Kate Munding is co-guiding teacher of IMCB. She has been practicing since 2002 and has done numerous 1-2 month intensive practice periods. Kate is currently in Spirit Rock's Teacher Training program. Kate has also trained approximately 2,000 educators, therapists, and parents in mindful awareness techniques and philosophy in the U.S. and abroad.
She is founder of The Heart-Mind Education Project, a consulting business focused on mindfulness in education.
This is a time of gathering spiritual resources. To gather the wisdom and clarity that exists within. It's a time to tap into knowledge and strength that exists externally. Tonight will be an evening of self-compassion and an opening towards more clarity of how to meet this moment in time. Whether you are feeling energized to meet the greed, hate, and delusion that is so empowered right now, or you feel numb, tired, and defeated, this evening will guide you.
Where do we place our hearts in these times that are so uncertain, so divided, and stressful? What does our practice and this Buddhist path have to offer in terms of guidance and refuge to help us navigate? Tonight's talk will investage both of these questions in a way that is intended to offer a place for the body to ground and the heart to open.
The Buddha's teachings are sometimes misunderstood or described out of context to give the impression that to awaken means that our sense of self must disappear, that our personality becomes flat-lined, and that we become indifferent to the world around us. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Buddha's teachings show us the way to fully embody this life. To be fully awake is to fully live! The Buddha did not teach vacancy; he taught people how to live without clinging. Please join me this evening for a talk that comes from the inspiration and the clarity this path has to offer on how to live in these times without shutting down, giving up, or turning away.
Question and Answer session with closing remarks. Some quiet moments when participant questions were not captured by the sound system, but teachers repeat the questions and then answer.
The word love, as it's used in the English language, is complicated in that it represents not only our capacity for unlimited, unconditional love but also unhealthy attachment and craving. The Buddha was clear about the pitfalls of craving, but he also pointed to the boundless heart, one free from unhealthy attachment, as part of the path of awakening
Understanding what disappointment is and how it arises is to understand the mind-state of desire. This mental hindrance is recognized by the presence of wanting something that isn't actually happening. This longing can be attached to a person, wanting someone to be a certain way they are not. It can be attached to an expectation of getting something or achieving something. It can also be connected to our self, wanting our self to be a certain way that we are not. All of this becomes fertile ground for disappointment and unhappiness. Let's find ways to identify these mind states, learn how to heal them, and move towards more contentment and peace in our lives.
Dharma talk and guided practice. Anxiety is a contraction and therefore a form of suffering. Sometimes anxiety is the appropriate response to a situation, but there are skillful ways to navigate this experience. This talk and practice examines how we can learn to soothe the body and the mind using somatic exercises and our imagination to bring expansiveness to anxiety's contracted state.
What is happiness? We think that when things are going well, happiness is here and everything will be fine. When conditions are unpleasant, we feel we have failed. But the universe is creative in its unfolding, and happiness can come in different ways than we expect.
