Daylong Retreat with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

For biographical details of the teacher Dennis Warren, click here.

The Five Stages of Practice
This one-day retreat offers a helpful model of practice that participants can begin using right away — whether sitting in meditation, moving through daily life, or navigating the complexities of relationship.

Throughout the day, we’ll explore each stage of the model through presentation, inquiry, discussion, and reflection. The focus will be grounded and real-world: understanding the underlying psychology, seeing how the pieces fit together, and discovering how the model adapts to the full range of human experience.

This day is especially suited for practitioners seeking a flexible, coherent framework for weaving the many tools of practice into a living, integrated whole.

Important Note. To get the most from our time together, participants are encouraged to listen to two recent talks by Dennis that lay important groundwork for the day: “Mindfulness” in Buddhist Practice (February 22) and Establishing the Mind in Not Knowing (March 5). Both are available on the SIM website at https://sactoinsight.org/category/audio-dharma/ .

During this one day, we’ll have at least one period of mindful movement, so please bring your yoga mat. The session will be led by Sandra (Sam) Halford, a member of our community who is both a therapist and a trauma-sensitive certified yoga instructor.

Plan to stay with us on site for the entire day. Please bring a lunch to enjoy during our midday break. We look forward to you joining us in practice together!

About This Onsite Retreat

• The teacher will present in-person at the Sacramento Dharma Center. All participants will attend in-person as the retreat will not be available via Zoom.
• Pre-registration is required and we recommend you pay the registration fee in advance using the registration button shown below. Since your registration choice indicates that you’ll be attending in-person, registering early helps us determine how many people the meditation room should accommodate.
• After you’ve registered you may later offer a donation in gratitude of the teacher. To offer teacher dana, visit https://sactoinsight.org/retreat-dana-online/.

Summary of Important Dates

• 03/01/2026 – Registration opens.
• 03/28/2026 – Attend and enjoy the wonderful retreat.
• 03/28/2026 – For registration after the retreat, send a message to the registrar to arrange payment.

Registration

After registration opens, select the Register Now button to indicate you’ll be attending in-person. The fee is $25.00 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 $35 or $50 dollars. 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 for this event, please click here to review SIM’s Registration Refund Policy.

After we receive your registration payment, SIM will confirm your registration within 48 hours. Thanks for your patience.

Questions for the Registrar?

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

Teacher Dana

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. To make a donation for this event using a credit card or PayPal account, click here to DONATE ONLINE.