Upcoming Teachings
Guiding Teacher Kim Allen teaches at Insight Meditation Center and other Bay Area Dharma groups, as well as farther afield and online, offering Dharma talks, retreats, and classes.
Regular teachings:
Friday sutta contemplation class: "In This Very Life" -- listed on the Sutta Classes page.
Quarterly "Uncontrived Half-Day" practice session (Sat or Sun) -- listed below under Talks and Classes. We aim for Jan/ Apr/ Jul/ Oct.
Another way to keep up: Kim sends a newsletter (about 8x/year) with a Dharma teaching essay and updates on new teachings.
Talks, Classes and Daylongs
January 2026
Online sangha session: Uncontrived Half-Day
Jan 3, 9:30am-Noon Pacific (Sat)
Join right here.
Join the Uncontrived sangha (that’s “Us”) for a half-day of practice online. We do a sit-walk-sit with both guided and silent meditation, followed by a Dharma talk and Q&A or discussion.
Typical schedule (sometimes varies):
9:30-10:15 Intro + Guided Meditation
10:15-10:45 Walking
10:45-11:30 [mostly silent] Meditation
11:30-noon Dharmette, discussion/Q&A
Online class: Refuge in the New Year
Jan 4, 11, and 18 (three Sundays), 1:30-3:00pm
Zoom link below
Refuge in the New Year is a 3-session online class that provides a focused immersion in the topic of refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. You can attend any portion if you are simply interested.
It also includes an optional formal refuge ceremony at the end, which is a common way of expressing commitment to the Buddhist path. Doing the ceremony is completely optional. But if you would like to do that on Jan 18, you must attend fully all three sessions, and also do some meditations and reflection exercises between the sessions.
This is a beautiful and precious opportunity to commit to the Buddhist path. Taking refuge connects one directly to the Buddhist lineage through the person giving refuge. That means that you should feel some resonance with Kim's teachings if you do the ceremony.
No registration is necessary. Please plan to attend all three if you wish to take formal refuge. Zoom link is here.
Online class: What Are We Doing? An Exploration of Kamma
Jan 14 and 21 (two Wed's), 4:00-6:00pm (7:00-9:00pm Eastern)
Teachings on karma (Skt; kamma in Pāli), which simply means “action,” form the basis of Buddhist practice. Over two sessions, we will explore teachings from the Pāli texts about kamma, placing them in the context of ancient Indian “theories of action,” as well as relating them to our modern lives and our journey toward awakening. These teachings offer clear guidance on wise living, while also displaying remarkable nuance.
This class is offered through Ocean Mind Sangha, a Zen group led by Zuisei Goddard. Register here.
Online Community Meeting: A Vision for Uncontrived
Jan 18, 4:00-5:00pm (Sun) — link is below
Uncontrived is now an official non-profit organization! Join Guiding Teacher Kim Allen and the Uncontrived board of directors for a Community Meeting of all who are interested.
We'll share our inspiration in the Dharma, a vision for growing dedicated practice in the West, and some of the current ways Uncontrived is supporting people to find a path.
Join right here.
In-person daylong: Speaking from the heart
Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
Jan 24, 9:00am-4:00pm
Co-taught with Diana Clark, David Lorey, and Ying Chen
Connection grows when our words are wise. In the detailed passages on wise speech in the Pali Canon, the Buddha encourages us to speak from the heart--in ways that support our practice and our engagement with the world. This daylong retreat will include periods of sitting meditation, teachings, small group discussion, and Q&A. This event is intended for people who already understand the basic practice of mindfulness meditation.
No registration necessary. Please bring your own lunch.
February 2026
Hybrid Dhamma Talk
Feb 23, 7:15-8:30pm (Mon)
Insight Meditation Center and on IMC's YouTube channel
March 2026
Online class: Foundations of Samadhi
Mar 1, 8, and 15 (three Sundays), 8:30-11:30am
Plus group practice discussions on Mar 7 (Sat, 8:00-9:00am) and Mar 9 (Mon, 6:00-7:00pm)
Uncontrived
Join the Uncontrived community in an in-depth practice period. Includes group practice discussion for more tailored guidance.
This focused program offers foundational instructions and daily-life practices that support the development of samādhi – a stable, gathered, and pleasant mindstate. Such mindstates are accessible through putting in place certain qualities and conditions named in the Buddha’s teachings. The class focuses first on these conditions; specific samādhi instructions will come near the end of the class. Registration required.
Learn more and register
Online class: See for yourself
Feb 25, Mar 4, 11, and 18 (four Wednesdays), 7:00-8:30pm
A Sati Center class
Buddhist teachings name wisdom, paññā, as a faculty that all humans possess, but may not have developed deeply. Wisdom is essential for liberating the heart from suffering, and is naturally developed through Dharma practice. This class aims to help participants recognize and deepen the Dharma wisdom already present in their life so that it can be applied to benefit themselves and others. The world dearly needs more wisdom, both as basic clarity and discernment and because it is intimately connected to compassion.
In this class, we will explore different facets of wisdom within the early Buddhist teachings, applying them in each session to our lives today. It will include readings from the suttas and more contemporary sources, meditation, teachings, and small- and large-group discussion.
Learn more and Register.
Online daylong: Living Wisdom
Feb 21, 9:00am-4:00pm (Sat)
Offered through Insight Retreat Center
This online Insight retreat will explore wisdom as a lived experience unfolding both on and off the cushion. We'll take up some aspect of the powerful domain called paññā (wisdom) by the Buddha, sensing into it through the body, heart, and mind. The instructions will center around mindfulness of breathing and of the body. Our day together will include sitting and walking meditation, instructions, a dharma talk, and an opportunity to ask questions of the teacher.
Registration is open: Register here. (Scroll down to Feb 21)
In-person daylong: Natural Intelligence
Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
Mar 28, 9:30am-4:00pm (Sat)
In a world of virtual interaction, AI, and continual 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 inner and outer worlds.
This daylong retreat will include alternating periods of sitting and walking, guided meditations, dharma talks, and contemplation. This day of practice is an opportunity to strengthen mindfulness, develop wisdom, practice with the IMC community, and ask a teacher questions. Appropriate for meditators who are already familiar with basic mindfulness instructions. Bring lunch. No registration needed.
Multi-Day Retreats
January 2026
In-person residential retreat: Insight Retreat
Insight Retreat Center (Santa Cruz, CA)
Jan 7-11, 2026 (Wed-Sun, 4 nights)
Co-taught with Andrea Castillo
Registration open at InsightRetreatCenter.org. (Scroll down to the Jan 7 entry).
This retreat is offered within IMC's Culture of Generosity; there will be no registration fee (and there will be an opportunity to support the teachers and organization by donation).
February 2026
In-person non-residential retreat: Los Altos Community Centre (Los Altos, CA)
Feb 4, 5, 6 (Wed-Thu-Fri), 8:00am-4:30pm each day
Co-taught with Diana Clark, David Lorey, and Ying Chen
This retreat, open to all experience levels, offers an intensive retreat experience in a non-residential retreat format. Scheduled from 8 am Wednesday, February 4, to 5 pm on Friday, February 6, in Los Altos, CA, the retreat will include alternate sitting and walking meditation periods, morning instruction, Dharma talks, and short work periods for setting up and cleaning up. Teachings will focus on classical Insight instructions, and will emphasize integrating formal and daily-life practice. Full participation (for the whole day, on all three days) is required. Retreatants are requested to bring lunch each day. Tea and light snacks will be available. Like all IRC retreats, this retreat is offered on a dana-basis.
Registration is open! Register here.
Online teacher for hybrid retreat: Insight Retreat
Jan 25-Feb 1 (Sun-Sun, 7 nights)
Offered through Insight Retreat Center
Teachers: Gil Fronsdal and Ines Freedman, with online practice discussions with Kim Allen
Registration is open at https://www.insightretreatcenter.org/online-retreats/online-retreat-schedule/.
March 2026
Online weekend retreat: The Six Sense Bases: Clarity and Wisdom
Mar 20-22 (Fri evening to Sun midday)
A Sati Center event
Co-taught with Leigh Brasington
In this weekend online retreat, we will explore a less-taught area of the Dharma: The Six Sense Bases (the five physical senses plus the mind). The Buddha pointed out how prone we are to attachment and hence dukkha around sense experience, and yet, to live is to be in continual contact with the sense world. What to do? Clarity and wisdom are needed.
The retreat will consist of alternating sitting and walking practice, guided by a range of instructions and teachings from the suttas about the sense bases. Each day will also include Dharma talks and Q&A. Participants are encouraged to set up conditions of silence and seclusion to the degree possible.
Registration opening soon at https://sati.org/event/the-six-sense-bases/2026-03-20/.
In-person residential retreat: Insight Retreat
Insight Retreat Center (Santa Cruz, CA)
Mar 29-Apr 6 (Sun-Sun, 7 nights)
Co-taught with Diana Clark, Ying Chen, and David Lorey
Registration will open at InsightRetreatCenter.org. (Scroll down to the Mar 29 entry).
This retreat is offered within IMC's Culture of Generosity; there will be no registration fee (and there will be an opportunity to support the teachers and organization by donation).
May 2026
In-person residential retreat: Insight Retreat
Big Springs Retreat Center (outside of Sierra City, CA)
May 13-20 (Wed-Wed, 7 nights)
Co-taught with Diana Clark, Ying Chen, and David Lorey
Registration will open on Insight Retreat Center's "offsite retreats" page. (Scroll down to May 13 entry)
This retreat is offered within IMC's Culture of Generosity; there will be no registration fee (and there will be an opportunity to support the teachers and organization by donation).
In-person residential retreat: Awakening the Pure Heart
Seven Oaks Retreat Center (Madison, VA)
May 25-31 (Tues-Sun, 5 nights)
Co-taught with Marjolein Janssen
This retreat focuses on cultivating insight and the awakening of the heart. Inspired by a traditional Buddhist teaching that compares the mind to a cloth that can be cleansed and brightened, we will explore practical ways of recognizing and releasing unhelpful mental and emotional patterns. As these patterns soften, qualities such as confidence, clarity, kindness, and the four brahmavihāras naturally begin to reveal themselves.
Learn more and register
July 2026
In-person residential retreat: Listen, Heart, Peace: An Insight retreat
Big Bear Retreat Center (SoCal)
July 12-19 (Sun-Sun)
Co-taught with Diana Clark
Careful attention to our inner life awakens the heart and mind to the possibility of peace in the present moment. Supported by the quiet beauty of the natural surroundings and the shared field of community practice, we will explore classical insight practices, highlighting that these are also forms of opening the heart and evoking greater freedom. This silent retreat will include sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talks and practice discussions with the teachers. It is suitable for both new and experienced meditators.
This retreat is offered in collaboration with the Insight Retreat Center (IRC) as a dana retreat with no registration cost. There will be an opportunity to support the teachers, who are not otherwise compensated.
Registration is open!
There are no upcoming events at this time.