Tea with Mara

"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

“A Wider View of Mindfulness” is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation in which we explore mindfulness as the Buddha taught it: an inward knowing of experience that helps us see clearly, respond wisely, and reduce suffering. Grounded in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, this is a gentle widening of the lens, building on commonly held ideas about what Mindfulness is, inspired by the MindfulnessVR Community Discord conversation on the topic. I hope you’ll find a broader view of mindfulness herein, and that you enjoy the exploration! https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Bob” is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha on the Eight Worldly Winds; those shifting conditions of gain/loss, praise/blame, pleasure/pain, status/disgrace that blow through every human life. Using pendulums, turbulence, Miley Cyrus, Rilke, and some honest reflection, we explore how to rise in altitude, soften instead of shatter, and meet change with humor, flexibility, and equanimity. If you’re feeling blown around by life, this one might help you breathe again. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

“Gratitude Balancing Rage” is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation on how the heart can widen even in moments when it feels tight, hot, and reactive. We explore why rage contracts our world down to a single point and how gratitude gently expands it again. We cover a lot, including some practical ways to bring gratitude into real-time moments of anger without bypassing or pretending. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"Despite All My Rage" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha about the fire we feel when we’re hurt, unseen, or misunderstood, and the cage we end up building around our own hearts. We explore what the Buddha taught about anger, why revenge never brings real freedom, and how we can reclaim our power by tending to the wound beneath the rage. If you’ve ever felt trapped in your anger…or exhausted by fighting battles that never seem to change anything…this talk is for you. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

"More Ferris, Less Cameron" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation on the topic of strong fixed views, and the pain and suffering that holding those can introduce to our lives. We dive into the subtle ways our beliefs hold us tight, and how compassion and curiosity can set us free. In a nutshell, we hold our views, but our strong fixed views hold us in a clenched fist. I hope you'll find something in this one that helps your life in some way. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

“Empire of Noble Silence”  is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha that looks at how Christopher Ruocchio’s wonderful book Empire of Silence unexpectedly echoes one of the oldest Dharma stories we have; the prince who leaves the palace and finally sees the world as it is. Hadrian’s journey reminds us that awakening begins the moment we step outside our own comfort and truly see. The dharma can be found everywhere we look with the eyes of wisdom, and good fiction can open that door…Ruocchio does it beautifully. I hope that I have represented his work well here, in my way, and that you will go an find his books (at the links below) and see if you find your own bit of wisdom, in addition to a beautifully crafted tale! Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.comHighmatter Books Sun Eater Youtube

"A Gentle Strength" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha exploring what it really means to stay grounded and clear when emotions run high, especially when we feel protective of the people we love. Gentleness isn’t weakness. It’s steady, courageous presence. And it’s a strength we can all cultivate, one breath at a time. I hope you'll find this talk useful. Enjoy!https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com

“Nothing Truly Disappears” is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation about loss. How we meet it, how we hold it, and how we continue on with love instead of collapse. We looked at the Buddha comforting his father at the end of his life and how presence, compassion, and the simple truth of continuation eased his fears, and how those same teachings can help us when grief touches our lives. Loss hurts because love was real. And because love was real…nothing is ever truly lost. We can have joy alongside (not in place of) sadness. This is a very important conversation on many levels. I hop you will find something useful within. Enjoy.https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com