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Dharma Talks given at Refuge of Belonging
Publicly available talks can be browsed here in the order indicated by the "Sort Order" selection. Talk titles and discriptions can also be searched by typing in a search word (or words) in the search box and clicking "Search Titles and Descriptions". With multiple words, only those talks containing all the given words are displayed.

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2026-03-14 Coming Home Through Letting Go 25:27
Nico Hase
There is no lasting home in the conditioned world — everything changes, nothing holds. This talk explores how letting go of our reactivity to experience opens us into the unconditioned awareness that has always been here, always at peace.
Refuge of Belonging

2026-03-14 Renunciation as Freedom: Releasing the Self into Creativity and Care 23:22
Cara Lai
When we loosen our grip on being someone — the creator, the author, the one who did that thing — something opens. This talk explores renunciation not as deprivation but as the doorway to creativity, purpose, and an open heart.
Refuge of Belonging

2026-02-14 The Second Traveler: Karma, Perception, and the Impossible Vow 27:35
Nico Hase
A daylong reflection on sīla as lived dharma—how we become the kind of person whose actions embody love. Using the “two travelers” story, this talk explores karma as the slow magic of perception and relationship shifting over time, and lands in the bodhisattva vow: an impossible commitment that becomes a compass for staying upright, inclusive, and grounded in goodness—especially in a storm.
Refuge of Belonging

2026-02-14 Held by Integrity: Sīla as Love in Action 29:21
Rhonda Magee
A grounded, heart-forward exploration of sīla—ethical life as lived practice. Moving through the Eightfold Path and the five precepts as mindfulness trainings, this talk reframes integrity as wholeness: remembering we already belong, and learning to bring compassion, discernment, and non-harm into how we speak, act, relate, and consume.
Refuge of Belonging

2026-01-10 Dana is Receiving and Giving 23:36
Nico Hase
In this intimate and practical talk, Nico explores dāna not just as generosity, but as the living rhythm of receiving and giving. Beginning with the body and the breath, he shows how generosity softens clinging and loosens the “dream of dissatisfaction.” Through stories, reflections on boundaries, and teachings on interdependence, he reframes dāna as making space—listening for what is needed in ea
Refuge of Belonging

2026-01-10 Deep Listening and the Path of Unbinding 29:04
Nico Hase
We're caught in a dream of thoughts, roles, identities, and emotional reactivity. Rather than fighting or believing the dream, we practice deep listening to body, heart, and mind with unconditional welcome. Through this listening, we make four discoveries: the dream is stressful, bondage to it is suffering, unbinding brings peace, and there's a path. The ten paramis (perfections) gradually wake us
Refuge of Belonging

2025-10-11 As Best as I Am Able: Living into Equanimity 23:42
Gina LaRoche
In this honest and tender talk, Gina LaRoche reflects on equanimity as a lived practice of non-reactivity — meeting life’s waves, insomnia, loss, and uncertainty with steadiness and care. Drawing on her teacher DaRa Williams and the “seven brahmavihāras,” she explores forgiveness, generosity, and gratitude as daily companions on the path toward a balanced, open heart.
Refuge of Belonging

2025-10-11 Still Water Flowing: The Discipline of Equanimity 30:21
Nico Hase
In this talk, nico hase unpacks equanimity as a living, relational practice — not numbness, but steadiness in the middle of praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain. Through stories (including a flying blender), Tibetan and Zen frames, and simple training phrases like “May I find stillness in the midst of change,” he shows how returning again and again to balance lets us live with less drama, more compassion, and an open hand toward the world.
Refuge of Belonging

2025-09-13 Metta as Medicine: Meeting Fear with a Boundless Heart 36:07
Rhonda Magee
In this heartfelt teaching, Rhonda Magee invites us into the healing power of sangha and loving-kindness (mettā) as a living, embodied antidote to fear. She weaves personal story, the Buddha’s Metta Sutta, and guided practice to show how we can root in warmth, belonging, and courage — together.
Refuge of Belonging

2025-09-13 Metta Is Like Hard Candy 22:36
Nico Hase
In this teaching, nico hase reflects on how loving-kindness practice can feel unyielding at first — like holding hard candy in the mouth — yet through steady presence, what once seemed solid begins to soften. We discover how even pain, when met with patient attention, can dissolve into compassion and connection.
Refuge of Belonging

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