Tara Brach
Tara Brach
Tara Brachis an American psychologist and proponent of Buddhist meditation. She is the senior teacher and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C., a "spiritual community" that teaches and practices Vipassana meditation. The group's Wednesday night meeting in Bethesda, Maryland, which is taught by Dr. Brach, is a large gathering of approximately 250-300 people. Her colleagues include Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein and others in the Vipassana or Insight meditation tradition. Brach also teaches about Buddhist meditation...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPsychologist
Date of Birth17 May 1953
CountryUnited States of America
Tara Brach quotes about
To me, bringing mindfulness-bas ed practices to students, teachers and parents is some of the most important work we can be doing. If we can help the next generation become more self-aware, empathetic and emotionally resilient, they will bring their wisdom to healing the earth and creating a more peaceful world.
Relaxation is the doorway to both wisdom and compassion.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns.
There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.
You have a unique body and mind, with a particular history and conditioning. No one can offer you a formula for navigating all situations and all states of mind. Only by listening inwardly in a fresh and open way will you discern at any given time what most serves your healing and freedom.
There is so much division in this world. So what is really the path of healing? It can begin in this moment, by embracing the life that`s here.
In the collective psyche it is being understood... that we can cultivate wisdom and compassion.
I think the reason Buddhism and Western psychology are so compatible is that Western psychology helps to identify the stories and the patterns in our personal lives, but what Buddhist awareness training does is it actually allows the person to develop skills to stay in what's going on.
In bullfighting there is an interesting parallel to the pause as a place of refuge and renewal. It is believed that in the midst of a fight, a bull can find his own particular area of safety in the arena. There he can reclaim his strength and power. This place and inner state are called his querencia. As long as the bull remains enraged and reactive, the matador is in charge. Yet when he finds his querencia, he gathers his strength and loses his fear. From the matador's perspective, at this point the bull is truly dangerous, for he has tapped into his power.
But this revolutionary act of treating ourselves tenderly can begin to undo the aversive messages of a lifetime.
Meditation is evolution's strategy to bring out our full potential.
What would it be like if I could accept life--accept this moment--exactly as it is?
Awakening self-compassion is often the greatest challenge people face on the spiritual path.
Buddhist practices offer a way of saying, 'Hey, come back over here, reconnect.' The only way that you'll actually wake up and have some freedom is if you have the capacity and courage to stay with the vulnerability and the discomfort.