Shaila Catherine

Mindful Self-Esteem – Cultivating Self-Acceptance and Self-Compassion course at IMSB’s Saratoga location on Thursday nights has developed into a close-knit and dedicated group. The instructor, Dr. Janetti Marotta, skillfully leads the class with guided meditations, small group exercises, and easy homework assignments that help the participants to learn positive attributes and simultaneously build mindfulness skills [...]

Due to the fires that devastated Santa Rosa last year, our annual spring ten-day retreat relocated to Saratoga Springs Retreat Center in Upper Lake, CA— about 15 minutes from Clear Lake, just north of the wine country. The retreat center is nestled in a narrow valley, protected from outside noise by 2 ridges with hiking [...]

We drew our grand prize raffle winner on the beautiful Buddha statue at the conclusion of our guest speaker series on the Awakening Factors. Congratulations to our winners:     Chetan - Grand Prize     Laura - Second Intermediate Prize     Soorej - First Intermediate Prize Thanks to Steve Finkelman for the wonderful donations of the [...]

It was a great joy to host Bhikkhu Bodhi this week when he led our monthly sutta study class. We have been studying the Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (Anguttara Nikaya) for the last few years, and 20 members of our Friday and Wednesday groups joined together to meet with Bhikkhu Bodhi. He offered us [...]

Addressing the topic of Joy in IMSB's series on the Awakening Factors, guest speaker Misha Merrill gave an especially powerful and inspiring talk. You can listen to it at: https://imsb.dharmaseed.org/teacher/582/talk/48941/

Our winter guest speaker series on the seven factors of awakening was a rousing success! Chris Clifford gave an especially clear and comprehensive talk on Mindfulness that you can download here: https://imsb.dharmaseed.org/teacher/662/talk/48429/. More recordings of our guest speakers will soon be posted at: https://imsb.dharmaseed.org/talks/

It is with deep appreciation that we report the wonderful news that this year's annual appeal met, and in the final days of 2017 actually surpassed, our goal of raising $30,000 for annual operating expenses. The IMSB community stepped up with hearts and wallets open, with 63 donors giving $34,486. Much appreciations to all!  

Between each series class on Thursdays in Saratoga IMSB offers a drop-in evening that provides an opportunity to practice meditation together. It is a great way of introducing a friend to meditation, and deepening your own practice with an evening of guided meditations, sitting and walking practice, or other mindfulness exercises. People leave smiling, and [...]

Register now for Bodhi Courses next online program: Satipatthana: Mindfulness of the Body. The program includes all the usual superb features of Shaila's online classes with recorded lectures, live conference calls, guided meditation, reflective exercises, and stimulating reading assignments. In addition we have heard the exciting news that Bhikkhu Analayo will offer a special guest teacher [...]

Our summer speaker series, Living Wisely In The World, was a great success, with a dynamic lineup of speakers: Shaila Catherine Jennifer Dungan Lisa Dale Miller Nikki Mirghafori Tony Bernhard Robert Cusick If you missed any of these great talks, you can still listen to them through the IMSB portal to DharmaSeed. https://imsb.dharmaseed.org. The talks are [...]

In response to many requests, we are offering a course that will explore what the Buddha taught about social and community topics. The course will run for ten weeks on Thursday evenings in Saratoga beginning October 26. The class is structured around a brilliant little book by Bhikkhu Bodhi, that collects discourses of the Buddha [...]

Last week (September 5) Shaila Catherine gave a moving dhamma talk on the theme of Forgiveness. Next week on September 12 she will launch our next speaker series with a talk on Angulimala, who was a robber and murderer who gave up his wicked ways and ordained under the Buddha. This speaker series is on the [...]

Sunday 10th September Shaila Catherine will be teaching at Worldwide Insight, a unique online platform for live, interactive dharma teachings. It is free to sign up and participate in the class. The theme will be Appreciation. The class starts at 2pm EST, 7pm UK. You can find out more at www.worldwideinsight.org, and you can share details of the [...]

Shaila Catherine will be offering an online course on Satipatthana: Mindfulness of the Body this fall. For people who live far away, or find it difficult to get to our local sitting group, this online course is an excellent opportunity for in-depth study, reflection, and practice. The course includes readings, lectures, guided meditations, reflective assignments [...]