Jonathan Foust

This talk from 2022 explores the doorways from moving from fear and pain to a sense of ease and freedom.   You’ll learn how the conditioned self is dedicated to survival and self-preservation, the role of pain in waking up, how embodied presence opens new doorways to freedom and some thoughts on how to be present in these tumultuous times.

What does it mean to live a life of integrity?   You’ll learn the importance of defining your North Star and explore some helpful models that can help you refine what worked, what didn’t work and what most calls you forward in the year ahead.   I also share a few highlights from my 2024 Annual Review.

More on how to keep you keel in the water when navigating uncertainty.   You’ll learn some practical strategies for finding ‘refuge,’ a place of presence, particularly accessing Wisdom - clear seeing, Compassion - a heart that can hold it all, Presence - the space of awareness itself, and Skillful Action - strategies for staying deeply present in the midst of change.

This talk explores how you might cultivate greater steadiness in turbulent times.   You’ll learn some practical tools for finding refuge in present-moment awareness, in cultivating Witness Consciousness and in watching the flow of phenomena with awake awareness and an open heart. 

This talk explores how tapping into gratitude can truly transform your life. You’ll learn how you can overcome your innate instinct toward self-centeredness and self-preservation and how you can change this in a way that can cultivate a greater sense of connectedness, resourcefulness and if nothing else, seriously stimulate your pre-frontal cortex.

This talk explores happiness as your essential nature. You’ll learn how the intention to be truly happy cultivates clarity, wisdom and the realization of the inter-connectedness of your life.  This talk is live from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Arlington, VA in 2016.

This talk explores how to find the equilibrium between skillful action and skillful release.   You’ll learn how much of meditation practice (and life) calls for focus and sustained attention. But too tight a grip on focus can lead to missed opportunities, fresh insights and new possibilities. Learning to rest in presence can open intuitive faculties - when properly balanced.

This talk is a continuation of how to bring aliveness to your practice.    You’ll learn some inner practices as well as the invaluable qualities of finding like-minded people and the impact community can have on being more awake in your life.  

This talk explore how to cultivate inspiration in your practice, particularly when it gets challenging.   You’ll learn why we stop practicing and a variety of tips, tricks and techniques for keeping your practice alive, vibrant, interesting and engaging. 

This talk is from the fifth evening of a week-long Vipassana Retreat. You’ll learn how meditation increases your sensitivity to how you hold on, how the intention to let go can set in motion a process that brings you in direct contact with the mystery — and how letting go and letting be are required to wake up to the nature of reality.