Finding True Refuge: Meditations for Difficult Times

Insights and Practices for Finding Sanctuary in Any Circumstance
When the difficulties and losses of life feel overwhelming, is there someplace we can turn for the safety, nurturing, and peace that we long for? Most of us are strongly conditioned to react with fear and confusion, falling back on strategies of judgment, control, addictive behaviors, and anger. Yet there is another way. "In any moment, no matter how lost we feel, we can take refuge in presence and love," teaches Tara Brach. On Finding True Refuge, this renowned psychologist and meditation teacher offers you three sessions of spiritual teachings and practices for finding your way home to the inner sanctuary that is always available. Tara reveals how the three gateways of refuge-truth, love, and awareness-allow us to draw on our own deepest wisdom, and offers eight guided meditations that include:
Mindful awareness-cultivating a non-judging, present-centered attention
. Using the therapeutic RAIN process for releasing fear and healing through self-compassion
. Letting go of our desire for control and certainty
. Cultivating a forgiving heart for ourselves and others
When we seek comfort and relief from stress, Tara Brach teaches, we often unconsciously turn to false refuges such as material wealth, approval from others, or a preoccupation with the past and future. Yet by cultivating true refuge in this moment, we not only find reliable and trustworthy shelter from the storms of life, we also open ourselves up to fully experiencing joy and fulfillment. With Finding True Refuge, Tara brings you essential practices for awakening to the aliveness within you, and discovering that you can love this life-no matter what.
Course objectives:
Examine spiritual teachings for finding your way home to the inner sanctuary that is always available, even when the difficulties and losses of life feel overwhelming
. Discuss how the three gateways of refuge-truth, love, and awareness-allow us to draw on our own deepest wisdom
. Discern between false refuges such as material wealth, approval from others, or a preoccupation with the past and future; and the cultivation of true refuge in the moment, where there is reliable and trustworthy shelter from the storms of life
. Utilize eight guided meditations, essential practices for awakening to the aliveness within you, and discovering that you can love this life-no matter what

Tara Brach
Tara Brach has been practicing and teaching meditation since 1975, as well as leading workshops and meditation retreats at centers throughout North America and Europe. She has a PhD in clinical psychology, is the founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW), and is the author of Radical Acceptance, True Refuge, Radical Compassion, and Trusting the Gold. Tara's weekly podcasts of talks and meditations are downloaded more than three million times each month. For more, visit tarabrach.com.