Below are listed the Leadership Sangha/Core Teacher members of the East Bay Meditation Center, as well as some of the Community Teachers who have current or upcoming programs at EBMC. Some Leadership Sangha members are also EBMC teachers.
Charlie Johnson teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, yoga, qigong, meditation, and the Dharma in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. He has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1972 and teaching for over fifteen years. Charlie is a certified yoga instructor, a member of the California Yoga Teachers Association and is registered with the Yoga Alliance. He is a member of the EBMC Leadership Sangha and has served on the Board of Directors of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
David has practiced meditation for over 25 years. He was the co-chair of the Diversity Committee of the Community Dharma Leadership Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center from 2001-03. David has experience in both nonprofit and for-profit organizational management.
Kitsy Schoen has been practicing Vipassana meditation for almost 30 years. She will complete the Community Dharma Leader program of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in January 08. Kitsy is a psychotherapist with many years of experience in HIV/AIDs, hospice, bereavement and she currently runs a mind/body mental health education program at Oakland Kaiser. Inspired in large part by Reverend Hilda Ryūmon Gutiérrez Baldoquín, Kitsy is passionate about exploring the intersection of mindfulness and multiculturalism.
Larry Yang teaches meditation retreats nationally and has a special interest in creating access to the Dharma for diverse multicultural communities. He is a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader and is being mentored as a teacher by Jack Kornfield. Larry has practiced extensively in Myanmar and Thailand, including a six month period of ordination as a Buddhist monk under the guidance of meditation master Ajahn Tong. His Webpage is: www.larryyang.org
Mushim is a Buddhist meditation teacher, socially engaged Buddhist activist, diversity facilitator, and author. She is one of three women featured in Acting on Faith: Women's New Religious Activism in America, a documentary available from the Pluralism Project at Harvard University. Mushim was originally trained in the Korean Zen monastic tradition. http://mushim.wordpress.com/
Spring Washam has practiced meditation in various traditions since 1997. She is a founding teacher of the East Bay Meditation Center, located in Oakland, CA. She is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders program and is in teacher training with Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to inner city communities. She currently leads retreats and workshops throughout the US and teaches a weekly sitting group in Oakland, CA. For more information, see www.springwasham.com or e-mail Spring at springw@eastbaymeditation.org.
Ajahn Thanasanti has meditated for 30 years and has been a Buddhist nun for almost two decades, teaching intensive retreats internationally since 1996. She is currently based in Colorado, planning on moving to California in order to pursue her vision of monastic and lay practitioners working together to create viable practice communities. See www.awakeningtruth.org for more information.
Dr. Ali Kane has been teaching yoga and meditation classes, workshops and retreats since 1997. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Comparative Mysticism (New College of Florida), a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology (California Institute of Integral Studies), a Master’s degree in Counselor Education (University of Florida) and a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology (California Institute of Integral Studies). She combines her studies and practice in Eastern wisdom and spirituality with contemporary psychotherapy, creating a holistic body-mind-spirit approach to her work. She currently lives and has a private holistic psychotherapy practice in Santa Cruz, CA. For more information, explore her website: dralikane.com
Anushka Fernandopulle has trained in meditation in the Theravada Buddhist tradition for over 20 years in the US and Asia. Other influences have been mystics from various cultures and traditions, creative arts, nature, service work, progressive social change movements, and modern urban life. Anushka teaches retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Society, and around the country. She has an MBA and also works as an executive/life coach, facilitator, and organizational development consultant. More on her teaching can be found at www.anushkaf.org
Arinna has studied Insight Meditation since 1979. She teaches in the lineage of the Great Burmese teacher U Bha Khin and was empowered to teach by Ruth Denison and has been teaching since 1988. Arinna is the founding teacher of Insight Meditation Center of the Pioneer Valley in Easthampton, MA, and co-author of A Beginner’s Guide to Insight Meditation. She has spent the last two years living in Thai Forest monasteries. She is interested in how to build healthy communities and so her dharma practice has been infused with political, anti-racist and multicultural perspectives.
Arisika Razak, MPH, Health Care Administration, U.C. Berkeley 1978; Certified Nurse Midwife, U.C. San Francisco 1979; Performance Artist, Spiritual dancer, Community healing, Women’s health, Ritual and ceremony for individuals and groups, Diversity training, and Embodying the sacred.
The Venerable Buddharakkhita was born and raised in Uganda. Meditating since 1993, he was ordained as a Theravada Buddhist monk in 2002 by the late Sayadaw U Silananda. He teaches worldwide and in April 2005 founded the Uganda Buddhist Centre. It is the first Buddhist Center in Uganda. Bhante is the author of Planting Dhamma Seeds: The Emerging Buddhism in Africa. He is also a resident monk at the Bhavana Society Forest Monastery in West Virginia, USA.
Brian Hill has been practicing Vipassana meditation since he first studied it in 1987 at a monastery near Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. He has participated in retreats, both as a practitioner and as a teaching assistant to meditation teachers in the U.S. since then.
Caitríona Reed is a teacher of engaged spiritual practice and a meditation teacher, trained in both vipassana and zen. She is a clinical hypnotherapist and a performance coach. She has been a facilitator of change for individuals and organizations for the past twenty-five years. She is co-founder of Manzanita Village and Five Changes. www.manzanitavillage.net
Chinh Nguyen has been practicing meditation since 1999. He is ordained into the Order of Interbeing in the Plum Village Tradition in 2008. He also practices with Dragon Gate Zen and Berkeley Shambhala POC Sangha.
Christopher Bowers is a social worker, student, writer, and Theravada Buddhist practitioner. He has a BA in Liberal Arts with an emphasis on social work and feminist studies. He has facilitated workshops and discussions, mostly with youth, on such topics as white privilege and masculinity. As a writer he hosts a social blog about white privilege (www.whitepriv.blogspot.com) and is a contributor to Urban Refuge, a social networking site for Buddhist people of color and allies (www.urbanrefuge.ning.com). Christopher is currently involved in a variety of anti-oppressive and pro-humanity activities. He is especially interested in exploring how personal spirituality can be an agent of social liberation and vice-versa.
Daniel Rechtschaffen, MA, MFT Intern, is a psychotherapist and meditation teacher in the San Francisco area who integrates cutting-edge psychological techniques with ancient wisdom traditions. He leads meditation and embodiment therapy groups in his private therapy practice as well as at various retreat centers. Daniel convenes a yearly national conference on mindfulness in education at the Omega Institute as well as being one of their core meditation teachers. More information can be found at www.nowcounseling.com.
Donald Rothberg, a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council and the Executive Faculty at Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco, writes and teaches classes, groups, and retreats on meditation, daily life practice, and socially engaged Buddhism. He has also been a board member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship over many years. His experience uniquely combines a long record of activism and organizing, extensive teaching, and leadership roles in pioneering programs that weave together social action with spirituality. He has guided several training programs — both interfaith and Buddhist-based — in engaged spirituality for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Saybrook, and Spirit Rock. At Spirit Rock, he directs a two-year program called “The Path of Engagement,” bringing together spiritual practice, service, and social action. He is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World. Click here for a longer bio of Donald.
Dr. Ernest Brown teaches the Asian game of Goe at the City Center site of the San Francisco Zen Center where he is a member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Brown received his Ph.D. in East/West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has worked for the past twenty years at Walden House in San Francisco particularly with adolescents. In addition to Zazen his other mindfulness activities include Tai Chi Chuan and Japanese Tea Ceremony.
A woman of African American heritage, Gloria currently leads a culturally diverse sitting group in Portland, Oregon. She has practiced Vipassana meditation for 20 years. A co-founding member of the Dharma Diversity Leadership Council, Gloria is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit Rock and has completed the Teacher Development Intensive of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He is a founding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He holds a PhD in clinical psychology, and is a husband and father. His books include "A Path with Heart"; "Buddha's Little Instruction Book"; "Teachings of the Buddha"; "Seeking the Heart of Wisdom"; "Living Dharma"; "A Still Forest Pool"; "Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart"; "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry"; and "The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace". His new book is entitled "The Wise Heart".
Joan Doyle founded the East Bay LGBT Vipassana group that has grown into EBMC's Alphabet Sangha for LGBTQI and same-gender loving practitioners. In addition to co-teaching the Wednesday group at EBMC, she is active with the family programs at both EBMC and Spirit Rock, where she teaches meditation classes for young people. Joan has been meditating and practicing Dharma for over a decade, has sat many retreats and has completed Spirit Rock's DPP program.
Jon Oda has spent the last 19 years studying with some of the most respected masters of Tibet. He currently teaches meditation in juvenile hall and is devoted to Chinese kungfu tea ceremony: www.tealchemy.com.
Julie Wester has been a teacher of insight meditation since 1985 and for the past decade has served as resident teacher for Spirit Rock, supporting the day to day life of the community. She is a member of the Diversity Leadership Core Council. A student of feminine wisdom traditions, her primary teachers have included her root teacher Ruth Denison, Lama Tsultrim Allione and her grandmother.
Kamala Masters is one of the founders and teachers of the Vipassana Metta Foundation on Maui, where she is currently developing Ho'omalamalama, a sanctuary-hermitage for long-term meditation practice. She teaches retreats in the Theravada tradition at venues worldwide, including being a Core Teacher at the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts. Practicing since 1975, her teachers have been the late Anagarika Munindra of India and Sayadaw U Pandita of Burma with whom she continues to practice. Kamala is Asian American. She has a commitment to carrying and offering the purity of the teachings of the Buddha in a way that touches our common sense and compassion as human beings, and allows the natural inner growth of wisdom. She has experienced the emotional and financial hardships of raising a family. She lives on Maui where she raised 4 children, and is now blessed with 5 grandchildren.
Kenji Liu is a 1.5 generation Japanese-born Taiwanese American expatriate of New Jersey suburbia. His writing arises from his work as an activist, educator and cultural worker. Liu’s poetry chapbook You Left Without Your Shoes (Finishing Line Press 2009) was nominated for a California Book Award, and his poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Liu was a guest editor for Buddhist Peace Fellowship's Spring 2007 issue of Turning Wheel, "Building Alliances to Address Racism." He has practiced vipassana in Burmese and Thai traditions since 1998. For more information, go to http://liusan.wordpress.com/
Kimi Mojica is a trained mediator and consultant in the areas of intercultural communication, leadership development and social justice education. Kimi currently works in the field of philanthropy and has extensive experience addressing race and gender inequities though capacity building in higher education. Grounded in Buddhist practices of mindfulness and liberation, Kimi is interested in the connection between indigenous earth-based spiritual practices as acts of decolonization and healing. A spiritual activist by nature, Kimi is committed to infusing sustainable social action in all that she does.
Konda Mason is a certified Kripalu yoga teacher. She has been a student of yoga since 1974 when she was introduced to the Kundalini yoga community in Berkeley, California. Konda annually teaches yoga at the January Metta retreat with Sylvia Boorstein and the People of Color retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Konda has been published in Healthquest magazine and in the book How Has Yoga & Meditation Changed Your Life. She is a former member of the Board of Trustees at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Konda uses vipassana meditation & yoga as a means of spiritual transformation.
Lawrence Ellis is a Buddhist Teacher, complexity-science organizational consultant and activist. A meditator since 1975, he practiced Thien (Vietnamese Zen) for years in the communities around Thich Nhat Hanh, and co-founded the Mindfulness, Diversity & Social Change Sangha. For three years he served as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship representative to two interfaith committees for workers’ rights. He has practiced Vipassana extensively for the last ten years. He is authorized to teach by Jack Kornfield, and is mentored by Jack and Joanna Macy. Lawrence routinely weaves elements of his African and Native American traditions, activism, and complexity science into his teaching – especially insights and practices about the interconnectedness of all life. His webpages are at www.lawrenceellis.org and www.pathstochange.net.
Lee Lipp, Ph.D., has been a member of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing, practicing Zen and Vipassana since 1991. Having taught in psychology graduate programs for 16 years, her most recent work has included being Diversity/Outreach Coordinator at SFZC. She has taught classes in venues that include Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Society, Zen Hospice Project, Tassajara Mountain Center, San Francisco Zen Center, Arcata Zen Center, La Casa de las Madres, Gay Men’s Buddhist Sangha, East Bay Meditation Center, SF Mental Health Association and SF Dept. of Mental Health. Lee supervises at Haight Ashbury Psych Services, leads “Transforming Depression” groups and has a psychotherapy practice in San Francisco. www.leelipp.com
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Founded in a celebration of diversity, the East Bay Meditation Center welcomes everyone seeking to end suffering and cultivate happiness. Our mission is to foster liberation, personal and interpersonal healing, social action, and inclusive community building. We offer mindfulness practices and teachings on wisdom and compassion from Buddhist and other spiritual traditions. Rooted in our commitment to diversity, we operate with transparent democratic governance, generosity-based economics, and environmental sustainability.