Survey regarding the 2023 annual retreat.
NEWS
SIM’s Founding Teacher Dennis Warren will be teaching a new seven-week course “Discovering Balance – A Meditation Course for Experienced Meditators“. This course offering runs October 5 through November 16, 2022 (7:00 pm to 8:30 pm), meeting remotely via Zoom. There’s a one-day retreat on November 12. For more information about this course, visit this course overview page.
Registration to this 2022 course is currently closed.
The 2023 schedule for this course is set as: This course meets in 2023 for seven (7) consecutive ninety (90) minute Zoom sessions beginning at 7:00 pm on Wednesday evenings: October 4, 11, 18, 26 and November 1, 8 and 15. A one-day in-person retreat meets on November 11 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
If you’d like us to notify you via email when registration opens for the 2023 course, use the following RSVP form to indicate your interest. Enter a quantity of 1 and select the colored button. Note that an RSVP is not the same as registering; it just means we’ll notify you about the registration schedule and procedure.
Our popular six-week Beginning Meditation Course begins Wednesday, October 19th. Rich Howard and Sara Denzler will be instructing. For more information, click on the flyer image or visit the registration page at https://sactoinsight.org/event/beginning-meditation-oct2022/.
Today SIM’s Board of Directors is sending out a Newsletter #2 communication “GETTING TO KNOW US…Up Close and Personal with SIM Board.” This month, they are featuring Margaret Buss and the SIM Set-up Crew. —– Excerpt follows —–
Next time you walk into the dharma hall, take a minute and look around. You may notice that the chairs are all in order, cushions laid out, colorful flowers in vases on the altar and around the room; that there is a sense of welcome, calm, and peace. Margaret has been the head of the SIM set-up crew since SIM moved to the Sacramento Dharma Center several years ago. Asked why she chose to volunteer for this position, she says [More details here…]
A message from our founding teacher, Dennis Warren.
Good afternoon and hope everything is good with you. I want to extend an invitation to you.
In person attendance at SIM on Thursday evenings is still much lower than pre-pandemic numbers. This is a loss for each of us individually as well as the organization. There is an added dimension to our practice and experience when we are in each other’s presence and practice together. Not that we need to do it all the time, but experiencing the truly unique human element of companionship in spiritual practice from time to time is something special.
I’m inviting you to consider attending SIM this Thursday, the 30th – in person. It would be great to be able to be together and practice in person for an evening.
My presentation that evening will be on Seeing Clearly and Thinking Clearly. Thinking as an object of meditation and focus of practice isn’t something that is discussed very much. This is surprising given how thinking tends to play such a significant role in our lives. A description follows below.
Hope you can make it. Take care.
Dennis
https://sactoinsight.org/06-30-2022-revisiting-fundamentals-thinking-with-dennis-warren/
Today SIM’s Board of Directors emailed a “Newsletter” to our current subscribers. Click on the image below to view the entire message. Below the image we’ve also included an excerpt of the Newsletter.
GETTING TO KNOW US…Up Close and Personal with SIM Board
This is the first of what we hope will become a monthly offering to the SIM community, featuring a profile of one of the sangha’s leaders or volunteers each time. In this age of virtual (or hybrid) gatherings, it is easy for us to feel disconnected from one another. More than ever, we need to share our stories and appreciate the diversity of people and their life experiences that make up this thriving sangha. More…
Join us for our Residential Retreat at the beautiful Mercy Center in Auburn, CA from Sunday, August 28 through Sunday, September 4, 2022. We are fortunate to have Senior Teacher Greg Scharf (who is a Guiding Teacher at the Insight Meditation Society) and local Teacher Neesha Patel leading our retreat this year. The theme will be Awareness, Wisdom & Love. For more information about the retreat and the teachers, and to secure your spot, visit the registration page (link shown below) …
We are currently scheduling shifts for May 18 and June 15. Volunteer opportunities include cooks, who prepare the meal from 2:30-4:15 pm, and servers, who work from 4:15-6:00pm. You are not expected to work all three dates, just whatever works for you. We are welcoming new volunteers as we bolster our volunteer pool. Come join us as we practice generosity and compassion in the greater community. If you are not already on the email list and wish to volunteer or have questions, please contact SIM Community member Mary Howard at mary@sactoinsight.org.
Sacramento Insight Meditation recently created a Listening Council to hear concerns from members of our sangha, recognizing that in any community difficulties, misunderstandings and conflict may sometimes arise. Items for the Listening Council might include, for example, conflicts or communication difficulties between sangha members; concerns about behavior by a sangha member that might prove harmful to others; or concerns about inappropriate behavior or ethical breaches by a Board or Faculty member.
Our aspiration is to support the resolution of such problems through effective, responsible means based on Buddhist principles of wisdom, compassion, and right action.
Members of our community seeking support in resolving their concerns should feel free to reach out to one of our Listening Council members:
- Jerry Simkins (jerrys@sactoinsight.org)
- Robin Primavera (robinp@sactoinsight.org)
- Tom Vigran (tom@sactoinsight.org)
- Barb Briscoe (barbb@sactoinsight.org)
Further details about procedures that will guide the work of the Listening Council are available on our Listening Council webpage (shown below).
