WEEKLY MEDITATION SITS
SIMC warmly welcomes everyone. These weekly meditations (or sits) are inclusive and open to all levels of practitioners - whether it's your first time meditating or a practice you've been exploring for decades. Each session includes 30-35 minutes of silent meditation, creating space for stillness, reflection, and connection. Each meditation session is led by different volunteers with their own unique tone and approach. There are a variety of seating options available, including cushions (bolsters and zafus), blankets, and chairs. ​
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Sundays: 5:00pm – 6:00pm
This meditation often includes chanting of the refuges, a 35-minute silent meditation, a thoughtful reading or poem, and possibly discussion after. On the first Sunday of the month, we offer a Sunday Tea after the sit where some stay to enjoy tea and cookies, which adds a nice element of community.
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Tuesdays: 12:00pm – 12:45pm
This meditation often includes a simple and relevant teaching, a thoughtful reading or poem, a 30-minute meditation (sometimes lightly guided), and possibly a short metta practice after meditation. This sit is usually available via Zoom. Click here for the Zoom Link. Please note that the Zoom option may not be available when Denise is not leading the sit.
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Thursdays: 12:00pm - 12:30pm
This meditation is a straightforward format, where a volunteer rings the bell for a 30-minute meditation.
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Fridays: 7:00am - 8:00am
This is a quiet, silent meditation period. You are welcome to quietly drop in at any point during the hour or sit for the full session.
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Throughout the year, we may offer additional meditations for special events. Please check our calendar or newsletter for these. All meditations are offered in-person at the sangha house, located at 248 D Street in Salida, Colorado. Please enter through the back door by the prayer wheels.
The door on D Street has an Access Ramp if needed. Please knock and someone will open the door.
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If you're new to meditation, please feel free to read our simple guide by clicking the link below.
MEDITATION RETREATS
WHEN IS THE NEXT RETREAT?
The Salida Insight Meditation Community strives to offer multiple retreats each year, thanks to the generous dana from our sangha community.
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We typically offer non-residential retreats, each led by recognized Buddhist teachers.​ We are looking into possible residential retreats in the future.
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Retreats with Brian Lesage are generally held in the spring and in the fall. ​ Denise Ackert often offers a few half-day and daylong retreats throughout the year.
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​These retreats tend to fill up fast, so we recommend subscribing to our newsletter or checking back here for updates on upcoming retreats.
The Still Point of Practice
A weekend retreat with Brian Lesage & Robin Craig
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Saturday May 30th 9:00am - 4:00pm
Sunday May 31st 9:00am - 3:30pm
Poncha Springs Town Hall Meeting Room
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T.S. Eliot writes of “the still point of the turning world.” In the midst of change, speed, uncertainty, and the many movements of mind and heart, practice can help us discover something that does not depend on the world becoming less turbulent. It can reveal a stillness that is not separate from life, but found right in the midst of it.
This weekend retreat will explore the deepening of mindfulness and collectedness as a way of coming into wise relationship with experience. As the Buddha taught, when mindfulness becomes steady and continuous, the heart and mind can begin to settle. From that settling, we can see more clearly the changing nature of experience, the ways we get entangled in reactivity, and the possibility of greater freedom.
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Teachings and practices that support both calm and insight will be offered, helping participants cultivate a grounded presence amid the turning conditions of life. Through meditation, silence, and careful attention, we will explore how the still point is not a place we escape to, but a way of inhabiting our lives with more balance, intimacy, and ease.
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Held in silence, the retreat will include meditation instruction and Dharma talks. Suitable for both beginning and experienced meditators, this weekend offers a chance to step out of the usual momentum of daily life and to deepen in presence, clarity, and heart.
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See Brian's Bio here.
See Robin's Bio here.
Please note: Registration closes on Thursday, May 28th at 11:00 AM. Be sure to sign up before this date to reserve your space.
There is a $25 non-refundable registration fee which helps SIMC offset some of the cost of hosting a retreat. We wish to make this retreat accessible to all. If the $25 registration fee poses any hardship for you, please reach out to us as soon as possible at Sangha@salidasangha.orgfor scholarship resources and registration.
Love in Times of Challenge
A half-day retreat with Denise Ackert
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Saturday April 18th 9:00am - 12:30pm
SIMC Sangha House at 248 D St
Often when we face challenge, personally or collectively, aversion toward the difficulty and discomfort arises. In this short retreat, we explore seeing this tendency and learn to meet these challenges in wholesome and beneficial ways.
This retreat will include instruction, sitting & walking meditation, and opportunities for Q&A. The retreat is designed for both beginners and experienced students.
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In the spirit of generosity this retreat is offered freely. You will have the opportunity at the retreat to offer dana (donation) to support the teacher and help sustain future offerings.
CLASSES
The Seven Factors of Awakening
A 5-week course with Denise Ackert
Tuesdays beginning April 14th through May 12th
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
SIMC Sangha House at 248 D St
Accessing wholesome states is at the heart of deepening our meditation practice. In this course, we will explore these seven beneficial qualities of the heart/mind - Mindfulness, Investigation, Energy, Joy, Tranquility, Concentration, and Equanimity - not as ideas to reflect on, but as living qualities to be sensed, embodied, and nurtured through direct experience.
This course is suitable for beginners and experienced practitioners alike. It includes dharma talks, sitting and walking meditation, Q & A periods and home practice.
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In the spirit of generosity this class is offered freely. And as an important part of Buddhist practice, you will have the opportunity to offer dana (donation) to support the teacher and help sustain future offerings.
“The critical element in meditation practice is beginning again. Everyone loses focus at times, everyone loses interest at times, and everyone gets distracted over and over again. What is essential, and also incredibly transforming, is realizing that we have the ability to begin again, without blaming or judging ourselves, without thinking we have failed, without losing heart, we can, and need to, constantly be beginning again.”
–Sharon Salzberg