NEWS

Diane’s Invitation June 27th

SIM Community Mentor Diane Wilde and Woody Garcia are giving a talk at Insight Central Valley in Modesto, CA on June 27th and Diane would love to have SIM sangha members attend.

Talk topic – Freedom: Inside and Out

Diane Wilde and recently released former inmate “Woody” Garcia, will talk about Buddhist practice in California prisons and the impact it is making on inmates and volunteers alike. Diane will read a few stories from her book, “Unlikely Lessons; Practicing Virtuous Conduct in California Prisons”. Woody will speak of his own Buddhist practice and what his life was like “inside”and his new life as a free man on the “outside.”

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Residential Retreat Registration Opens

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.

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Are you missing something?

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.

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New Tai Chi Class

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.

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SIM Accepts Direct Deposits for Dana

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.

[contact-form to=’website@sactoinsight.org’ subject=’Interested in Direct Deposit Dana ({name})’][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

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Audio Dharma Has Been Tagged

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.

Ajahn Brahm     Amma Thanasanti     Dennis Warren     Diane Wilde     Doug Kraft     Heather Sundberg     John Travis     Kamala Masters     Laura Rosenthal     Lori Wong     Rich Howard     Steve Armstrong     Sue Taylor     Tony Bernhard     Valentin Mendez Rodriguez
On Retreat
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Monthly Donor Program – we’re 1/3 of the way

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!

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We Launch Our On-Line Monthly Donation Program

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

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New Wednesday Morning Sittings

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.

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Guided Meditations included in Audio Dharma

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.

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