Tara Brach

What is the difference between having goals and living from aspiration? How do we respond when fear takes over? What if self-compassion feels impossible? How do we forgive ourselves, navigate profound grief, heal from trauma, or rediscover joy in practice?

In this first Ask Me Anything session, Tara responds to heartfelt questions from our global community, exploring many of the challenges that touch us most deeply. Together we inv...

The stories we believe shape the life we experience—but they are not the truth of who we are.

In Part 2 of Stories That Imprison Our Heart, we explore how fear-based narratives create separation, anxiety, and suffering, and how mindfulness allows us to recognize these stories without becoming trapped inside them. When we learn to meet the vulnerable feelings beneath our thoughts with compassionate awaren...

In this guided meditation, you're invited to discover the breath as a refuge—a steady anchor that can return you, again and again, to the aliveness of this moment. As we soften the body, awaken the heart, and gently release the habit of being lost in thought, the simple rhythm of breathing becomes a portal to presence, peace, and belonging.

Together we'll explore:
-How intentional breathing helps calm the nervous sys...

Much of our suffering begins not with reality itself, but with the stories we believe about ourselves, others, and the world. In this first talk of a two-part series, I explore how unconscious narratives—shaped by fear, conditioning, and past experience—can imprison the heart and keep us feeling separate, defensive, or unworthy. Through mindfulness and compassion, we can begin to recognize these sto...

When life feels overwhelming, our first instinct is often to tighten, resist, or try to control what is unfolding. Yet true freedom begins when we discover the courage to soften and allow this moment to be just as it is. Inspired by the timeless teachings of mindfulness, this guided meditation offers a gentle pathway into presence through the practice of letting go—not by pushing experience away, but by releasing the resistan...

Fear is part of being human. We can't stop life's waves from coming—but we can learn how to meet them with awareness, compassion, and courage. In this talk, I explore how meditation helps us awaken from what I call "worrier pose"—the habitual patterns of anxiety, overthinking, and contraction that keep us from living with an open heart.

Together we'll explore how fear becomes less an obstacle and more a doorway to ...

One of the great gifts of mindfulness is discovering that we can always begin again. In this guided meditation, I invite you to return to the aliveness of the present moment through the breath, the body, and the simple recognition: "Know that you're here."

Together we'll gently relax ...

Physical pain is part of being human—but suffering arises from how we relate to it. In this talk, I explore how mindfulness and compassion can transform our relationship with pain, helping us move from fear and resistance toward freedom, presence, and peace.

Whether you're living with chronic pain, recovering from illness, navigating emotional suffering, or simply meeting the inevitable challenges of life, this teach...

The Buddha taught that one of the most powerful ways to begin meditation is by gladdening the mind—remembering what we love, resting in gratitude, and opening to the goodness that is already here. In this guided meditation, I invite you to awaken a gentle smile throughout the body and heart, allowing appreciation, ease, and spacious awareness to naturally emerge.

Together we'll explore how a simple shift toward grati...

Many of us carry a deep sense that something is wrong with us—that we are not enough, not lovable, or somehow disconnected from belonging. Yet beneath these conditioned beliefs lives a natural capacity for healing, wisdom, and love.

In this talk, I explore the practice of Spiritual Reparenting—bringing the qualities of mindful awareness and compassion to the wounded places within us. Through stories, reflections, a...

What if the peace and presence you long for is already here—closer than you imagine?

In this guided meditation, we explore the practice of awakening an intimate presence with life as it is. Through mindful awareness of the body, breath, heart, and senses, we gently release habitual striving and return to the living reality of this moment. As we soften into a receptive awareness, we discover a natural spaciousness that can hol...

What helps us widen our circles of care and awaken a more inclusive, compassionate heart? 

As we navigate political division, collective uncertainty, and personal challenges, mindful awareness and spiritual imagination can help us stay connected to love without being overwhelmed by the suffering we witness. 

Drawing from mindfulness, compassion practices, personal stories, and timeless wisdom teachings, Tara explores how ...

This guided meditation invites us to reconnect with the aliveness that is here in this very moment by bringing a kind and mindful attention through the body. Moving slowly from the crown of the head to the soles of the feet, we explore how awareness can soften habitual tension, deepen presence, and reveal the vibrant field of sensations that make up our embodied experience.

As we rest in receptive awareness, we discover that the bo...

Most of us know what it is like to feel emotionally reactive—hurt by others, overwhelmed by circumstances, horrified by what is unfolding in our world, betrayed by our own body, hijacked by our mind. In those moments, we can become identified with a small and vulnerable self—a victim self who feels at the mercy of forces larger than us.

In this talk, we will examine how we become trapped in this o...

In a recent conversation on Tami Simon's podcast Insights at the Edge, Tara and Tami reflected on themes from The Courageous Heart Workbook: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times. As many know, Tami is an exceptional interviewer, and the dialogue opened into questions that feel deeply relevant for these times.

What does it mean to be bodhisattvas—to be awakening beings and caring beings—in a world marked by uncertainty and...

In this guided meditation, Tara invites us to discover the healing power of a listening presence—an awake and receptive awareness that allows us to come home to the aliveness of this moment. Together, we'll explore how listening deeply—to sounds, sensations, the breath, and the heart—can soften the grip of habitual thinking and reconnect us with the peace, openness, and tenderness that live beneath the surface of ...

Equanimity unfolds as we find a wise balance and spaciousness in the midst of this living, dying world.

This series reflects on four primary expressions of an awake, wise heart: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. In each talk we explore the habitual patterning that blocks our full realization of these innate capacities, and the understandings and practices that nurture their unfolding.