Beginning Meditation Class (6 Week Course) starts 1/22

This class is part of a six week meditation course offered twice a year. Classes meet Tuesday evenings, January 22, 29, February 5, 12, 19, 26, with a daylong retreat Saturday, February 16, 2019 and details for this event are posted on the Course Overview page.

Registration Details

Walk-in registrations are not available since the course registrar provides follow-up information required prior to this first class meeting.

Before making the $35 registration payment, click here to review the terms of use for this website. Note that all registrants will receive an email communication from the course registrar on the following dates: Dec 30, Jan 13.


This course is currently full however you can still add your name to the waitlist (click here).

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Beginning Meditation Class (6 of 6)

This class is part of a six week meditation course offered twice a year. You must pre-register to the course before attending this class. For course details, click here. If you are a course participant and would like to make a donation online, click here.

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Beginning Meditation Class (5 of 6)

This class is part of a six week meditation course offered twice a year. You must pre-register to the course before attending this class. For course details, click here. If you are a course participant and would like to make a donation online, click here.

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Beginning Meditation Class (4 of 6)

This class is part of a six week meditation course offered twice a year. You must pre-register to the course before attending this class. For course details, click here.

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Beginning Meditation Class (3 of 6)

This class is part of a six week meditation course offered twice a year. You must pre-register to the course before attending this class. For course details, click here.

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Beginning Meditation Class (2 of 6)

This class is part of a six week meditation course offered twice a year. You must pre-register to the course before attending this class. For course details, click here.

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*Daylong Retreat with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

Beginning Anew
A One Day Retreat– with Sim’s Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

This will be a relaxed day of practice involving alternating periods of sitting and walking meditation, movement and discussion. We’ll explore what it means to “look in the right place” and “look the right way” when trying to work with challenges like doubt, confusion, restlessness, worry and anxiety. We’ll do this through trying different approaches to experiencing things directly, rather than intellectually. We’ll engage in some thoughtful reflection on the how the choices and decisions we make in dealing with these core life challenges shape not just our own lives, and but impact the lives of those around us.

All are welcome. Come for all day or for a portion of the day. Please bring your lunch.

Dennis Warren photoDENNIS WARREN is SIM’s Founder Teacher. He teaches traditional meditation and mindfulness practices as well as their contemporary uses with chronic pain, anxiety, depression, burn out, professional performance and in therapy. He has nearly thirty years of practice experience and residential retreat work in Insight (Vipassana) Meditation. Dennis is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Community Dharma Leadership program and has completed the professional trainings in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression Relapse (MBCT). He has been a Volunteer Clinical Professor since 2006 in the Division of Pain Medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine focusing on mindfulness-based interventions for chronic pain. He has lead two Moving Retreats and Pilgrimages in Thailand, Northern India, and Nepal in the last ten years.

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.

Summary of Important Dates

  • 12/11/2018 – Registration opens.
  • 01/25/2019 – Registration via this website is closed however we invite you to register in person on the day of the retreat.
  • 01/26/2019 – Attend and enjoy the wonderful retreat.

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. Day-of registration is available and we accept checks and cash. No one will be turned away for lack of funds; please contact the registrar for more information.

Volunteer Opportunities

It “takes a village” to put on a large event for our community. If you would be available to assist in set-up, take-down, tea service, providing flowers or other duties for the event, please contact the retreat registrar for more information..

Questions for the Registrar?

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

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*Sit & Dharma Talk – Diane Wilde – Entering the Stream, Dealing with Doubt

The Second in a series on “Entering the Stream” of Awakening. To listen to Diane first talk on this subject, click here.

Entering the Stream to Awakening, Dealing with Doubt

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Diane Wilde

Yogis who are sincere in their practice, and desire to alleviate suffering are said to be on the precipice of “Entering the Stream”. A Stream-Enterer, known as a Sotapanna in Pali, the ancient language of the Buddha, is a practitioner who is well on the path to “awakening”, which means cutting through and eliminating the fetters that cause suffering. The first fetter is understanding the delusion of self-identity, the belief that each of us is a separate entity unto ourselves. The second fetter to be uprooted is doubt. Tonight we will briefly discuss self-identity, which will be the topic of the Feb. 23rd daylong and examine in more detail, the second “fetter” of doubt. Doubt is traditionally seen as having two aspects: skillful doubt, which prods us into deeper experiential investigation of the path, and unskillful doubt, which is a dead-end, leading to confusion and unhappiness. We will discuss the characteristics of both types of doubt and how skillful doubt is an aid in navigating the difficulties we often encounter in our own practice. Unskillful doubt is abandoned as we Enter the Stream.

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.

Thursday Night Talk Dana
“Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
We recognize that donating by cash or check at the time you attend this event may not always be convenient for you. If that’s the case, please use the form below to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and your donation will be shared with Rev. Diane Wilde and SIM.

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Sit & Dharma Talk – Laura Rosenthal – Near Misses in Practice

What’s Really So: Near Misses in Practice
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Member Laura Rosenthal

Initially this event was scheduled with visiting teacher Heather Sundberg however due to travel difficulties related to bad weather, Heather could not attend and in her place, Laura Rosenthal gave the talk instead.

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.

Thursday Night Talk Dana
“Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
We recognize that donating by cash or check at the time you attend this Heather Sundberg event may not always be convenient for you. If that’s the case, please use the form below to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give.

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*Sit & Dharma Talk – Laura Rosenthal – How Good Do We Have To Be?

How Good Do We Have To Be?

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Member Laura Rosenthal

How good do we have to be? And is this even the question we need to ask ourselves? Join Laura Rosenthal for a dharma talk and group conversation about how the notion of “being good” may or may not support us in walking the path of Buddhist practice – and in waking up.

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.

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