Coming Home to True Refuge | Finding Peace Through Awareness, Truth, and Love

Tara Brach

Religion & Spirituality, Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Buddhism

4.8 • 10.6K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this talk, we'll explore what it truly means to find refuge—not through controlling life, but by coming home to the living truth of our experience.

Our deepest refuge—the source of peace, safety, and freedom—is discovered through direct realization of reality itself. Drawing on the Buddhist understanding of refuge, we explore three timeless and archetypal gateways:

• Awareness (Buddha) — the wakeful presence that knows our experience
• Truth (Dharma) — the wisdom that liberates us when we see clearly
• Love (Sangha) — the tenderness and belonging that arise through connection

Through short guided reflections, we practice opening to each of these portals, allowing refuge to become a lived and embodied experience rather than an abstract idea.

This talk is especially supportive if you are:

Seeking inner peace during times of uncertainty or stress
Exploring mindfulness, meditation, or Buddhist teachings
Longing for a deeper sense of belonging and spiritual homecoming
Interested in awakening compassion and wise awareness in daily life

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome, friends, to the Tara Brock podcast. I'm so glad you're here.
0:11.3	Each week, I share teachings and guided meditations to help us awaken our hearts and bring healing
0:17.8	to our world.
0:24.4	You can learn more or support this offering by visiting tarabrock.com,
0:27.1	where you can also join our email list.
0:32.5	Now, let's explore together
0:34.7	the many ways we can live
0:36.7	from the love and presence that's our deepest essence.
0:45.3	Namaste.
0:48.2	Namaste. Welcome, friends. Thank you for being here.
1:15.6	About 25 years ago, a new student came to meditation class and he told me about his
1:24.4	introduction to meditation. It had been about a year earlier, he saw a poster,
1:30.6	and the poster was, it said,
1:34.1	breathe in, breathe out, and smile.
1:38.1	And at the bottom it had the words Ticknhat Han.
1:41.2	And he thought that those words Tickn Han, were really the translation of the mantra,
1:47.4	you know, breathe in, breathe out, smile. So for the next year, he just kept reciting Tick not Han,
1:56.1	Tick not Han. And he, as he told me, he just put his heart into it and how much it helped him
2:02.9	be focused and open and relaxed. And I love the story because, you know, when I think through
2:11.4	the decades of those who have been most deeply transformed through practice doesn't have to do with a particular religion
2:22.0	or a particular tradition they're practicing in or even the particular practice. It's the
2:29.7	quality of sincerity, the care about awakening. And so for many, the invitation of a new year is a deepening
	...

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