NEWS
Starting April 6th, “Living on the Other Side of Suffering: An Experiment In Balancing Practice and Becoming More Fully Human” begins. This is an eleven-week course facilitated by SIM Founding teacher Dennis Warren. Through March 23rd, registration is open to anyone enrolling for the first time. If space is available after this date, folks who’ve previously taken the course should first contact the teacher to get permission to enroll in this Spring session.
In-person attendance at SIM will continue to be on hold until at least February 16th. Notification of a change in this policy will be made as soon as possible.
Thank you for your understanding and your patience.
Jon Siiteri, on behalf of the SIM Board of Directors
SIM is grateful for all our donors and we’ve already emailed tax letters to those who’ve donated $250 or more in 2021. If you have not received the tax letter (dated Jan 25, 2022) and you think you should have, please check your email Inbox, as well as your Spam or Junk folders. If you still don’t find it, please contact SaraD@sactoinsight.org.
Due to the current widespread and worsening outbreak of the Covid omicron variant the SIM Board of Directors unanimously passed a new policy effective immediately suspending all in-person activitiesat Sacramento Dharma Center until February 8th, 2022. Our regular Thursday evening meditation and dharma talks, the ongoing faculty-led courses and end-of the-month daylong retreat will be presented online only. Please find links for those events on our calendar.
This decision was made after careful consideration by the Board of all the relevant factors needed to ensure for the health of the sangha, faculty and visiting teachers during the current pandemic.
We appreciate your acceptance and understanding of this decision and look forward to meeting you in-person soon.
On behalf of the SIM Board of Directors,
Jon Siiteri
Please join me in welcoming Jon Siiteri as President of the Sacramento Insight Meditation Board of Directors. Our SIM community is fortunate to have Jon assume this leadership position.
Jon’s professional credentials include a doctoral degree in endocrinology and over twenty years of clinical practice as a Physician Assistant, specializing in urology. He also taught aspiring NP/PA students at the university level. Even while pursuing this busy career Jon maintained an active volunteer presence in organizations that included the Buddhist Pathways Prison Project and the Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals. Recently retired from clinical practice, Jon is devoting his time to further service. Jon was accepted to this year’s Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy program, where he is studying with Gil Fronsdal and other senior teachers. And he’s generously taking on the SIM Board Presidency!
Consistent with their proud Finnish heritage, Jon and his wife Becky are lovers of the outdoors, the natural world and taking hot saunas. They are avid campers, hikers and members of the California Alpine Club, and Jon is frequently on the move running and biking. Jon’s devotion to his wife, son and extended family are evident to all who know him.
Jon has already made significant contributions to our community as a member of the SIM Board, his skillful role in helping to craft a plan for our return to the Sacramento Dharma Center last July being only one example. In addition to his keen intelligence and superior organizational skills, Jon’s patience, kindness, and ability to listen wholeheartedly will serve our community well during his presidency. Jon’s good heart shines forth in all that he does. Next time you see Jon please congratulate him, thank him, and ask him what you can do to help support him in his new role.
These last four years serving as President of the Sacramento Insight Meditation Board has been an honor, a privilege, and an opportunity for me to grow. I am delighted to turn this important work over to someone as capable and committed as Jon.
I’d also like to express gratitude to all members of our outstanding Board for their devoted leadership and hard work. Special thanks to Tony Pruitt who will replace Jon as Vice President and a member of our finance committee as part of this transition. We are also delighted to welcome Karen Tercho to our Board. Please thank both of them as well when you get a chance.
With gratitude to every one of you,
Cathy Vigran
Our popular six-week Beginning Meditation Course begins Tuesday, March 29th and general registration opens on Monday, Jan 3. Rich Howard and Sara Denzler will be instructing. For more information, visit the course summary page at https://sactoinsight.org/activities/practice-opportunities/meditation-courses/.
It’s not too late to support Sacramento Insight Meditation! 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 donation or monthly donation for 2022! 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
It’s easy to donate using the form below or by sending a check to SIM at 3111 Wissemann Drive, Sacramento, CA 95826.
A message from the Sacramento Insight Meditation Board of Directors
The SIM Board is continuing to monitor developments regarding the Delta AND the Omicron variants of Covid19. After careful review of the latest available evidence, we have decided that it continues to be safe to maintain a hybrid program of in-person and Zoom attendance for now. We want to share with you not only our decision, but also the thinking behind it.
We understand that each of us, including our teachers, will need to evaluate the personal risks and benefits of in-person attendance and make individual decisions about how to attend SIM. All of us on the Board want to support you in whatever you choose to do. We extend sincere thanks to the members of our audiovisual and set-up teams who have agreed to participate in making in-person attendance possible.
With deep gratitude to all of you who have remained faithful supporters of our sangha,
Jon Siiteri, for the SIM Board of Directors, December 7, 2021
(For other related resources posted by SIM, visit https://sactoinsight.org/pandemic-news/)
Join Senior Visiting Teacher Walt Opie this Thursday, December 2 at 7:00 PM for a meditation and dharma talk: “Feeding on Joy“.
Also, this Sunday, December 5, Insight Meditation Society sponsors’ Walt for an online mini retreat: “Freedom from Craving“.
Craving leads to suffering whenever we fail to see that what we crave won’t really provide us with the kind of lasting satisfaction or happiness that we are seeking. The nature of craving is not to be satisfied. It is about lack. When we get stuck in this place of lacking something that we believe will bring us happiness, then we can really suffer.
Walt Opie
Walt Opie is a dharma teacher in the insight meditation tradition. He is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society’s teacher training program and the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders training program. Walt began leading sitting groups specifically for people in addiction recovery in 2011. He started assisting and teaching on residential insight meditation retreats in 2017. Walt’s writing appears in the book collection Still, in the City: Creating Peace of Mind in the Midst of Urban Chaos edited by Angela Dews. He lives with his wife and daughter in Berkeley, CA, which is located on the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people.
“Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.”
the historical Buddha
Dear SIM Friends,
This year has continued to be challenging for all of us and we hope that you are well. We are proud to have offered continuing support for those practicing in the Insight (Vipassana) Meditation tradition throughout 2021 and grateful to each of you for your help.
A major accomplishment this year was the return to in-person practice events at the Sacramento Dharma Center, while continuing to welcome those who preferred to join us from home via Zoom. Technical and staffing challenges were handled by resourceful and dedicated volunteers from SIM and the Young Person’s Sangha, to whom we are profoundly grateful. Another highlight of 2021 was our second on-line annual retreat with Senior Teachers Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters, with over 80 people attending.
In addition to our dedicated faculty of Dennis Warren, Rich Howard, and Diane Wilde, visiting teachers rounded out a rich year of teaching at SIM. We were especially pleased to host graduation events and offer dana to a diverse group of recent graduates from teaching programs at Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society. We continue to focus on being an inclusive and welcoming community.
Our fund-raising goals for 2022 include the continued expression of gratitude to our faculty through a year-end dana contribution as well as ongoing support for SIM’s Teaching and Development Initiative. It is crucial that we have the resources to support bringing new teachers to SIM.
As you plan your year-end giving, we sincerely hope that you will continue to support SIM. You can do so through a one-time, year-end contribution and/or signing up for a monthly, automatic on-line contribution to SIM. Monthly contributions are key to our long-term financial health, and all donations are received with deep gratitude.
To donate today, click here to donate online or by check.
Looking forward to continuing to strengthen our community and our practice together in the coming year.
Warmly,
Sara E. Denzler
Treasurer, SIM Board of Directors