Self Paced Experiences

Interweaving Paths: Healing, Trauma Recovery, and Awakening

This is a day of guided meditations, and a dharma talk. The best way to follow this day is by doing each session sequentially.

Session 1 - Introduction to the day and a guided meditation (10-20mins)

Session 2 - A heart-qualities guided meditation (10–20 mins)

Session 3 - A serenity, insight, or emptiness practice (15–25 mins)

Sesson 4 - A Dharma talk on the theme of the day (50–60 mins)

Part 1

An introduction to the theme of the day and some instructions for the guided meditations that will follow:
1/ Tuning into to warm benevolence and the felt sense of caring, and

2/Presence with breathing.

This introduction includes some information about how important it is to have a felt sense of safety and being supported in order to heal from psychological injuries

Part 2

This guided meditation invites you to firstly ground with contemplating earth element. Then, attend to the spiritual heart and rouse the felt sense of being cared for and let it fill one’s body mind.

Then, the listener is invited to perceive the possibility that, one merges with a field of warm benevolence surrounding them, from within and boundlessly around.

Part 3

Invites you to rouse mindfulness and be aware of breathing, within the whole body. Then allow relaxation with breathing in the whole body.

Finally, you are invited to be aware of the sensations at the nostrils as one breathes in and out, leading to an awareness of just this, just now, prior to conceptualising about experience.

Part 4

This dharma talk, " Interweaving Paths: Healing, Trauma Recovery, and Awakening," explores the profound connection between spiritual liberation and psychological recovery. The speaker distinguishes between the ultimate realization of Nibbana and "ennobling awakenings"—relative shifts in perception that facilitate deep therapeutic healing.

The narrative centres on a personal case study from a recent retreat, where a powerful dream served to bridge early life trauma with spiritual insight. Integrating neurobiological and contemplative frameworks, the talk references Somatic Experiencing (Dr Peter Levine) , the HEAL meditation process (Dr Rick Hanson), and Memory Reconsolidation Theory to explain how we can update traumatic imprints.

The presentation further highlights Dr. Judy Atkinson’s We-Al-Li model, a culturally grounded approach for Indigenous Australians. By utilizing the practice of Dadirri (deep listening), the talk illustrates how the personal can generalise to collective healing and awakening.