Tara is joined by two longtime friends and wonderful teachers, Devon and Nico Hase, to explore their recent book, This Messy, Gorgeous Love: A Buddhist Guide to Lasting Partnership. This refreshingly real and relatable book offers guidance for anyone wanting to deepen love in their relationships. Drawing from their own lived experience—with humor, humility, and insight—Devon and Nico reveal how partnership can be both challenging and profoundly transformative.

In this conversation, they explore what truly supports a deep and loving partnership: how to meet conflict and reactivity, how practice comes alive in everyday moments, how to bring mindful presence into sexuality, and how reflecting on impermanence can deepen intimacy. While centered on intimate partners, the teachings speak to the whole field of our relationships.

Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

Love is often abstract, and not fully alive. In this practice, with the supportive image and felt sense of a smile, we are guided to awaken loving in our body, mind and whole being.

Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

In this talk, we'll explore the deep evolutionary and spiritual currents that shape our lives—the pull of fear and separation, and the quiet, persistent call toward love, compassion, and belonging. Drawing on stories, reflections, and contemplative practices, this talk invites us to remember that caring is our true nature, even when it feels distant or obscured.

Through mindful awareness and heart-centered practices, we begin to sense how our awakened heart calls us—through both the pain of disconnection and the longing for love. As we learn to turn toward our inner experience with kindness, we naturally widen our circles of compassion and deepen our capacity to meet others with presence and care.

In this talk, Tara explores:

✨ How compassion is the foundation of human connection and collective healing
✨ The two forces within us: fear-based reactivity and the call of the awakened heart
✨ Why "caring about caring" is itself a doorway to love and transformation
✨ Practices for turning toward vulnerability and deepening empathy (including Tonglen)
✨ How widening our circles of compassion can help heal both personal and global suffering

Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music