12/06/2018 “Knowing How to Ask the Right Question” with Diane Wilde

If you would like to download this talk, please right click and select “save as” here.

The Buddha taught that how we frame our questions is equally, and usually, more important then the answer. In other words, the Buddha wasn’t content simply to provide answers to people’s questions. He also wanted to show them how unskillful questions can be recognized through testing, and how skillful questions—conducive to the end of suffering—can be framed and tested in their place. These skills are applicable to our meditation practice as well as in daily life. For example, we might begin to see when we or others are asking a question not for an answer, but to enhance a particular self-identity. If we do not know how to frame our questions skillfully, we can find ourselves mired in an untenable situation of our own making. As Voltaire noted, “Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”

/by

Six Week Beginning Meditation Course

Today we open the online registration to our six week Beginning Meditation Course that starts January 22, 2019. Here is the Course Flyer in PDF format.

/by

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).

/by

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.

/by

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.

/by

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.

/by

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.

/by

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.

/by

*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.

/by