SMSPIRITUALITY—MEDIA
◉ Podcast · low-confidence enrichment

Tara Brach on Tonglen and Awakening Compassion

By Tara Brach · Tara Brach

58mReleased 20 Nov 2025Meditation, Presence
◉ Listen on Apple Podcasts

Tara Brach introduces tonglen, the Tibetan practice of breathing in suffering and breathing out care, as a counter to the numbing effect of anxiety and digital distance. Stories and reflections situate the practice as a way to keep relational pathways open.

Original description

Show the show notes

As anxiety, division, and digital distance numb our hearts, we risk losing our ability to truly feel the lives of others. In this talk, we'll explore how compassion arises when another becomes real to us — when we can imagine their inner world and sense our shared belonging. Through reflections, stories, and the Tibetan practice of tonglen, we'll learn how to transform suffering into care, and re-open the relational pathways that let us act from love. Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

This theme across the index

Meditation, in other forms.

The same current this episode is working in, followed sideways through the catalogue — across formats, and the word itself.

All meditation →

Keep following the thread.

One letter every Sunday — what we read this week, and one teaching worth your attention. No tracking.