InsightLA is the primary insight meditation and secular mindfulness center in Los Angeles, founded in 2002 by Trudy Goodman, a teacher trained at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center and at Spirit Rock. The center grew out of Goodman's work bringing mindfulness into LA hospitals, schools, and clinical psychology practice. From a small rented hall in West LA, InsightLA expanded to a larger campus in Santa Monica and now runs hybrid programming serving the broader Southern California sangha as well as a national online audience. The center holds two distinct streams in one building. The first is classical Insight meditation in the Western vipassana lineage. The second is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and secular mindfulness, taught by certified MBSR and MBCT instructors. The two sit alongside each other on the calendar, with cross-pollination but distinct registers. A practitioner can take an eight-week MBSR course as their first contact with the center and over time move toward classical dharma teaching, or come in through the dharma side and never touch MBSR. Programming runs on a sliding scale. Weekly drop-in sittings, daylongs, weekend retreats, multi-week classes, and a substantial teacher-training program. Guest faculty rotate frequently; Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Tara Brach, Sebene Selassie, and other senior teachers from the broader Insight network teach at InsightLA several times a year. The center also runs affinity programs for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, parents, healthcare workers, and people in recovery. InsightLA does not own residential retreat land. Multi-day silent retreats happen at partner sites, often Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, or further afield at Spirit Rock and other regional houses. The center's teacher-training pipeline, modeled on Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leader program, is one of the larger ones in the US and has produced a cohort of newer Insight teachers over the past decade.
Weekly sits run 60 to 90 minutes: a guided meditation, a dharma talk, and Q&A. The instruction style is in the standard Insight register, with a strong secular-mindfulness flavor on certain nights. Daylongs run 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with alternating sitting and walking. Weekend non-residential retreats hold daytime silence; participants go home at night. Multi-day residential retreats off-site follow the host venue's schedule, typically 5:30 a.m. start, alternating sit-and-walk through the day, evening dharma talk, and noble silence held for the duration. Phones off during programs. Postures are open: cushions, chairs, benches.
The teaching line is Western Insight, particularly the Spirit Rock / IMS stream traceable to the Burmese Mahasi tradition and the Thai Forest. Trudy Goodman trained at CIMC under Larry Rosenberg and later with Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock. The MBSR side of the house traces to Jon Kabat-Zinn's Stress Reduction Clinic at UMass Medical. Other guiding teachers include Christiane Wolf, Kate Janke, Anushka Fernandopulle, and a rotating set of senior teachers from the national network.
Healthcare workers, teachers, and creatives in greater Los Angeles who want a steady urban sangha and weekly sittings within reach of work.
People coming in through the secular-mindfulness side, often after an eight-week MBSR course, who want to keep practicing in a community setting.
Practitioners considering or already in InsightLA's teacher-training pipeline, building toward Community Dharma Leader certification.
For a first visit, arrive 10 minutes early at the Santa Monica space or join the online program through the link sent at registration. Drop-in sittings welcome newcomers. The teacher offers brief instruction at the start of most sittings. Daylongs include a vegetarian potluck or provided lunch. For multi-day residential retreats, transportation to the partner site is on the practitioner; lodging arrangements depend on the host venue. Phones go in a basket at the door for daylongs and longer programs.
The Santa Monica campus has a meditation hall, classrooms, library, and kitchen. No on-site lodging. Wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation available on request. Daylong meals are vegetarian. Online programs run through Zoom and are recorded for the center's library. Off-site residential retreats use partner venues with their own room and meal arrangements.
Programs are offered on a sliding scale. Weekly drop-in sittings ask for a donation with no minimum. Daylongs, classes, and weekend retreats publish a price range, typically with a low-end pay-what-you-can option and no one turned away for lack of funds. Multi-day residential retreats off-site carry the host venue's lodging fees plus teacher dana invited at the close. The center publishes its scholarship process clearly on its registration pages.
LA's primary urban Insight and mindfulness center, holding classical dharma and MBSR side by side.
Both, in distinct programs. The center holds a classical Insight Buddhist track and a secular MBSR / mindfulness track on the same calendar. A practitioner can engage either or both. Weekly sittings are typically dharma-flavored; eight-week MBSR courses are clinical and secular. The center is transparent about which is which.
InsightLA does not own retreat land. Multi-day silent retreats happen at partner venues including Mary and Joseph Retreat Center in Rancho Palos Verdes and other regional sites. The center handles registration; lodging and meals are at the host.
Trudy Goodman remains a senior teacher. Resident faculty include Christiane Wolf, Kate Janke, and others trained through the InsightLA and Spirit Rock pipelines. Guest teachers include Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, and Tara Brach, who teach at the center and in retreat settings several times a year.
Weekly sits ask for a donation with no minimum. Daylongs and weekend retreats are sliding scale, typically $30 to $200 depending on length, with a no-cost option on every registration. Multi-day residential retreats are priced at the host venue's rates, usually $200 to $1,500 for the lodging.
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