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

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

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.

/by

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

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

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.

/by

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

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

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.

/by

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

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

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.

/by

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

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

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

/by

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

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

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
/by

12/07/23 “The Mental Attitude of Metta (Lovingkindness)” with Walt Opie

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.
/by

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

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

“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.

/by

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

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

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

/by

11/02/23 “Creating the Conditions for SIM’s Future”

Presenters: Amy Kovak, David Guerrieri, Diane Wilde, Dennis Warren, and Rich Howard

(Audio 1 of 2) To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.
(Audio 2 of 2) To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

In this special presentation, we will look at the historical roots of SIM’s evolution, the concepts behind the current Legacy Project, and information on our current three “Legacy Project” teachers (Diana Clark, Walt Opie, and Vance Pryor), including some exciting news about upcoming offerings. We will also present SIM’s new Operations Manager position and look at how the Sangha might support these important steps in creating the conditions for SIM’s future. There will be time for discussion, questions, and responses.

Legacy Teacher Project
/by