
For very occasional dharma reflections & announcements, join my mailing list
We conceal it from ourselves in vain – we must always love something.
- Blaise Pascal
Public Events
Weekly IMC Group
Certain Wednesdays with Matthew | IMC YouTube, 7:30pm - 8:15pm PT [No class Oct 22]
In-Person Retreats
Fall Insight Retreat | Spirit Rock | October 16-24
Tranquility and Insight with Dana DePalma and Ying Chen | Spirit Rock | January 18-22
Insight Retreat for People in their 20s and 30s with Max Erdstein | IRC (lottery app deadline Nov 7) | February 17-22
Big Bear Retreat March 31-April 4 - Details to follow
San Diego Retreat - April 19 - 23 - Details to follow
Daylong Retreats
Wise Intention and the Cultivation of Faith | Napa Valley Insight Meditation | November 1
Berkeley Daylong on Spiritual Friendship | Sponsored by Insight Meditation Center | December 6
IMS Online | Introduction to Insight Meditation | December 7
Matthew Brensilver, MSW, PhD
teaches retreats at the Insight Retreat Center, Spirit Rock and other Buddhist centers.
He was previously program director for Mindful Schools and for more than a decade, was a core teacher at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. Matthew worked as a clinical social worker, serving severely and persistently mentally ill adults and adolescents. He subsequently earned a PhD from the Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at USC where he was a Provost’s Fellow. His dissertation examined the mechanisms of risk and resilience in maltreated adolescents in a large, longitudinal study in South Los Angeles.
Before committing to teach meditation full-time, he spent years doing research on addiction pharmacotherapy at the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine. Each summer, he lectures at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center on the intersections between mindfulness, science and psychotherapy. He serves on the Board of Directors at Spirit Rock.
Matthew is the co-author of two books about meditation during adolescence and continues to be interested in the unfolding dialogue between Buddhism and science. He is grateful for many teachers, most especially Shinzen Young, Michele McDonald, Ajahn Sucitto and Gil Fronsdal. Matthew loves the dharma, and other stuff too.

terrified pre-game bar mitzvah


from Kirschblüten

teen retreat

volvo and a lot of matthew

steph is like right behind me


punching contest (you could say, I lost)

dharma in vegas

webmaster inserted image of me with his adorable family
