NEWS

MBSR Course Available: Apr 2019

Registration opens February 14, for the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) eight week course with Matt Russell. You can RSVP to a free introduction session held April 10 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The eight session course meets Wednesdays, April 24 through June 12, 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm and there’s an all day retreat on Sunday, June 2, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. To pay the $375 registration fee or for more information about the course, click here.

Designed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, MBSR is an integrative and scientifically validated approach that combines mindfulness practices with group processing and psycho-education around stress. MBSR helps participants mobilize their inner resources to alleviate suffering associated with chronic pain and illness, as well as conditions such as anxiety, depression, headaches, high blood pressure, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal problems and the stresses of everyday life. This work was featured in Bill Moyers’ television special, “Healing and the Mind” in a dated but still compelling piece.

/by

Save the Date – Residential Retreat

SIM Annual Retreat
Tuesday, September 3 through Tuesday, September 10, 2019.

Please hold these dates for Sacramento Insight Meditation’s annual residential retreat. Our teachers this year will be Kamala Masters and Vance Pryor. The retreat will be held at the Mercy Center in Auburn where we have reserved 35 single occupancy rooms. Registration will open on the SIM website in April. We hope that you will be able to join us!

/by

Special Tax Note

SIM is grateful for all our donors and has already emailed tax letters to those who gave $250 or more in 2018. If you have not received the tax letter and you think you should have, please check your email Inbox, as well as your Spam or Junk folder. If you still don’t find it, please contact SaraD@sactoinsight.org.

/by

Meet date change for Climate Sangha

NOTICE: The Climate Sangha has changed its meeting day and time for 2019. The new time is 6:30-8:30 pm on the Third Wednesday of each month. So, it will be February 20 next month.

Regarding the meeting already held in January . . .

  • In this New Year, you are invited to participate in the re-energized SDC Climate Sangha. Our mailing list of over 100 includes many we have not seen in a while. To accommodate as many of our core group as possible, we have shifted the meeting to the Third Wednesday, January 16 this month, and moved the time a bit earlier, 6:30-8:30 pm. This month, we will have a presentation from Ruthy Ballard and Michelle Stevens. If you haven’t seen Ruthy’s message yet, or want details about the meeting this month, click here.

 

/by

Update on Recent gifts for St. Johns

Here is the update from Vicki Ruben regarding some recent holiday donations to support the “Adopt a Family” effort from Saint John’s Program for Real Change.

Although this project was launched on short notice and not “officially” organized by SIM, thanks to the donations of this giving community we were able to jointly raise about $420. With Barbara Colton single handedly taking on the wish list for the youngest child we were able to most of the wishes for this family. Funds that came in after the shopping was completed, as well as an extra pair of rain boots, were funneled to other families in need at St. John’s. Thank you for trusting me to run with this project; it was truly an honor and a joy.


If you’re curious, or if you gave a donation through Vicki, here are some details on the shopping distribution:

  • Brenda, a 9 year old girl Brenda received a dress for church, rain boots, tennis racket and balls, craft set to make bracelets, and a scrapbook and stickers.
  • Her nine year old twin brother Brandon received nice pants and shirt, two sets of Legos, a science kit, and the twister game.
  • The seven year old girl Bethaney received two or three sets of pants and shirts, socks, under wear, baby doll, troll stuff, troll giant coloring book, and rain boots.
  • The mom received bras and underwear, black tennis shoes, faith based journal, and personal hygiene items as requested by her.
  • As a family they received a 120 piece art set, drawing pad, and Scrabble game.
/by

Not too late to support SIM

December 27, 2018

Dear SIM Supporter,

If you’ve already made a year-end donation to SIM, we send you our heartfelt appreciation!

If you’re still finishing up your year-end donations, please consider supporting SIM with a year-end or monthly donation for 2018! It’s easy to donate at www.sactoinsight.org or by sending a check to SIM at 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA 95826. Your generosity is the key to our success in providing ongoing support for our teachers, community and those practicing in the Vipassana/Insight tradition.

May your New Year be healthy, peaceful and happy!

Sara Denzler, Treasurer
on behalf of SIM’s Board of Directors

/by

SKIP Recovery Sangha Dec 24, 31

Due to the holiday month we are skipping the regularly scheduled meetings for Monday December 24 and Monday December 31.

NOTE: The Buddhist Recovery Group typically meets every Monday evening.

/by

Interest in book club

A number of people from our SIM community have expressed interest in participating in a book club or study group focusing on the Dharma. If the interest is strong enough maybe we can informally start a morning group and also an evening group for those that work during the day and maybe we can start these groups in February 2019. We will also be looking for someone to help facilitate the group(s).

The key to a successful group is a commitment to participate in both discussion and attendance. Each group can discuss what might be a good book choice or may just present the book to be read. The groups can meet once or twice a month to discuss chapters and share insights. In the past, many people have found that these kinds of groups have become a great way to build one’s understanding of the Dharma, make new friends, and deepen their practice.

If you have an interest in joining such a group, please use the form below to contact Terri Townsend and/or attend the first startup meeting.

During a community discussion this past August,Terri Townsend spoke about this book club idea. Click here to listen to Terri’s description. You’ll want to advance to time marker 31 minutes and 44 seconds to hear Terri’s portion of the audio.

[contact-form to=”terri.townsend@gmail.com” subject=”Interest in book club ({name})”][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Availability” type=”checkbox-multiple” options=”weekday mornings,weekday nights,weekends”][contact-field label=”Comments” type=”text”][/contact-form]

/by

Six Week Beginning Meditation Course

Today we open the online registration to our six week Beginning Meditation Course that starts January 22, 2019. Here is the Course Flyer in PDF format.

/by

Win a Free Ticket to a Retreat

Consider entering the “Name the Three Rooms with a Theme” Contest and you may be one of three people to win a free ticket to a one-day sangha-sponsored retreat.

Submit your entry by 5 p.m. Friday, December 7. Check the SDC’s Fall Newsletter for further details about this contest and how to enter.     More Info Here …

/by