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Most people get depressed at times, and many suffer greatly from bouts of major depression. At the heart of the suffering is the experience of severed belonging—of being imprisoned in the pain of separation, unworthiness, unlovability and hopelessness. These two talks explore several meditation practices that reconnect us with our natural aliveness, openheartedness and awareness. They empower us to develop our inner resources, energize us to awaken, free us from rumination and remind us that we are not our depressive thoughts and feelings. The growing realization of the loving awareness that is our home heals the very roots of depression.

In this talk, we’ll look at:

• how meditation helps us move from ruminating thoughts to embodied presence, revealing the awareness that frees us.





• how depression and anxiety mirror our collective disconnection, and how mindful awareness can begin to heal both body and spirit.





• how ungrieved loss turns into depression, and how opening to sorrow with compassion reconnects us to love and aliveness.





• the “logjam” of depression, showing how small mindful shifts can restore flow, energy, and a sense of possibility.





• how reconnecting with our heart’s deep intention awakens hope and invites a renewed capacity for presence and joy.

Listen to Part 1: Healing Depression with Meditation

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THE WELL OF GRIEF

Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface on the well of grief,

turning down through its black water
to the place we cannot breathe,

will never know the source from which we drink,
the secret water, cold and clear,

nor find in the darkness glimmering,
the small round coins,
thrown by those who wished for something else.

The Well of Grief, River Flow, New & Selected Poems
Many Rivers Press © David Whyte

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