Tea with Mara

“Just This” is a Dharma talk that builds on the two most recent talks about identity and the unreliable narrator of the mind. If we’re not the stories we tell about our experience, and we can’t always trust the voice telling them, then where does that leave us? This talk explores a powerful teaching from the Buddha to Bāhiya: “In the seen, just the seen… in the heard, just the heard…" We look at what it means to experience life directly, without turning it into identity, commentary, or self-story, as well as how that simple shift opens the door to more ease and freedom in our everyday lives.https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"The Unreliable Narrator" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation that follows up on the last talk I offered. That other one (Between Being and Having) was about the difference between having an experience and making that experience our identity. This talk, The Unreliable Narrator, is about how we can work on breaking that down and beginning to question the voice in our heads that tells the story of who we are. Like any narrator, it’s not always accurate. It’s shaped by habit, memory, and conditioning. When we learn to listen to it a little more carefully, instead of automatically believing it, we create space and in that space a little more freedom becomes possible.https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"Between Having and Being" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha about the difference between having an experience and making the experience our identity. All about the "I", "Me", "Mine" experience we solidify around with most of our thoughts and words all the time, and how to begin changing that. I hope this will be helpful for some of you, and that you will enjoy the talk!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"A Stable Table" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha on the topic of the three pillars of our practice: Panna, Sila, and Samadhi. This seemed like a natural follow up to our month of cultivating (or strengthening) a daily sitting practice, and I hope you'll find it useful. Very simple and straightforward, and supportive of your practice. Please forgive the audio quality, as I was forced to use a different microphone tonight with no noise control. I hope it's not too troublesome. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"A Place of Peace" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation on the topic of how to be at peace in a world at war. Nobody really wants to dwell on these difficult times, and that's not what this is about. It's about how to practice and maintain your own sense of peace and practice alongside troubled times. May you find this helpful. Enjoy.https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"February Meditation Challenge - Wrap Up!" is the finale' of our month of establishing or strengthening a practice. We reflect on the last week of practice in February, and we close out the practice. This was offered at Two Hands Sangha on our Day of Mindfulness. May you continue to grow and strengthen your practice. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"February Meditation Challenge - Week 4" is a review of week 3 and a look ahead to week 4, as we wind down our month long effort to establish or strengthen a routine meditation practice. It's largely about honesty, with ourselves and others, and is a lovely conversation. I hope you'll find it useful leading into our March 1st Day of Mindfulness. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

“It’s The Little Things” is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation on the topic of noticing and choosing small acts of kindness in dark or uncertain times. While traveling recently, I’ve been struck by how much goodness is quietly happening all around us; patience in long lines, shared laughter between strangers, tiny gestures of care that could easily go unseen. Gratitude practice trains the mind to look for this… and intention allows us to become part of it. This talk explores how karma unfolds in everyday moments, how we shape the emotional climate around us, and how choosing humor, patience, and kindness is powerful. I left my wife's spectacular sneeze in this one just for posterity. Enjoy! https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"February Meditation Challenge - Week 3" is the third week of discussing the wonderful book by Sharon Salzberg "Real Happiness" and working together as a community to build or strengthen a routine daily meditation practice. I hope you'll find some wisdom in something she shared in the book, or that I shared in this recording that helps you solidify a meditation practice in your own daily life. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"February Meditation Challenge - Week 2" is a Dharma sharing based on the book by Sharon Salzberg "Real Happiness" and starts with a review of Week 1 and then moves into looking ahead to Week 2 of building a daily meditation practice. I hope you'll join us as we work toward establishing or strengthening our practices, and if you are local we will be culminating on March 1st with a Daylong to celebrate and keeping what we build together. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"February Meditation Challenge - Week 1" is a discussion about the introduction and first two chapters of Sharon Salzberg's wonderful book Real Happiness. This is one of the books I recommend to new practitioners primarily because it is very simple and straightforward, practice oriented, information. If you want to join our local sangha in starting or strengthening your practice, start here, and grab a copy of the book for yourself and stay tuned here all month long. March 1st we will have a day of mindfulness to celebrate! Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"Resistance and Forgetting" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation to help with people who will be participating in our February Meditation Challenge to build a daily sitting practice. Of course it is useful for anyone, because we all resist and forget, but hopefully this talk will be a good reminder as people work through the things that get in the way of building that daily habit of sitting. I hope you enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"Beginner's Mind, From The Beginning" is a dharma talk about beginner's mind and how and why it can be such a useful thing, as well as how it is so easily lost in our daily lives. I hope you'll find something useful in this talk. There's a brief meditation afterward. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"Why Bother?" is a dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha about knowing our reasons for why we bother with practice. Getting to know our own needs and reasons intimately is key to establishing a steady reliable practice. This talk lays the groundwork for our month long effort in February to help people build a daily sitting practice. I hope you find it to be useful in your efforts. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"The Spark" is a brief sort of meditation/dharmette offered to the MindfulnessVR community this week. Lacking a topic for the evening, we had a lengthy sharing and discussion check-in which only allowed for a brief meditation together. In the check-in someone asked for an exploration of the meaning of the first of the Three Gems; The Buddha. I offered my response as this sort of contemplative reflection. This one was brief enough that I wouldn't typically share it, but I'm hoping it might help others who are not clear on the idea behind this first gem. May it be helpful for you in some way! Enjoy! https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"Direction, Not Perfection" is a Dharma Talk about the place that an Altar can hold in our practice. This talk is following up on our NYE Intention settings, checking in a few weeks later...this is often when the effort toward these intentions can start to wane. Establishing an Altar can help give some purpose and direction to our intention to establish or maintain a practice. And also this is in preparation for February when we will revive an old annual tradition within our Sangha where we use Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness book, and try to build or bolster our daily routine of practice. I hope you find something useful in here, and I apologize for the weak delay in posting this. My schedule has included a lot of travel lately, so patience is appreciated! Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"The Ground Upon Which I Stand" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha on the topic of taking a close look at where we are, and beginning to make small changes in our lives that will incline us in the direction we want to move. After last week's Intention Setting Ceremony this was a way of recognizing where we are and how to get where we wish to be; how we implement the changes to see those intentions materialize. I hope you enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

“Hero Protagonist” is a brief Dharma talk and guided meditation on agency, aspiration, and what it means to consciously participate in our own lives. Using the simple lens of storytelling and the story arc of the "hero", we explore what brought us to the practice, what truly matters to us, and what’s at stake when we live on autopilot. I hope you find something useful in this talk. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"2025 NYEEEE Intention Setting Ceremony" is our Two Hands Sangha Intention Setting Ceremony. We came together, discussed the meaning and value of intention, and following this talk the group lit candles to set their intentions for the new year, followed by taking Refuge and Precepts for those who wished to. It was a beautiful evening of fellowship. Hope we see you in the new year! Have a safe and Happy New Year! Welcome 2026!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

“Chasing Paper Airplanes” is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha during Christmas week, exploring the pressure to feel how we think we’re “supposed” to feel. We look at why forcing joy, gratitude, or positivity can actually increase suffering, and how the practice invites us to stop chasing old stories, let feelings land, and meet this moment with honesty and care. There is no correct emotional response to December, only the opportunity to be present with what’s true. I hope it offers some relief. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com