An online, One Day Retreat with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

Comfort, Joy, Meaning

This will be a relaxing day of practice. A day to give ourselves a break in the face of the amazing number of challenges we’re all facing right now. We’ll focus on experiences that support balance, comfort, ease and pleasure in meditation and everyday life. We’ll experiment with experiences that generate curiosity, lightness and joy. And we’ll explore, from a meta perspective, what informs how we live our lives and what ultimately gives our lives satisfaction, meaning and joy from a Buddhist perspective. If you plan on participating in this retreat, it would be helpful to sit in on Dennis’ presentation two days before the retreat on Thursday evening the 24th.
All are welcome. (Pre-registration is required.)

DENNIS WARREN is SIM’s Founding Teacher and has been teaching mindfulness, meditation and contemplative practices since 1998. He recently completed his 11th year as a Volunteer Clinical Professor in Mindfulness in the Division of Pain Medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center. He is certified as a Mindfulness Teacher, Professional Level (CMT-P), by the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. He is a graduate of the professional trainings in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression. He also is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Medication Center’s Dharma leaders training program. You can learn more about Dennis’ background and activities at https://www.denniswarren.net/.
Dennis has been participating in residential meditation retreats, and has maintained a daily meditation practice, in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition for over 30 years. 2018 was his 20th year of teaching Insight Meditation and mindfulness practices in residential, retreat, educational, medical, corporate and community settings. In 2007 and 2014, Dennis led month long pilgrimages and moving retreats in Thailand, India and Nepal. A third is being planned for late 2021.

Sacramento Insight Meditation events are sustained by the generosity of instructors in offering teachings freely and on the generosity of students and members of the meditative community in the form of financial support, service and participation in events. With our practice of dana, we support our Sangha. If you prefer to make a donation for this event online using a credit card or PayPal account, click here to DONATE ONLINE.

Summary of Important Dates

  • 08/22/2020 – Registration opens.
  • 09/26/2020 – Attend and enjoy the wonderful retreat. (Registration via this website closes 30 minutes before the start of the retreat on Sep 26.)

Registration Details

Registration is $15.00 per person due before the start of the event. If you are able and interested in further supporting SIM financially, you have the option of a registration fee of either $25 or $35 dollars. To pay the registration fee online, use the “Tickets” section at the bottom of this page. Specify the number of people you are registering to this retreat and click the button “Get Tickets”. You’ll be automatically directed to a secure web-page where your registration payment can be made by credit card as a guest (no PayPal account required) or payment can be made by PayPal after you sign-in to your PayPal account if you have one.
For the registration fee, we also accept personal checks. No one will be turned away for lack of funds; please contact the registrar for more information.

Before registering to this event, click here to review the terms of use for this website.

Questions for the Registrar?

If you need to contact the retreat registrar with any questions, click here.

How to attend this online retreat

Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive an email “Ticket” that also includes the link to join the Zoom meeting. Use this link at the start of the retreat to join the online retreat. Additionally, the evening before the retreat, the retreat registrar will send you a welcome email that also includes the link to join the Zoom meeting.

Join online meeting: The hyperlink is included in your emailed "Ticket" and also in the email sent by the retreat registrar.
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( see email sent by retreat registrar for the Meeting ID )
For tips and instructions on how to use Zoom to attend the retreat, click here.
To give a donation after attending this retreat, click here.
To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

How we can move out of our small-mindedness into a more expansive “Big Mind.”

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

Mindful awareness is at the core of our meditation practice. When cultivated properly, awareness is joined and supported by other mental factors that arise naturally: clear seeing, clear comprehension, tranquility, acceptance, joy, and eventually non-attachment, compassion, equanimity, and wisdom. We will explore the role of awareness in our practice and look more deeply at this circle of “friends” that accompany awareness.
This evening will stand alone and will also serve as an introduction to the daylong on Saturday, August 29.

This day of practice will be in the style of Sayadaw U Tejaniya, a contemporary Burmese monk, with an open schedule conducive to home practice. It should work well on Zoom.

To join this remote meeting, note the following:
Online access: https://meet.google.com/kpd-pdtn-khg

Although the ​young persons group typically meet the Second and Fourth Tuesday evenings, they have recently extended the meeting schedule to include more Tuesday night sitting practices, followed by short discussions where members talk about their experiences as dharma practitioners. Please join us.

Young Person Sangha Dana
[give_form id=”15771″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] “Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
For remote meetings, please use the form above to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to support our Young Persons Sangha.

To join this remote meeting, note the following:
Online access: https://meet.google.com/ksw-vzmb-ram

Although the ​young persons group typically meet the Second and Fourth Tuesday evenings, they have recently extended the meeting schedule to include more Tuesday night sitting practices, followed by short discussions where members talk about their experiences as dharma practitioners. Please join us.
If you attend this event and would like to make a donation on behalf of this Sangha, click here.


The SIM Board of Directors meets every month and all are welcome. If you can’t attend this meeting, please join us for one of our other up-coming meetings. For details on contacting any of the board members, click here.

At the bottom of this page, you may enter the number 1 and select the button “Confirm RSVP“.

This retreat is part of a nine week course: Living on the Other Side of Suffering. You must pre-register to the course before attending this retreat.
If you are a course participant and would like to make a donation online for this retreat, click here.

This session is part of an eleven month course lead by SIM’s community teacher Rev. Diane Wilde.

This course is currently full and is no longer taking registrations.

If you are a course participant and would like to make an online donation to support the course and teacher, click here to DONATE.

This session is part of an eleven month course lead by SIM’s community teacher Rev. Diane Wilde.

This course is currently full and is no longer taking registrations.

If you are a course participant and would like to make an online donation to support the course and teacher, click here to DONATE.

This session is part of an eleven month course lead by SIM’s community teacher Rev. Diane Wilde.

This course is currently full and is no longer taking registrations.