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Sunday Talks

december 1, 2024

Grace In Aging

This talk explores the causes and conditions that we create in our lives, as we live them, that can most support spiritual awakening to unfold. Our later decades in life can be the most beneficial when we cultivate awake awareness, lessen our attachments, decrease our aversions and unbind what binds us.

november 24, 2024

The Power of Love vs The Love of Power

This talk explores the power of love as the greatest power in the universe, and the answer to the world’s challenges due to the out of control love of power. We explore how the partnership model of meeting as equals is a far more sustainable model for humanity’s future and ability to thrive.

november 17, 2024

Rev Lynn Fritz on Native American Teachings

Rev. Lynn Fritz offers teachings from the Native American Tradition on how we live in harmony with one another and with the earth.

november 10, 2024

Feeling Our Feelings & Deepening Self-Compassion

This talk offers support in how we might be with all the feelings we are feeling, how it is an act of self-compassion to allow our feelings the space to be fully felt. Our emotions serve us, they are expressions of our experience in the world, and to fully embrace our emotional experience develops emotional intelligence. We explore how we can deepen in self-compassion and the things that calm our nervous system and help return us to a state of peace.

october 27, 2024

Focusing on the Good

This talk explores the importance of not only paying attention to the suffering in the world, but how important it is to give our attention to the good, to the nourishing, to what fills us with wonder. We explore what a powerful antidote to learning to stay fully in the present moment is for dealing with fear and anxiety.

october 13, 2024

Spiritually-Inspired Democracy

This talk explores the inspired vision at the core of our nation’s democracy, and where we are now in that unfinished experiment. We examine how we can resurrect the common good, a shared value for truth vs. opinions, and how we might return to what Alexis De Tocqueville called “habits of the heart.” We explore the importance of choosing leaders we trust to serve the common good vs. self-serving, and the importance of civic education for all ages to return valuing and deep regard for democracy to our culture. We explore how the citizen is the most important member of government and how we the people — united, educated and inspired — CAN create a more perfect union.

october 6, 2024

The Power of Forgiveness

The Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield says, “the pains of our past cannot be released until we touch them with healing and forgiveness.” It helps soften our hearts towards forgiveness when we remember how important it was that we were forgiven, or that we forgave ourselves. Without compassion and mercy, we are exiled from love, and so in this talk we explore forgiveness, as one of the greatest expressions of Love.

september 29, 2024

The Power of Imagination

Einstein said imagination is even more important than knowledge, it is how we express our true nature as creative beings, it is how we evolve our life and our world. We create twice, first with thought, then in physical reality, and so that ‘image’, that divine idea, that possibility that we hold in our mind for our life and our world, has tremendous power. We explore how using our imagination, creativity and will can create a better life and a better world.

september 22, 2024

Joanne Lescher on Non Violent Communication

This talk explores four steps to practice non-violent communication based on Marshall Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication methodology. Joanne describes the four steps as observations, feelings, needs and requests. And, how we play the role of speaker, listener, and giving yourself empathy. Joanne includes a Q and A session at the end of the talk.
september 15, 2024

Know Thy Self

This talk explores how we seem to have two very different ‘points of view’ from which we experience ourselves. One is a body/mind/personality and the other is a Beingness that is felt when we go beyond the thinking mind. We explore how essential it is to know Thy Self in the ultimate dimension, how being still and experiencing being beyond thinking is what gives us peace, equanimity and freedom.

september 8, 2024

Gratitude & Joy

This talk explores the importance of cultivating joy and gratitude — and other elevated emotions — for our overall well-being. We often can get lost in taking our lives and ourselves too seriously too often and lose touch with a sense of light-heartedness. We also examine how energy gets stuck in our bodies and how we can open and clear blocked energy.

september 1, 2024

The Power of Hope

This talk explores how hope is a life-long spiritual discipline, an intentional practice. It is a journey, and it requires dedication. We cultivate hope by becoming aware of self-defeating thoughts and learn to replace self-doubt with self-affirmation. It’s important to define what we deeply value, and then learn to, step-by-step, create a daily life that marries our actions to our values.

august 18, 2024

Exploring Identities

This talk explores how we spend much of our lives forming identities, with name, age, gender, sex, ethnicity, nation, religion, and politics. There is however a surface identity, which is the physical and personality, and there is a deeper identity, we could call it our essential being, our soul, or consciousness. This consciousness seems to accrue wisdom through playing roles in form identity, and this consciousness what we are, once we leave this particular physical form. We explore how we live in a way that we are aware of our most essential nature, even while playing all the roles we play in form.
august 11, 2024

Ahimsa and Kindness

This talk explores how we live with kindness and ahimsa (non-violence) as an every day way of life. We explore how we can cultivate ahimsa in our relationship with all life on earth. We examine how ahimsa can be practiced through being mindful of thoughts, and how we can use visualization to move towards forgiveness. We consider how we practice kindness towards ourselves including taking care of our body and living in balance.
august 4, 2024

Victim, Victor, Vessel and Verity Consciousness

This talk explores how we develop in consciousness. We examine the consciousness of feeling that we are a victim of what is happening in our life, and how we grow and develop a sense of being a victor in life as we realize our thoughts, words and actions have a profound effect on creating our reality. We explore the experience of surrendering to a greater consciousness and thus experiencing ourselves as a ‘vessel’ of this creative power. And we consider the experience of sustained samadhi, of how we dissolve the ‘me into thee’ and experience non-dual reality.
july 28, 2024

Rev. Lynn Fritz on The Power of Affirmative Prayer

Rev. Lynn speaks on the five steps to affirmative prayer and how we use them to change our thoughts and change our life.
july 21, 2024

Enriching Our Spiritual Practices

This talk is an exploration of how spiritual practice can be the refuge and antidote to anxiety and fear due to ever changing circumstances in the world. We explore affirmative prayer, meditation, mantra, chanting, selfless service, scripture contemplation and satsang, and how we use these powerful tools as ‘spiritual hearing aides’. Rev. Kathy tells stories of the benefits of taking time for more intensive, focused spiritual practice in her trips to India to be with her spiritual teacher Amma.
july 14, 2024

Tribute to Amma

This talk describes the profound gift of having a living spiritual master in own’s life, with personal stories and profoundly meaningful teachings one receives being in the presence of Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi). Unconditional love and a spirit of selfless service are two of the most inspiring examples Amma sets for those who follow her teachings.
july 7, 2024

Finding Comfort with Impermanence

The Buddha taught extensively on impermanence; that everything that comes, also goes; everything that lives must die, everything created must crumble. And this is not bad news, this is the nature of existence. When we accept this law of temporal existence we can cherish what is good and realize what is challenging will also pass.
june 16, 2024

Reincarnation

This talk explores the case for reincarnation drawing from the Tibetan tradition, modern Physics, and personal experience in the recent loss of a loved one.

june 9, 2024

Identifying with Life Itself

To identify with Life itself is to free ourselves from the idea we are only a limited human being playing the myriad roles we play. Expanding ourselves to realize we are greater Life itself informing form for a time, we become less invested in who we think we are and need not defend it. This frees us from reactivity and allows us to become response able. This is our present work in evolution.

june 2, 2024

Gary Zukav on "How To Use Your New Consciousness"

Unity Community of Ashland presents 4x The New York Times bestselling author, co-founder of Seat Of The Soul Institute and spiritual teacher Gary Zukav. Gary offers us profound teachings on the Universal Human. He describes living from a consciousness that experiences itself undivided from all that is. This talk concludes with a question and answer session.
may 26, 2024

Equanimity

In this talk, we explore how we cultivate and rest in equanimity, especially in a time of societal polarization. We examine the importance of using discernment to give our attention and energy to what we can change, often being our inner environment and response to life. We consider the importance of respect, deep listening, desire for understanding, and keeping at the forefront our deepest values.

may 19, 2024

Acceptance As A Path To Peace

This talk explores acceptance as finding peace with what is, peace with our present circumstances. It examines how we might move towards acceptance as a response that allows us to then act most consciously. We explore acceptance in relation to illness, grief, and suffering and see it as the beginning of growth, transformation and self-discovery.

may 5, 2024

Rev. Lynn Fritz on Native American Spirituality

Rev. Lynn Fritz, CSL minister and a Karuk Tribal Descendent, shares wisdom teachings from the Native American spiritual tradition. She shares the deep importance of understanding and cultivating reverence for all life. She answers questions regarding medicine plants and the importance of dreams in the Native American tradition.
april 28, 2024

Make Every Day Earth Day

This talk examines the importance of viewing our life on this planet from an expansive view; the importance of cultivating awe and wonder at our planet and its place in the universe; and, how we might in practical ways make a difference in our own back yard. We explore how we keep hope alive and use it to motivate our actions towards both improving our inner and outer environment.
april 21, 2024

The Gifts of Mindfulness

This talk explores how we can live mindfully each moment of the day, through cultivating mindfulness of breathing, walking, talking, listening, eating, sitting and interacting with others. We explore how to shift identification from thoughts, stories, feelings and the body to being aware of the awareness that all of those sensations and experiences exist in. We explore the freedom that comes when we can bring love and attention to whatever is without fighting the present moment.
april 14, 2024

Karma & Grace

This talk offers a deeper look at the law of cause-and-effect as a necessary and benign mechanism for growth and evolution in the realm of matter. We explore cause-and-effect as a way that we learn, a physical and universal law that provides “guard rails”, so to speak, for our development. We also consider grace as a force that transcends physical laws.

april 7, 2024

Ana Ramana on Self-Love

Poet, writer and author Ana Ramana shares poetry and teachings on the importance of kindness and self-love on the spiritual path of awakening.
march 31, 2024

The Easter Message of Renewal

This talk explores how renewal and resurrection are an essential part of our evolutionary journey, how all of nature mirrors a perennial re-birth, reflecting our own essential need for growth and change. We explore the question of what Jesus’ resurrection teaches us about our own physical mortality and spiritual immortality.

march 24, 2024

The Deeper Teachings of Holy Week

This talk explores how we make meaning of “holy week”; how we compassionately examine the shadow side of being human that can unconsciously sabotage our good. We examine the power of Love as the greatest power in the Universe, a power that puts death itself to death. And we explore these teachings from the heart of the Divine Feminine, specifically expressed in The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.

march 17, 2024

Honoring Our Ancestors, St. Patrick & Celtic Spirituality

This St. Patrick’s day talk explores the importance of understanding our ancestry, how we might heal not only for ourselves but for our past and future generations, and the wisdom teachings of the Celtic tradition that can offer healing of our family lineage, and our Mother Earth.

march 10, 2024

Dr. Jean Houston on "The New Emerging Human"

Jean Houston delights us with stories of some of the most fascinating humans she has met, including Helen Keller, Albert Einstein and Margaret Meade, and how it is they demonstrate the evolving human capacities. She describes how we navigate this evolutionary period she describes as “jump time”.

march 3, 2024

Rev. Kathy Zavada on Sufism

This talk explores the poetry of mystic Sufi poet Hafiz, who advised, “find out what actions of yours brings freedom and love.” It also explores some Sufi thoughts taught by Hazrat Inayat Kahn, in particular his view that the “One Holy Book” that can enlighten the reader is “the sacred manuscript of nature.”

February 25, 2024

Rabbi David Zaslow on Judaism

Rabbi David offers us some key and essential teachings on Judaism, along with sharing songs and chants from this ancient tradition

February 11, 2024

Unity's Metaphysical View of Christianity

This talk explores Unity’s metaphysical view of Christianity and the teachings of Jesus. In particular it explores Jesus as the great example vs. great exception, the view that we are inherently divine vs. sinful, and the view considers Jesus was saying he was not the ‘way to God’, but that the I AM was the way to know oneness with Father/Mother God.

February 4, 2024

The Illuminating Teachings of Buddhism

This talk explores the path of Buddhism and it’s core teachings as taught by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. We examine the Four Noble Truths and Taking Refuge in the Three Gems, and how we make our life, our message, a beautiful and inspiring message!

January 28, 2024

The Ancient Wisdom of Hinduism

This talk explores the spiritual path of Hinduism and in particular bhakti yoga, karma yoga, and jnana yoga. Rev. Kathy shares personal experiences with the revered Hindu saint Mata Amritanandamayi. Teachings from the sacred Hindu texts the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads are woven throughout this inspiring talk.

January 21, 2024

Expanding Possibilities in Quantum Creating

This talk explores how we co-create with the infinite quantum field through using our mind wisely, bringing greater possibilities and creations into our life and the world.

We explore the creative process of thinking a greater, affirmative thought, feeling that possibility in our body, feeling it in our chemistry, and thus changing our subconscious from a more limited belief to the embracing of this greater possibility.

January 7, 2024

Infinite, Creative Power

This talk explores how we are ever-connected with, in fact a hologram of the infinite creative power that is ever bringing innumerable worlds into being.

We examine the two principles of mastery that are ours to develop:
1) the receiving of universal consciousness regularly; and
2) the expressing and creating from this higher mind.

Our world is in need of us to bring the greatest creativity, sourced from Love itself, to create solutions to the challenges of life in the world today.
December 25, 2023

The Christmas Story in Music

This talk with music woven through-out is a beautiful telling of the Christmas story; told in a uniquely musical way to invoke the experience of the living holy presence in our hearts. Rev. Kathy shares her stylistic renditions of some of our most beloved Christmas songs.

December 17, 2023

The Importance of Light

This talk explores how all the winter holidays focus on the importance of the growing light, in particular in our own inner consciousness. We explore the most important teachings that Jesus offered for fully embodying the “astonishing light of our own being”. We consider that light and consciousness are synonymous for the eternal life that animates all beings.

December 10, 2023

Grief, Peace and the Holidays

This talk explores how we meet grief with openness and how we might be transformed by the exploration of life, death and eternity. We consider how part of evolution is developing the emotional intelligence to welcome the full gamut of experience both beautiful and painful, bitter and sweet, meeting it with a compassionate and tender heart.

December 3, 2023

Soul Awakening

This talk is an exploration of why we are here, what it is to evolve, and how challenging life experiences can be some of the most powerfully transformative and meaningful in our soul’s evolution. We consider the brief time humans have been on the planet, how far we’ve come, and how far we might go in becoming universal humans.

November 26, 2023

Communion, Communication, and Connection

This talk explores how we grow skillful means in communicating to create more fulfilling relationships, deeper connection and healing. It explores practices in deep listening and loving speech, and also the importance of communion with inner peace as an aspect of self-care and growth in awareness.

November 19, 2023

On Creating Unity Community of Ashland

Rev. Kathy Zavada, speaking at the inaugural service of Unity Community of Ashland, describes the importance of sangha in our world today. She shares personal examples of how the mind can get stuck in unhappiness stories and how we can free ourselves of habits that create suffering. She examines the importance of gratitude and how we can make the most of each day of our precious human life.

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