Wise Thinking, Unwise Thinking, and Silence: How Meditation Can Transform Our Relationship to Thought

This meditation workshop with Matthew Brensilver, PhD, is a daylong at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, rooted in the Insight Meditation and Buddhist traditions. It looks at how we relate to thought: when thinking serves us, when it turns into rumination and worry, and how silence can help it stay within what it does well. It suits meditators with some experience, and it can be attended in person or online.

What to Expect

Thinking sits near the center of human experience, and the most common thing people say when they begin to meditate is how much they think. We often ask the mind to work harder than it needs to: to settle uncertainty, digest painful experiences, and make us feel good about ourselves. This daylong explores another way of relating to the mind, one that is caring and responsive, drawing on action, intuition, equanimity and silence.

Together you look at what is understood as wise and unwise thought, and at how silence can help thought stay in its own lane, supporting intuition and a greater sense of attunement. The day combines guided meditation, silent practice, dharma talks and time for group dialogue. It runs from 10:00am to 4:00pm, with a one-hour lunch period and two 15-minute breaks.

Themes include the cognitive patterns that lead to rumination and worry versus adaptive problem-solving, and how to observe thought without reacting to it. The aim is to learn to tell useful thinking from unproductive thinking through direct experience and conversation, and to apply that understanding to personal well-being.

About Matthew Brensilver, PhD

Matthew Brensilver teaches at the Insight Retreat Center, Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society. He was previously program director for Mindful Schools and, for more than a decade, a core teacher at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He also worked as a clinical social worker, serving adults with severe and persistent mental illness, a background that informs his attention to how people live with their minds.

The Setting

The program takes place at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, in the Great Hall of the Community Meditation Center. It is a non-residential day program, so overnight accommodations are not provided. If you prefer not to travel, the same daylong is offered online via Zoom. Choose one format when you register. Registration includes access to a recording after the program, available about ten days later.

Before You Go

This is an intermediate-level program. Some prior meditation experience is helpful, and the day assumes familiarity with basic practice while introducing more nuanced work with thought patterns and mental stability. All practitioners are welcome.

- Languages: English and Spanish.
- Included: guided and silent meditation, dharma teachings, group dialogue, and recording access.
- Not included: meals and lodging. In-person attendees should bring a lunch and a water bottle, as lunch is not provided.
- Sliding scale: fees are offered on a sliding scale with scholarship rates, and volunteer or work exchange opportunities may be available for the in-person program.

Continuing education: Four CE credits are available for an additional fee to licensed and license-eligible mental health and health care professionals. The learning objectives center on distinguishing adaptive, problem-focused thinking from repetitive thinking, and on applying mindfulness to disengage from the latter. Full live attendance is required for credit, and participants should confirm that their own licensing board accepts it. Credit is sponsored by Mindful CECs.