and that we deeply matter, and so does the one beside us.

when we live in great appreciation of life itself.

when we create systems that reflect these truths.

peace is possible. begin with yourself.

18/08/2024

Advice from Tibetan Buddhist monks, what would they tell their younger selves, and you?

Insider peek: emotional awareness is a key superpower.

Watch Sprouht U (free for a limited time): https://sprouhtu.comI asked the Dalai Lama's Tibetan Buddhist Monks about their biggest regrets and advice for the...

11/07/2024

Meditation teachers and other voices of peace are holding a summit this Saturday entitled, “Save Our Democracy”, and it should be an interesting conversation on Engaged spirituality and Compassionate Activism in the US. It is free to join. I’ll be there.

Register Now to Watch this Powerful Event Via Livestream at www.youtube.com/tarabrach

10/07/2024

we can’t take anything with us when we go.

and everything we have, is not really ours.

even this body belongs to our ancestors, environments, and the earth.

what then, can we take pride in?

our actions sow the seeds of who we are. living in alignment with our deepest values, is the greatest gift we can give and receive.

do you know your core values? if you do, I would love to hear what they are. if you don’t, send me a message and we can explore together. 🏹

09/07/2024

we are all just walking each other home, but we must take the steps on our path, ourselves.

share your thoughts. 👇

07/07/2024

we have to speak directly with the heart.

for so many of us, the true underlying pains are those of disconnection, not feeling a sense of belonging, and the absence of knowing unconditional love.

often, before we can heal and transform these matters of the heart, we have to allow ourselves to turn towards the heartbreak of it all. we have to grieve and allow ourselves to feel what we wish for ourselves and for humanity.

it doesn’t “fix” any “problems”, but it is an honest ‘being with’… and if the heart has been cut off from feeling loving acceptance, at least it wants truth and honesty.

although it can feel counter-intuitive, we can use the skills of meditation to help ourselves TURN TOWARDS the pain and sit with what arises, without pushing it away or wanting it to be different. in this state, we can begin to hear the heart again.

working on mental health or ‘wellbeing hacks’ without addressing matters of the heart, won’t be effective for very long. the heart cannot be happy as long as we try to bury it. the mind cannot be happy, without the heart on board.

09/06/2024

if you are a meditation practitioner and living in Chiang Mai, this might be the community sangha you are looking for.

we are sitting together to build our compassion, wisdom, equanimity, and to discuss how to bring the dharma into the consciousness of our daily lives.

with connection practices to deepen our community interbelonging, we also explore readings together, primarily from “The Wise Heart - A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology”.

space is limited. please message if you are interested in joining.