NEWS
Registration is now open and a deposit by June 15th will secure your space at this retreat. This is for SIM’s 13th Annual 10 Day Residential Retreat, with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren and Mentors Diane Wilde and Rich Howard. The retreat theme is “A Life of Deep Satisfaction Born of Peace“. For details, click here.
The Dharma Center’s Lost and Found is growing rapidly. If you are missing water bottles, cups, caps, scarves, gloves, etc., please check the Lost and Found cabinets, located in the office in the front hall immediately to your right as you walk out of the kitchen.
SIM is sponsoring a six week class, instructed by Sabitre Rodriguez. This Tai Chi class is for beginning and experienced students covering the Yang Foundation 8 form. It meets at the Sacramento Dharma Center Tuesday evenings from 6:30 PM to 7:45 PM starting May 9th. For details and to register to the class, visit SIM’s calendar page.
SIM recognizes that financial dana via credit card or PayPal does not suit everyone and the option to donate to SIM via direct deposit may be of interest to some people. If this describes you, please submit your contact information below and we’ll follow-up with details on how to set up your donation using direct deposit.
Did you know that many of SIM’s dharma talks are recorded so if you can’t attend the weekly Thursday night meditation and talk you can listen to it later? All talks are posted as mp3 files under the Resources menu, under Audio Dharma: https://sactoinsight.org/category/audio-dharma/. You can optionally be notified via email each time a new audio file is posted to our website.
Note that we’ve also tagged the audio dharma posts so you can readily access previous dharma talks by the presenter’s name. You can view the tag list on the bottom right side of most web pages in the side bar. These tags are also listed below and we hope you’ll enjoy this new feature.
Thank you all who have stepped up to support SIM through our monthly donor program! As of March 31st, we have 13 people providing a total of $1092 monthly, so we’re a third of the way to reaching our goal of $3,000 per month. If you haven’t contributed yet and feel moved to, we encourage you to sign up online this month to help support SIM’s monthly expenses and ongoing activities!
The first several months in our beautiful new home at the Sacramento Dharma Center have been a time of great excitement and satisfaction as we expand SIM’s ability to be a resource for vipassana/insight practitioners like you. We offer regular meditation instruction, teachings, retreats, and opportunities to develop a deeper sense of community.
Along with that excitement comes the practical need to meet our ongoing financial obligations. SIM’s operating expenses, primarily rent that we now pay to the SDC, have increased dramatically. Annual fixed, recurring expenses are estimated at $36,000, or $3,000 per month. At the current rate of giving, SIM is only covering 50% of our monthly expenses.
To support our SIM community, we are asking you and other SIM members to enroll in a monthly donation program to help stabilize our financial future. Donations directly to SIM are crucial, as contributions to the SDC do not reduce SIM’s ongoing expenses. Monthly donations to SIM will help cover our fixed, recurring costs, such as rent and insurance, as well as provide funds for program development. If 60 people give $50 per month we will meet our $3,000 per month goal. Contributions of any size are welcome; we hope that you will be as generous as possible.
Support for our teachers, mentors and visiting presenters will continue to be provided through dana received during teaching events.
It is now easy to make a recurring or one-time donation on SIM’s website using PayPal or a credit card by following the link labeled “dana” at https://sactoinsight.org/what-is-dana/. If you have questions about SIM’s financial situation or about donating, please contact Dennis Warren.
We appreciate your generosity and the generosity of everyone who contributes to SIM financially or through volunteer efforts. Both forms of generosity make SIM’s operations and future possible. We look forward to working and practicing together to create SIM’s future in the months and years ahead.
Sincerely,
SIM Board of Directors
James Barnes Barbara Briscoe Barbara Colton Sara Denzler Renee Kunz Catherine Vigran Dennis Warren
Beginning Wednesday, March 15, SIM will be offering a Wednesday morning sitting at the SDC building at 7:00 AM. It will be an open sitting for anyone interested in starting their morning out by sitting with others. Each session will involve a 40-45 minute sitting, a limited about of meditation guidance, and a few comments at the end of the sitting to set a theme for moving into the world and our daily activities.
SIM’s regular faculty – Founding Teacher Dennis Warren, Mentors Diane Wilde and Rich Howard, and Community Member Laura Rosenthal – will take turns leading the hour long session minute.
Announcing a new category of the Audio Dharma posts – Guided Meditations. Our first sharing comes from Kamala Masters offering a meditation on “Loving Kindness”. Over time we expect the collection to grow; to see a listing of all guided mediations, click here. Enjoy.
Occasionally, volunteers are needed for two related activities:
These activities allow for a flexible schedule as they won’t require you to attend every Thursday night dharma talk but for the times that you do attend, it will give the usual volunteer an appreciated respite for the evening. For questions and more information, please contact Sabitre Rodriguez or click here to submit your contact information for follow-up.