Insight Meditation Modesto will be offering a daylong with Robert Cusick on Saturday, July 21, 2012 from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM at at Doctors Medical Center, 1441 Florida Ave., Conference Center, room 1, Modesto, CA (the Conference Center is the building between the parking structure and the emergency department) on:

A Journey into the Heart of Dying

This daylong exploration into loss, grieving and dying will take on tough subjects, ones that, in our western culture, most of us choose to ignore. It is open to both experienced and new meditators, as well as non-meditators interested in developing ways to confront these hard realities head on.  The day will consist of alternating periods of silent meditation, gentle movement, instruction and experiential exercises to help bring participants face-to-face with this natural and unavoidable process and the fears normally associated with it. By learning skills to meet rather than turn away from the dread of our unacknowledged fears about loss, grieving and dying, we begin to discover a wholly new way to live before we die.  All are welcome.
This day is freely offered to all.  Donations are welcome to support Robert and future Insight Meditation Modesto offerings.

Please bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share for lunch.  For the sake of those who may have sensitivities or allergies, please do not wear scented or perfumed products.  If you have a meditation cushion, please bring it.  Chairs will be available.

Robert Cusick is a long time student of Gil Fronsdal. He was a Buddhist monk in Burma, trained by the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw. He also trained in the Soto Zen tradition at Tassajara Zen Center in 2001. He participated in the Diamond Heart program with Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas), in the Sati Center’s Buddhist Chaplaincy training and completed the Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP) at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 2003, where he serves as a Retreat Manager. Robert also teaches at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City and is a volunteer peer counselor at Kara in Palo Alto. Robert is a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor, and sits on the board of directors at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.
For additional information, please contact Lori Wong at 209-343-2748.

Here is a printable flyer “A Journey into the Heart of Dying”.

Saturday, June 16, 2012, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
(Note: change of time)
at
Doctors Medical Center
1441 Florida Ave.
Conference Center, Room 1 (building between the parking structure and Emergency Dept.)
Modesto, CA

One of the most accessible and powerful tools the Buddha offered for meeting difficulty with strength and grace is the practice of metta, or unconditional love, the first of the four Divine Abidings. The practice is beautifully described in a much-loved short text called the Metta Sutta. It reveals a Path of Love that unfolds as wise action, generosity, intention, and the deepest wisdoms of renunciation and release from suffering.

In this daylong retreat, we will study the text both as a teaching tool and a devotional practice, integrated with periods of silent sitting and walking meditation. We’ll learn to chant the text in both Pali and English, and learn a formal metta practice, cultivating the bright, clear love that transforms ourselves and everyone we meet. All are welcome.

This day is freely offered to all.  Donations are welcome to support Sean and future Insight Meditation Modesto offerings.

Please bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share for lunch, and anything else you need to stay warm and cozy through the day.  For the sake of those who may have sensitivities or allergies, please do not wear scented or perfumed products.  If you have a meditation cushion, please bring it.  Chairs will be available.

Sean Feit’s teaching is dedicated to the integration of yoga and meditation, and draws on 17 years of practice in both.  He was a monk in Burma in 2002, and has studied with many wonderful teachers including Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Boorstein and Eugene Cash (Dharma/meditation), David Moreno and Alice Joanou (yoga), and Steve Hoskinson (Somatic Experiencing).  Sean teaches at Yoga Mandala and SF Insight, is recording a CD of Buddhist devotional chants, and leads kirtan, offering the practice of Bhakti Yoga as an integral aspect of a heart-centered Path.  More information about Sean can be found at nadalila.org

For additional information, please contact Lori Wong at 209-343-2748.

Saturday, May 5, 2012, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
at
the Stanislaus Recovery Center
Room C-112 (building is on the left as you enter)
1904 Richland Ave., Ceres, CA

The Buddha’s path to liberation is not a one-fold path, not simply a matter of regularly practicing sitting meditation. Derived from the heart of the Eightfold Path — right speech, right action, right livelihood — the five precepts are integral to the process of awakening. They are not simply a matter of being good, they bring dharma practice directly into our daily lives.

This daylong will review the function of precept practice generally in the broad context of the Four Noble Truths, and will explore them individually to uncover the unique ways in which practicing each of the precepts contributes to our own process of waking up.

Tony Bernhard is one of Spirit Rock’s community dharma leaders and is a board member of the Sati Center.  He hosts sitting groups in Davis and periodically teaches around the bay area and central valley. Tony’s practice is guided by study of the Pali scriptures and by contemporary scholarship of these texts.

 
This day is freely offered to all.  Donations are welcome to support the teacher and future offerings.

Please bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share for lunch, if you would like.  Dress in loose and comfortable clothing.  For the sake of those who may have sensitivities or allergies, please do not wear scented or perfumed products.  If you have a meditation cushion, please bring it.  Chairs will be available.  Suitable for all-levels of practitioners.

For additional information, please contact Lori Wong at 209-343-2748.

Insight Meditation Modesto will be offering a daylong with Kevin Griffin on Saturday, December 10, 2011, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at Doctors Medical Center, 1441 Florida Ave., Conference Center, room 1, Modesto, CA (the Conference Center is the building between the parking structure and the emergency department) on:

The Practice of Recovery: A Buddhist Approach to Living Free from Addiction

This daylong workshop will focus on Buddhist mindfulness practices that can support recovering addicts, alcoholics, and anyone else dealing with addictive behaviors. We will connect the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path with Twelve Step recovery using meditation, lecture, dialog, and interactive exercises.

All are welcome, those new to recovery and those with long experience, as well as recovery professionals. Introductory meditation instruction will be offered.

We are hoping to offer CEU’s for this daylong.  There may be an administrative fee for the CEU’s.  Please check back on the website in November or contact Lori (209-343-2748 or at insightmeditationmodesto@gmail.com), if you are interested in CEU’s.
Kevin Griffin is the author of the seminal 2004 book One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps and the recent A Burning Desire: Dharma, God and the Path of Recovery (note: this book is currently on sale at Amazon as a bargain book!). He has been practicing Buddhist meditation for three decades and been in recovery since 1985. He’s been a meditation teacher for over fifteen years. His teacher training was at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he currently leads Dharma and Recovery classes.

For more information, see www.kevingriffin.net.

This daylong is offered freely.  Donations are gratefully accepted for Kevin or for Insight Meditation Modesto.  Please bring a vegetarian dish to share for a pot-luck lunch.  Dress in loose and comfortable clothing.  For the sake of those who may have sensitivities or allergies, please do not wear scented or perfumed products.  If you have a meditation cushion, please bring it.  Chairs will be available.  Suitable for beginning and all-levels of practitioners.

Insight Meditation Modesto will be offering a daylong with Lori Wong on Saturday, November 12, 2011, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm at at the UU Fellowship on 2172 Kiernan Ave., Modesto (in the sanctuary) on:

Caring For Ourselves, We Care for the World


We will spend this day in silent practice to replenish ourselves so we can bring our renewed presence and care back into the world.  The day will include introductory instructions for sitting and walking meditation in the morning followed by alternating sitting and walking practice including some qigong.  There will be a short talk before lunch and a dharma talk at the end of the day.  If you come for a partial day and arrive during a sitting period, please enter quietly and join us.  Most of the day will be held in silence in order to cultivate a still and quiet mind; opportunities for practice discussions will be provided.

Lori Wong has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 2003 and is a Community Dharma Leader in training through Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA.  Her mentor teachers in the program are Gil Fronsdal of Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City and Eugene Cash of SF Insight in San Francisco. She has been a student of tai chi and qigong for two years – her teacher is Sifu Neil Thomas of the Kung Fu Institute in Modesto.  She is a former board member of the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City and is currently on the board of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies and is a founding director of the Buddhist Insight Network.  She leads Insight Meditation sitting groups on Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons in Modesto.

This day is freely offered to all.  Donations are welcome to support future offerings.  Please bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share for lunch, if you would like.  Dress in loose and comfortable clothing.  For the sake of those who may have sensitivities or allergies, please do not wear scented or perfumed products.  If you have a meditation cushion, please bring it.  A very limited number of mats and cushions will be available.  Chairs will be available.  Suitable for beginning and all-levels of practitioners.

Insight Meditation Modesto will be offering a daylong with Jacques Verduin and Diane Wilde on Saturday, September 24, 2011, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm at Doctors Medical Center, 1441 Florida Ave., Conference Center, room 1, Modesto, CA (the Conference Center is the building between the parking structure and the emergency department) on:

The Dharma in Prison

What does it mean to ‘leave prison before you get out’? What are the greater implications of teaching the experience of freedom not just as the other side of the gate but rather as a state of mind?  This day-long training aims to share the experience of mindfulness practice in the prison system and shows that it is applicable even in our own daily lives – freedom is possible inside and outside of prison. There will be a sharing of practices conducive to teaching mindfulness meditation in prison, examples of exercises and how they are helpful for prisoners and ourselves to become free.  There will be opportunity to discuss how the dharma informs violence prevention, skillful communication and conflict resolution.

Appropriate for beginning as well as more experienced practitioners.

Jacques Verduin, MA Somatic Psych., is a father, community organizer and a teacher.  Currently, Jacques is leading a new initiative called ‘Insight-Out’ wherein former prisoners trained inside San Quentin act as change agents in the community, working with youth to prevent violence and incarceration and teaching their brothers and sisters that are still locked up. The project also serves as a catalyst for state-wide prison reform in California. Jacques is the founding director of the Insight Prison Project, a non-profit that since 1997 pioneers innovative in-prison rehabilitation programs in San Quentin State Prison.

Diane Wilde is one of the founding members of Sacramento Insight Meditation (SIM) and served on SIM’s first Board of Directors. Since 2003, she has been a volunteer Buddhist prison chaplain and coordinates 20 volunteers who offer meditation services at Folsom State Prison-Folsom, California State Prison-Sacramento & Mule Creek State Prison-Ione. In 2010, she founded the religious nonprofit, “Folsom Pathways Sangha” which coordinates meditation practice and mindful movement in these prisons. She is currently enrolled in the Community Dharma Leadership Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Gil Fronsdal and John Travis are her senior teachers.

This daylong is offered freely.  Donations are gratefully accepted for Jacques and Diane and their respective organizations: Insight Prison Project and Folsom Pathways Sangha.  Please bring a vegetarian dish to share for a pot-luck lunch.  Dress in loose and comfortable clothing.  For the sake of those who may have sensitivities or allergies, please do not wear scented or perfumed products.  If you wish to sit on the floor and have a zabuton and/or meditation cushion, please bring it.   Chairs will be available.  Suitable for beginning and all-levels of practitioners.