What’s New At Insight Meditation Center
Six-Week Series: 4/16 – 5/21. Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:00pm In-person at IMC Registration encouraged — see below. Mindfulness practice teaches us to be present in the moment with non-judgmental awareness, creating more ease with what is. However, many of us are plagued by judgments, often quite self-critical. We may find it’s much easier to have compassion for others than for ourselves. In this course, we learn to turn our compassion inwards, cultivating the conditions that allow us to accompany overwhelming…
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Saturday, May 2, 9:30am – 4:00pm In-person only at IMC Part of a Series: Foundation in Freedom: Progressive Instruction in Mindfulness Meditation Offered by Kodo Conlin, Ying Chen, Lydia Ridgway & Yanli Wang Part and parcel of the Buddha’s path to liberation is the cultivation of mindfulness. Our Insight tradition is rich in ways to grow mindfulness in relationship with all aspects of our experience, no part left out. Let’s share in four Saturday daylong retreats for the purpose of developing clarity…
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Sunday, May 3, 2026, 9:25 – 10:45am In-person at IMC Vesak – Buddha’s Birthday Celebration Today’s meeting will include a Vesak celebration to honor the Buddha’s birthday. The adults will listen to the first part of the dharma talk and chant the refuges before the children join the sangha, bringing in the flower-laden pagoda to celebrate the Buddha’s birth. Families with children are encouraged to attend. Kids are welcome to come at 9:30 with a few flowers to decorate the…
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May 23, 2026 6:00 am – 9:00 pm In-person only at IMC Offered by: bruni dávila This is a great opportunity for a full day of immersion in silent Dharma Practice. Practicing mindfulness on retreat is one of the foundations for maturing insight meditation. The simplicity, silence and support of retreats contribute to letting go of many of the distractions that get in the way of clear seeing. Retreats also are a wonderful environment for developing a continuity of awareness for…
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Monday, May 25, 2026 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm In-person at IMC Offered by: Ying Chen and Sylvie Leotin Join us for a special gathering of cancer survivors at IMC. Whether you are newly navigating survivorship or are many years beyond treatment, your presence is warmly welcome. There will be space for mingling, acknowledging, and celebrating the strength and resilience each of us carries. The gathering will begin with a brief guided meditation — a quiet moment to breathe and ground ourselves. Following this, we…
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Saturday May 30, 2026: 8:30 am — 10:00 am On Zoom Topic: Our Path of Harmlessness on Earth Offered by: Jan Messer Please join an open sangha discussion on Zoom about our path of harmlessness, care and protection in relation to the earth and all its inhabitants.There will be space to share our grief and concerns about climate change, extinct and endangered species, and our ways of facing these losses using dharma teachings and sangha support. We will also discuss…
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Saturday, May 30, 2026 9:30 am – 3:30 pm In-person only at IMC Offered by: Kristina Isberg and Peter Fenczik In this daylong retreat, we will explore the teachings of Burmese Vipassana teacher Mahasi Sayadaw through his foundational instructions on mental noting, walking meditation, and mindfulness of the four elements. This retreat is an opportunity to learn about Vipassana history, strengthen mindfulness and concentration, practice with the IMC community, and ask questions of the teachers. The day will include guided meditation,…
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Saturday, March 7, 9:00am – 1:00pm In-person only at IMC Offered by Matthew Brensilver Meditation is a subtle art, and even seemingly simple instructions are easy to misunderstand or misapply. We often repeat the same habits in meditation that operate in daily life. There is no endpoint at which we have finally understood the instructions and can simply go about implementing them. In other words, we are always discovering how to practice. During our time together, Matthew will provide a…
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Saturday March 14, 2026 8:30 am – 5:00 pm In-person only at IMC Offered by: bruni dávila Practicing mindfulness on retreat is one of the foundations for maturing insight meditation. The simplicity, silence and support of retreats contribute to letting go of many of the distractions that get in the way of clear seeing. Retreats also are a wonderful environment for developing a continuity of awareness for an extended period. This particular daylong retreat is meant for people who already…
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Friday, March 20, 2026: 11:10 am Where: Let’s meet in the Edgewood Park parking lot on Edgewood Rd, San Carlos at 11:00 am for a 3+ mile hike — approximately 3 hours. What: We will celebrate this celestial event walking through local ecosystems with some periods of silence bringing our awareness to the present, paying attention to our senses. There will be a time of sitting with a ritual and a gathering together. Join: Kristen Benson, anEco Buddist Chaplain through…
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Saturday, March 21, 9:30am – 4:00pm In-person only at IMC Part of a Series: Foundation in Freedom: Progressive Instruction in Mindfulness Meditation with Kodo Conlin and Ying Chen Offered by Kodo Conlin and Ying Chen Part and parcel of the Buddha’s path to liberation is the cultivation of mindfulness. Our Insight tradition is rich in ways to grow mindfulness in relationship with all aspects of our experience, no part left out. Let’s share in four Saturday daylong retreats for the…
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Saturday, March 28, 2026: 8:30 am — 10:00 am On Zoom Topic: Story Exchange Workshop Offered by: Eco-chaplains Shoshana Perry and Summer Payne The Goal: To experience the power of connection and Narrative 4’s core story exchange methodology. To prepare: Bring a story from your life you are willing to share. Below are prompts focused on earth and community from which to choose. The story should be no longer than 5 minutes. The story you bring to the workshop will…
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Saturday, March 28, 2026: 9:30am – 4:30pm In-person at IMC only Offered by: Kim Allen In a world of AI, virtual interaction, and constant information flow, it is easy to lose touch with what is reliable and what is spiritually nourishing. Meditation can help us attune to a natural intelligence that resides within and includes both wisdom and heart qualities. This day of practice will support cultivating this Dharma intelligence. Learning to trust it supports our engagement with both the…
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IRC 2026 Winter-Spring Newsletter is available online . You can read past newsletters in both HTML and PDF formats on the Newsletter page of the Insight Retreat Center website.
In 2026, I am bringing many areas of my long time interests and activity to focus on Buddhist Peace and Conflict Chaplaincy by starting two new programs through the Sati Center: Peace Chaplaincy Speaker’s Series for dialogues we people working in directly or indirectly in the field of Peace and Conflict Chaplaincy. It continuous the conversations I had with the Palestinian Dharma teacher Muna Shaheen and Israeli Dharma Stephen Fulder and with Mohsen Mandawi The next conversation will…
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