1/25/24 “Pleasant, Unpleasant, Neutral, Numb: Exploring the Second Foundation of Mindfulness” with Rich Howard

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We rightly place strong emphasis on mindfulness of the body and mindfulness of mind states in our practice of meditation and everyday awareness. These are the first and third ways of establishing mindfulness as described in the Satipatthana Sutta, one of the core teachings of our Insight tradition. Sometimes overlooked is the Second Foundation of Mindfulness: mindfulness of feeling tone (vedana in Pali). A feeling tone of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral accompanies every experience, physical or mental. Unnoticed, these feeling tones can escalate to desire, aversion, or delusion and cause us to suffer. When noticed, they can lead us to expand our range of situations where we can feel okay, regardless of outside circumstances. On this evening, we will explore vedana in our guided meditation and in the dharma talk and following discussion. Rich encourages you to practice noticing vedana in the week leading up to this evening, so you can report directly from your experience in the discussion session. If you are unfamiliar with the practice and need instruction, email Rich Howard.

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1/18/24 “The Left Wing & The Right Wing Belong to the Same Bird (Inclusion)” with Dennis Warren

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Our minds tend to see the world as dualistic. Life – personal, relationship, financial, political choices – seems to be limited to two dimensional competing alternatives, an either/or proposition.

Unless we pause and step back from the drama of the moment, we lose touch with the nuance, beauty, and multi-dimensional nature of life, and life choices. We fail to see and experience the underlying reality that the world operates on a wide continuum of related and inter-dependent events, experiences, and choices.

We lose access to the most important, skillful, and healing life option – collaborating with life as it is, and collaborating with others as they are.

This Thursday evening will explore this field of experiences through common situations in meditation and everyday living.

The subject matter of this evening will be appropriate for all stages of practice.

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1/11/24 “Seclusion and Engagement: Models of the Dharma Path” with Tony Bernhard

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The monastic path of meditation and seclusion has been the primary image of awakened life as the west has encountered the Dharma. We will talk about how emerging Buddhist forms may take on more elements of engagement and the brahma viharas than of the monastic style of seclusion and renunciation.

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01/04/24 “Calling In Spiritual Support, and Letting Go of What No Longer Serves” with Heather Sundberg

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In addition to a teaching on the topic, which will include simple practices you can do in daily life, the teaching will end with an optional short simple ritual to bring in the new year together.  If you are joining us via zoom, please have the following handy: a Kleenex or sock; 2 pieces of paper (any size, but small is fine), a pencil or pen.

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12/28/31 “Taking Stock and Making Change” with Seth Castleman

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As the new year approaches, we take stock of 2023 and our lives, not as we wish them to be or fear them to be but as they truly are. And we look with integrity at the changes we hope to make in the near future.

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12/21/23 “The Ennobling Truths” with Andrea Castillo

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We will contemplate how we can embody the Four Noble Truths and live wisely and even joyfully with the reality of our lives.

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12/14/23 “Ten Books That Mattered” with Dennis Warren

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All of us have experiences which change the direction of our lives.
Sometimes we know this at the moment it is happening. Other times, we only realize it later. One of those experiences can be encountering a book that causes us to question how we are living or helps us have a new vision of practice or life.
This evening will explore ten books that mattered in this way for SIM’s Founding Teacher, Dennis Warren. Each book will be discussed from the viewpoint of how it was encountered, its impact, and the change or shift in direction that followed.  Dennis will discuss why each book was helpful for him…and maybe for you.
The subject matter of this evening will be appropriate for all stages of practice.

Talk Handout – Ten Books that Mattered (.pdf)Download
Talk Handout – Quotations (.pdf)Download
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12/07/23 “The Mental Attitude of Metta (Lovingkindness)” with Walt Opie

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11/30/23 “I Feel More Comfortable When I’m Tense” with Dennis Warren

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“I Feel More Comfortable When I’m Tense”

One insight that unfolds in many layers is how we hold, brace, and defend against experiences that make us feel vulnerable, uncertain, confused or at risk. These form into deeply embedded patterns in both the body and mind. These patterns are the result of years of self-protective thoughts, habits, assumptions, projections, and actions.
Understanding these patterns brings the practical real-life problems associated with fixed views, and attachment to outcomes, into focus. It frames the common difficulties and challenges of being human, including self-sabotage, into a more workable Buddhist framework.  And it provides a basis for opening to, and experiencing, more accessible and meaningful forms of empathy and compassion.
This evening will explore this field of experiences through practical common situations in meditation and everyday living.
The subject matter of this evening will be appropriate for all stages of practice.

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11/09/23 “Hand in Hand: The 4 Noble Truths Meet the 4 Brahma Viharas” with Heather Sundberg

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In this talk we will explore ways that Wisdom and Heart practices inform each other, along with practical applications in our daily life practice.

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