Most people who meditate regularly will admit that the hardest part is not the practice itself — it is finding the conditions to practice at all. Work, relationships, fatigue, competing demands: the life of a lay practitioner is full. This evening teaching addresses that reality directly, exploring how every dimension of daily life — social, professional, relational — can become part of the practice rather than an obstacle to it. The key is to let go of effort and use the natural sources of the mind: joy, motivation, trust and familiarity.

The Buddhist tradition offers something surprisingly practical here: the seven awakening factors, natural qualities of mind that, when recognized and gently cultivated, allow practice to sustain itself without force or strain. Alongside these, we explore how genuinely caring for others — far from depleting our inner resources — is one of the most reliable ways to access them. Cherishing others is not an add-on to practice. For thr Mahayana yogi, it is the most direct path into it.

The evening closes with a frank conversation about continuity: how to make all time one’s own time, so that the gap between sitting on a cushion and living an ordinary life gradually narrows. These are teachings with immediate, practical consequences — for anyone who has ever felt that their practice and their life were pulling in opposite directions.