Tara Brach’s teachings blend Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and full, compassionate engagement with our world. The result is a distinctive voice in Western Buddhism, one that offers a wise and caring approach to freeing ourselves and society from suffering.
In 1998, Tara founded the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC (IMCW), which is now one of the largest and most dynamic non-residential meditation centers in the United States. She gives presentations, teaches classes, offers workshops, and leads silent meditation retreats at IMCW and at conferences and retreat centers in the United States and Europe.
Tara’s podcast receives over a million downloads each month. Her themes reveal the possibility of emotional healing and spiritual awakening through mindful, loving awareness as well as the alleviation of suffering in the larger world by practicing compassion in action.
She has fostered efforts to bring principles and practices of mindfulness to issues of racial injustice, equity, and inclusivity; peace; environmental sustainability, as well as to prisons and schools. She co-founded the DC-based Meditation Teacher Training Institute to help address the growing demand for the teachings of mindfulness and compassion.
In addition to numerous articles, videos, and hundreds of recorded talks, Tara is the author of the book Radical Acceptance (Bantam, 2003) and True Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (Bantam, 2013). She has a son, Narayan, and lives in Great Falls, VA, with her husband, Jonathan Foust and their dog, kd.
Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditations
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation Having a Sky-like Mind. Sounds disappear and appear in the open space of awareness. Sense the mind is open as the sky.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation Getting Lost and Coming Back. In the stillness, feel your body breathing and bring your attention to the heart.
Tara Brach leads a 15-minute guided meditation. This meditation is good in increasing mindful awareness and beneficial for sleep.
You’re about to listen to a quick body scan meditation by Tara Brach. This guided meditation is beneficial for increasing connectedness with the body.
Enjoy this free 10-minute guided mindfulness meditation by Tara Brach. It doesn’t take much time to feel relaxed and relieve stress.
With this guided 4-minute meditation by Tara Brach, you can begin incorporating mindfulness into your life right here and now. Practicing mindfulness doesn’t need to be time-consuming.
Fitting meditation into your day doesn’t have to be a challenge. Try this free 1-minute mindfulness meditation by Tara Brach, here at Mindfulness Exercises.
Tara Brach talks about Working with Addiction. She started with the story of the Hungry Ghosts. Attachments and addictions are hooks that pull us away from awareness.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation about Gladdening the Mind. The Buddha taught the value of gladdening the mind as part of arriving, settling, entering any meditation, or anything in our lives.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation on The Mystery of Aliveness. Sense the body, space, and everything that’s happening. Become aware of the body breathing.
Tara Brach walks us through a basic body scan meditation. Feeling tense, anxious, or upset? A basic body scan is a great way to get in touch with the source of these sensations.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation on Letting Go of Judgment. Letting the senses be awake and simply relaxing, letting go of judgment with each breath.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation about Coming Back. In the coming back, the key piece is the quality or attitude that is attending. In mindfulness, this is something that resonates.
Tara Brach talks about Working with Trauma. Loving-kindness creates a space for you. Bring to mind the people that love and support you.
Tara Brach leads a guided Standing & Walking Meditation. It’s a wonderful way to feel being present when standing or walking or while we’re on our way.
Tara Brach holds a Q&A session about Pain and Recurring Thoughts during meditation. There are times when pain is manifested due to bringing awareness and mindfulness into those particular thoughts.
Tara Brach leads a guided body scan meditation about Letting Life Be Just As It Is. Sense sounds not just with the ears but with whole awareness.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation on Forgiving Ourselves and Others as part of Metta, and loving-kindness. Sometimes the body tends to tense and resist.
Tara Brach leads a guided Meditation: Tonglen. The natural suffering we encounter is the gateway to compassion. Let loving awareness takeover and let loose of all resisting.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation: A Forgiving Heart. Forgiving is the act of the heart to free it from aversive blame and hatred. Take the next step with more openness.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation: Inner Space. This is adapted from a meditation called Open Focus. All questions start with can you imagine.
Tara Brach leads a guided heart meditation: RAIN of compassion. Begin with sensing the heart’s intention to awaken the heart of compassion.
Tara Brach holds a Q&A session on the topic of Compassion. Let the heart soften and open, bring mindfulness attention to untangle the tangle.
Tara Brach talks about the topic Self-Compassion. In these difficult times, we’re often cruel on ourselves. It’s necessary to have self-compassion to bring the fullness of our being.
Tara Brach talks about the topic Two Kinds of Happiness. The Buddha said I teach one thing only, and that is- suffering and the end of suffering.
Tara Brach talks about Stress, Relaxation, and Freedom. To be free is to be without the anxiety of imperfection. Stress is a form of violence towards self.
Tara Brach talks about Gratitude & Generosity. Breathing in & out, letting go is one of expressing gratitude to the world.
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation on Meditation: Space of Awareness. Perceive distant sounds, happening in silence. The mind is open like space.
Tara Brach talks about Learning To Listen Deeply. It’s kind of an innate form of violence in our culture when we disconnect from the natural rhythms and get addicted to doing.
Radical acceptance can help us move towards mindfulness, awareness, and compassion. Listen to Tara Brach talks about Radical Acceptance.
Tara Brach talks about Golfing With Monkeys. She started with a story of monkeys proliferating in a golf course in Calcutta. The lesson is how we respond to the proliferation of suffering.
Tara Brach leads a guided body scan meditation on Letting Thoughts Come Come and Go. At some point, the mind has drifted into a thought cloud. It’s the perfect time to wake up and rest in openness that’s larger than thoughts and let the clouds come and go.