We raised $250 for the IRC

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Dear all,

Thank you for your generosity for the Insight Retreat Center – we raised $250 for the IRC.  Also, there was a lot of generosity in helping with setting the room up and cleaning up and putting it back to order at the end of the day.  Much gratitude to all of you for your practice and generosity!

Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation Course starts June 26th

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When: June 26 through July 31, six Sundays from Noon to 2pm

Where: Children’s Classroom Building (west of the main church sanctuary – the street number on the building is 2206) at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County on 2172 Kiernan Ave. between Carver and Dale Rds., Modesto, CA.

This is a 6-week Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation course taught by Lori Wong. The course will include progressive instructions, exercises and practice which build from each previous week. The course is designed for those new to meditation but can also be used to deepen or support practice for those who are already familiar with mindfulness meditation.
All are welcome to drop-in, although the greatest benefit will be for those who attend all of the 6-week series.  If you wish to sit on a cushion or mat, please bring your own. The floor is carpeted. Chairs will be provided.

The teachings and meetings are offered freely, without charge, as a gift to all who wish to come.  Donations are gratefully accepted, but the wish is for those donations to come joyfully from whatever generosity may arise naturally from your heart. There is no expectation or obligation to make a donation.  One of the UUFSC members has volunteered to offer child care for three of the Sundays – if some of you are willing to help volunteer to watch the children for parents who want to participate, that would be a wonderful and generous offering.  We need coverage for 3 more Sundays.

If you have questions or wish to sign up for this course, please contact Lori Wong by email (insightmeditationmodesto@gmail.com) or phone (209.343.2748).

Intro Course June 2011 Printable Flyer

Benefit Daylong on June 18th

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Insight Meditation Modesto will be offering a benefit daylong with Lori Wong on Saturday, June 18, 2011, 9:00 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:

Exploring Mindfulness of the Body

We will explore and develop mindfulness of the body and investigate how mindfulness of the body can bring greater ease with difficult sensations, emotions and mind states into our daily lives.  The day will include experiential sessions and guided meditations with alternating sitting and movement periods including walking, qigong and other movement explorations.  If you come for a partial day and arrive during a sitting period, please enter quietly and sit in the rear until the sitting period is over.  Most of the day will be held in silence in order to cultivate a still and quiet mind; opportunities for questions and discussion will be provided.

Lori WongLori 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 has been on the board 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 an Insight Meditation sitting group on Tuesday evenings in Modesto and will be teaching a 6-week Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation course beginning June 26th at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County.

This day is freely offered and is a benefit to help support the development of the Insight Retreat Center in Scotts Valley.  All donations from the day will be given to the Insight Retreat Center (a non-profit 501(3)c organization).  If you wish to write a check, please write it to the Insight Retreat Center.  Please bring a vegetarian potluck dish to share for lunch, if you would like.  Feel free to bring a meat dish for yourself if you require additional protein in your diet.  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.

Wonderful quotes and readings

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From John O’Donohue’s book “To Bless the Space Between Us,”

For Courage

When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,
When one voice commands
Your whole heart
And it is raven dark,
Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world,

Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night corner.

Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.

Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark.

That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive
To urge you toward higher ground
Where your imagination
Will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!

“Whenever we feel that we are definitely right, so much so that we refuse to open up to anything or anybody else, right there we are wrong. It becomes wrong view. When suffering arises, where does it arise from? The cause is wrong view, the fruit of that being suffering. If it was right view it wouldn’t cause suffering.”  — Ajahn Chah

Here is a wonderful article worth reading from Tricycle Magazine by Ajahn Chah: Meeting the Dharma Alone

Please support IMC's Retreat Center fund drive

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Please read the following letters from Ines Freedman, the Insight Retreat Center Managing Director and Gil Fronsdal, my teacher and founding/guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Center.  I’ve benefited from many IMC retreats held at Hidden Villa and now, IMC has purchased a property that will allow them to provide more opportunities for retreats.  If you’ve attended an IMC retreat, or have wanted to, but haven’t been able to attend in the past, please consider supporting this project.  If you’d like to see the property and grounds, check out the link to the IRC website – there are videos and photographs to see just how beautiful this is and how wonderful this will be for retreats.

Dear Friends,

The Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City has been searching for property for a retreat center for several years.  We have just purchased a property in Scotts Valley, about 10 minutes east of Santa Cruz, CA.

  • We plan to offer retreats for up to 40 people completely freely.
  • Every retreatant will have a private room.
  • We plan to offer a monthly 7-14 day retreat and two 3-5 day retreats most months
  • Once a year we plan to have a month-long retreat.

Though we’ve been able to purchase a beautiful 2.8 acre rural property, we now need the funds to convert it from a nursing home into a retreat center, and to purchase the adjoining 38-acre forest preserve.

We need to raise $2.3 million to complete the project and purchase the preserve.  A sangha member has just offered a $500,000 matching pledge, so that every dollar donated is matched.

Just as IMC is completely run by volunteers, so will the Insight Retreat Center.  This project is so close to my heart that I’ve volunteered to be Managing Director for the next few years to guide this project full-time.

We would appreciate your support, both with donations, and in spreading the word to your respective sanghas.

You can learn more and see photos of our new Insight Retreat Center (IRC) here:  www.insightretreatcenter.org

We also invite you to read Gil Fronsdal’s document, A Three-part Vision For A Balanced Buddhist Culture – his vision about the relationship between the Sati Center, the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City, and the newly developing Insight Retreat Center (IRC) in Scotts Valley.

Hope to see you on retreat with us!

With Metta,

Ines Freedman, IRC Managing Director

insightretreatcenter@gmail.com
(408) 663-1906

Dear Friend,

It is rare that I make a direct request for donations.  All that we offer at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) we offer freely; a person can participate in our programs for a long time and never hear any request for money.  Now I would like to make an exception and ask you to consider making a donation to help transform our newly purchased property into a residential retreat center. We have recently received a very generous $500,000 matching pledge, which means that every dollar you donate will be matched.

This year is our time of greatest opportunity to renovate our new retreat home and to acquire and protect the adjacent 38-acre private nature preserve.  If we can complete the renovation as planned, we will have a retreat center that operates in the same efficient and welcoming manner that beautifully continues the Dharma culture we have at IMC. Just as we do at IMC, the retreat center will offer retreats freely, with no costs to participants.

Our goal is to raise $2.3 million dollars to complete the project and acquire the nature preserve. This will include the creation of a meditation hall, a walking hall, and 40 individual bedrooms. The nature preserve will help us make walking in nature an integral part of our retreats.

Having our own retreat center fulfills a dream many of us have nurtured for a long time. Knowing the benefits from even a few days of retreat, we are excited to be able to offer a rich and varied program of retreats throughout the year.

This retreat center is our gift to future generations. Here, countless people will discover how mindfulness heals, develops love, and liberates. Having practiced here, retreatants will bring the benefits of mindfulness and compassion into the wider world.

It is very inspiring to me that so many people have found value in the teachings and practice opportunities at IMC.  I hope you will help us expand the good we can do by helping us build and establish the Insight Retreat Center.  Your gifts will not only help make the renovations possible, they will also add to the goodwill and generosity that will serve as the foundation of our center.

When we open the retreat center in 2012, please come join us on a retreat.

To make a donation online please visit our Donation page.

With much gratitude,

Gil Fronsdal