East Bay Meditation Center

ONLINE: Honoring Elderhood: Sharing and Caring as We Walk the Path Together.
2023-06-23 09:30 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
An Online Offering For Those 50 And Older
With Arisika Razak, Jenn Biehn, and Rosetta Saunders
Friday – June 23, 2023
9:30 AM – 12 PM (Time Zone Converter)
Closed Captioning Provided
As we honor our path to elderhood, we want to share with one another the richness of our aging process – sharing what we have gathered – the skills, the lessons, the creativity, the stories. As elders, we have all encountered losses and limitations and are actively engaged in transforming them into wisdom.
We may ask ourselves what does becoming an elder mean today? What is my relationship to my ancestors – and to those who are coming after me? What wounds and struggles am I leaving behind, and what new challenges and gifts are emerging? How am I embodying spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional balance at this time?
Join us as we explore our individual and collective answers to these questions through drumming, movement, silent meditation, writing, art and small and large group sharing.
Please bring a sacred object for our virtual altar, as well as writing and/or drawing materials. We invite all bodies, genders, ethnicities, sexual preferences, and abilities to share in our co-creative exploration of the gifts, challenges, and power of elderhood. We welcome those who came to our first offerings in February as well as new folks wanting to join us in June.

Please note: Registered participants will receive a zoom link to join us online with their Eventbrite confirmation email. Thank you for your support
Teachers

Arisika Razak, MPH, is professor emerita, and the former Chair of the Women’s Spirituality Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She served as an inner city nurse-midwife for twenty years, and her teachings incorporate diverse spiritual traditions, women’s health and healing, multicultural feminisms, queer theory, and diversity theory. Arisika has led national and international healing workshops and ritual celebrations for women for over four decades, and has facilitated embodied spiritual workshops for people of all genders for 30 years. She has been an active participant at EMBC for over a decade and is a core teacher there.

Active with EBMC for the past 12 years, Jenn Biehn has served on the Leadership Sangha and is a co-founder of Dharma in Motion, Restorative Practices for Dharma Practitioners, and Midday Sangha. She teaches Transforming White Privilege on the Path to Racial Equity with Neighbors for Racial Justice and Tai Chi Chih – Joy Through Movement through EBMC and other Bay Area community centers. She was recently an elder mentor for the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program which included cross cultural mindfulness practices. Jenn’s spiritual practice includes engaging with nature through cross country skiing and backpacking in the high Sierra and embodying awareness and healing movement in her life-long journey of building community.

Rosetta Saunders is a retired educator and historian with over 20 years teaching “People of Colors History” in the United States. Currently a core facilitator for Deep Time Liberation, Ancestral Healing retreats. Rosetta’s passion for West African and Afro-Cuban drumming has primarily been a source for individual and collective healing. She aligns herself with her ancestral lineage through Earth based practices. She was introduced to the Buddha/Dharma in 2002 and completed a two-year Dharmacharya program with Venerable Pannavati and Pannadipa receiving Confirmation of Ordination and recently completed the Braided Wisdom Leadership training program and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction certification program. Rosetta teachsTai Chi Chih regularly at EBMC and has participated over the past decade in many offerings from EMBC.
~
To make a gift to support the teachings, please do so via PayPal: sweetdrum8@gmail.com or Venmo: @Rosetta-Saunders.
The offering will be shared equally amongst the three teachers.
To make a gift to sustain the work of East Bay Meditation Center, please do so via Paypal: paypal.me/eastbaymeditation or our website: eastbaymeditation.org/dana 100% of our programming is sliding scale and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. Thank you for the gifts of your generosity and for supporting the work of East Bay Meditation Center and our beloved teachers who have volunteered their time.
East Bay Meditation Center is a scent free / fragrance free space and is wheelchair accessible.

ONLINE: People of Color Sangha
2023-06-22 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-06-15 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-06-08 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-06-01 19:30 - 21:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
The People of Color Sangha is a growing community of people of color waking up and getting free!
Thursdays
7:30 – 9 PM PST
Closed Captions Provided.
Zoom info: Meeting details are shared through their mailing list (subscribe on their website), and their Facebook group.

ONLINE: Celebrate Summer Solstice with Chakra Tai Chi
2023-06-21 09:00 - 10:15 | CA
Celebrating Summer Solstice with Chakra Tai Chi
Wednesday, June 21st 9AM – 10:15AM PST (Time Zone Converter)
Closed captioning will be provided.
Chakra Tai Chi is a cleansing, empowering practice that includes easy-to-learn, accessible Tai Chi movements, visualizations, colors, elements, and sounds. This moving meditation brings the chakras – the vortex of energy centers – into balance and allows the energy to move more freely. Once the energy is flowing in our bodies, we can each find our own process for healing, find our own body wisdom.
Movements offered both seated and standing. No prior experience necessary. Join us in welcoming the summer season!
Co-led by Jenn Biehn and Rosetta Saunders who have been practicing this movement meditation together for over two years, co-creating various ways of presenting Tai Chi and Qi Gong. Jenn has been a certified Tai Chi Chih teacher for over 30 years and is now training new folks to bring these practices into their communities. Rosetta is a drum artist using sacred rhythms for intergenerational healing and cross cultural ceremonial circles.

Registered participants will receive a link to join us via Zoom with their Eventbrite confirmation email.

To make a gift to support the teachings, please do so via PayPal: sweetdrum8@gmail.com or Venmo: @Rosetta-Saunders
To make a gift to sustain the work of East Bay Meditation Center, please do so via Paypal: paypal.me/eastbaymeditation or our website: eastbaymeditation.org/dana.
100% of our programming is sliding scale and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. Thank you for the gifts of your generosity and for supporting the work of East Bay Meditation Center and our beloved teachers who have volunteered their time.

HYBRID: Alphabet Sangha
2023-06-20 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-06-06 19:00 - 20:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
A meditation group for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Same-Gender Loving, and Two-Spirit communities. Because that’s such a mouthful, we call ourselves the Alphabet Sangha.
Tuesdays
7:00 – 8:30 pm
HYBRID on First and Third Tuesdays of the month! Meet at EBMC or online.
Please email: alphabetsangha at eastbaymeditation dot org to request Zoom link to join online.
For more information, visit the ALPHABET SANGHA WEBSITE

Every Body Every Mind Sangha
2023-06-18 18:00 - 19:30, 2023-06-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2023-06-04 18:00 - 19:30, 2023-05-28 18:00 - 19:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Every Body Every Mind Sangha is a weekly practice group for people living with disabilities, limitations, differences and chronic illnesses.
Sundays
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

ONLINE WITH SPECIAL HYBRID DATES
March 23rd 2025 with Arisika Razak
April 20th 2025 with Anne Finger
May 18th 2025 with Mushim Ikeda
June 22nd 2025 with Anne Finger
No registration needed to attend these meetings in person. More hybrid dates may be announced in the future.

To join online, please email: ebem at eastbaymeditation dot org to request a Zoom link.
Please come and take part in this time to meditate, share our lives and support with each other, and learn more about the dharma. There is no need to register for these weekly meetings, just come and share this path together!
EveryBody, EveryMind Teacher Group: Debra Kerr, Kenji Oshima, Anne Finger, Master John W. Ellis IV, Beth Smith, Mushim Ikeda, Victor Jih, & Zac Krohn
For more info, visit the Every Body Every Mind Sangha Website.

HYBRID: Pride Celebration: The House of the Divine Abodes
2023-06-17 10:00 - 14:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Pride Celebration: The House of the Divine Abodes – a daylong for the Alphabet community
Saturday June 17th 2023
10 AM – 2 PM PST (Time Zone Converter) Closed Captioning Provided
Come celebrate Pride by taking refuge in the Divine Abodes (Love, Compassion, Joy, and Peace). We will offer guided meditations and interactive activities to help co-create the healing that is possible when we gather in queer community.

All registered participants will receive a link to join us via Zoom with their EventBrite confirmation email.

Melvin Escobar (he/him) is a core teacher at EBMC. He has walked the path of service for most of his life, drawing on his life experiences as a cisgender queer man of color from an immigrant working-class background. He continues daily to learn the revolutionary potential of body-centered contemplative practices based in Buddhism, Yoga and other wisdom traditions for personal and social healing.
If you would like to make a gift to Melvin, please do so via:
PayPal: melvin@melvinescobar.com
Venmo: @Melvin-Escobar

Kinshasa (she/her). Queer, African-American, pet parent. Psychologist by day. Magic weaver by night (and also day). Currently integrating sitting, dancing, praying, and vocal meditation practices. Incorporating ritual, indigeneity, and authenticity into my life as a Buddhist and keeping sangha in my heart. Launched from EBMC in 2009 and Spirit Rock in 2011. You can find me watching Sci-fi, women’s sports, or dancing in my living room.

Rascal Roubos LCSW (they/them) – Rascal is white transmasculine therapist based in Oakland, CA who integrates dharma into daily life through an anti-oppression lens and somatic focused approaches. As a graduate of the Dedicated Practitioners Program, a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction instructor, and a recent graduate of the Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training program at East Bay Meditation Center, Rascal loves collaborating to share the dharma in community. They feel most connected to dharma and at home in their being when practicing in nature, or when dancing. A favorite recent experience was playing with giant bubbles with their three kids, partner and friends in the redwoods in Oakland.
If you would like to make a gift to Rascal, please do so via:
PayPal: connect@katherinerouboslcsw.com
Venmo: @Katherine-Roubos

My name is Ramón Honea (He/They/Them). With deep roots in the Bay Area, I am biracial gay man who finds service and joy in holding space for education and meditation. I have been in public school education for twenty years as both teacher and administrator. I hold a Master of Science in Educational Leadership, a teaching and administrative credential as well as a Mindfulness teaching certificate and a Mindfulness Mentoring Certificate from the Cloud Sangha. I am recently graduated from the first cohort of EBMC’s 2-year Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training. I am working with Braided Wisdom and Carol Cano, co-teaching and zoom-hosting various classes. Connecting that braiding of my cultural learnings with the Buddha-dharma and the teaching of Mindfulness is my focus. Covid took me from my job as a residential Retreat Manager at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and my current aspiration is to build a residential retreat center, both urban and accessible, for black and brown men+ and to run week long Mindfulness Retreats.
Support the Teacher/Artist
cash.app/$Ramons
Venmo: @Ramon-Honea
Paypal: paypal.me/RamonHonea (phone ends 0967)

To make a gift to sustain the work of East Bay Meditation Center, please do so via Paypal: paypal.me/eastbaymeditation or our website: eastbaymeditation.org/dana 100% of our programming is sliding scale and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. Thank you for the gifts of your generosity and for supporting the work of East Bay Meditation Center and our beloved teachers who have volunteered their time.
For those wishing to practice in person, space will be limited to 40 people to allow ample space for social distancing. Participants will be asked to wear N95 or KN95 face masks and be fully vaccinated against covid19, which at this time means having received the covid bivalent booster no less than two weeks before the event. (N95 face masks will be available at EBMC.)
To attend in person, you need to be completely free of fragranced body and clothing products — more information and a list of fragrance free products, including those that are especially good for people of color, appears on our website:
https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/fragrance-free-at-ebmc/
East Bay Meditation Center is a scent free / fragrance free space and is wheelchair accessible.

ONLINE: 8 Step Buddhist Recovery Deep Refuge
2023-06-17 10:00 - 11:30, 2023-06-10 10:00 - 11:30, 2023-06-03 10:00 - 11:30, 2023-05-27 10:00 - 11:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Every Saturday from 10AM – 11:30AM PST / PDT ONLINE
Compassionate Dharma Deep Refuge Buddhist meetings focus on ways to heal addiction. Based on the Eight Steps to Recovery developed by Dr. Mason-John M.A (hon.doc) and Dr Groves, we believe this inclusive approach can build a solid foundation for those at any level of recovery and for those who have yet to seek help.
Through these practices we hope you gain a practice that can sustain you in your recovery.
We are a multi-recovery space. Whether you are navigating addiction to substances like drugs and alcohol, or process addictions, such as disordered eating, codependency, or sex and love addiction–you are welcome here.
Advance Registration is not required.
For additional information, please contact: ebmcrecovery at gmail dot com.

ONLINE: Maha Sangha
2023-06-16 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-06-09 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-06-02 19:00 - 20:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Maha Sangha for All People & Communities
Creating Freedom in Community
Every Friday night, 7:00 – 8:30pm.
Hybrid, every 4th Friday of the month
Event Details: Meets weekly on zoom, and starting to meet once a month in person, email mahasangha at eastbaymeditation dot org for more info and get on our newsletter
The EBMC Maha Sangha for All People and Communities is a meditation and dharma group with an emphasis on radical inclusivity and social justice.
Maha is a Pali word meaning whole, great, larger/largest, deepest, and Sangha is a Pali word for community, or community of practitioners. Together, these words represent a place where all people and communities are warmly invited to explore the Dharma together in keeping with East Bay Meditation Center’s core mission to foster liberation, personal and interpersonal healing, social action, and inclusive community building. We hope that you will join us.
The EBMC Maha Sangha’s leadership team of teachers, dharma leaders, and sangha members includes: Arisika Razak, Fresh! Lev White, Rebekah Eppley, Sarwang Parikh and Shay.
Contact: mahasangha at eastbaymeditation org

ONLINE: Maha Sangha with Arisika Razak and Ramona Lisa-Ortiz Smith
2023-06-16 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-06-09 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-06-02 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-05-26 19:00 - 20:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Friday, January 7th Teachers: Arisika Razak and Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith
Maha Sangha for All People & Communities
Creating Freedom in Community
Every Friday night at EBMC, 7:00 – 8:30pm.
Zoom Info: email mahasangha at eastbaymeditation dot org to ask for a Zoom link.
The EBMC Maha Sangha for All People and Communities is a meditation and dharma group with an emphasis on radical inclusivity and social justice.
Maha is a Pali word meaning whole, great, larger/largest, deepest, and Sangha is a Pali word for community, or community of practitioners. Together, these words represent a place where all people and communities are warmly invited to explore the Dharma together in keeping with East Bay Meditation Center’s core mission to foster liberation, personal and interpersonal healing, social action, and inclusive community building. We hope that you will join us.
The EBMC Maha Sangha’s leadership team of teachers, dharma leaders, and sangha members includes: Arisika Razak, Baruch Golden, Chinh Nguyen, Crystal Johnson, Fresh! Lev White, Jd Doyle, Lisa Moore, Shahara Godfrey, Syra Smith, Shay, and Anni Mackin.
Contact: mahasangha at eastbaymeditation org

ONLINE: Social Justice Lunchtime Sangha - Peer Led Deep Refuge group
2023-06-13 12:00 - 13:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Social Justice Sangha is a place to practice and reflect with #EBMCOakland organizers and activists. Includes a 30 minute meditation and time for sharing what’s on our hearts.

Contact: socialjustice at eastbaymeditation dot org

IN-PERSON: Connecting to the Elements Through Creative Expression
2023-06-10 10:00 - 16:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Saturday, June 10th 2023
10AM – 4:30 PM PT (Time Zone Converter)
In-person at EBMC
During this gathering we’ll explore how nature and the elements are present in our bodies/in our practice and develop ways of connecting more deeply to the elements through guided meditation, dharma talks, movement exercises, and guided writing/drawing prompts. We’ll practice mindful listening and speaking through small group shares and come together in the larger group to harvest learnings.
Please bring a journal or notebook and writing utensil

Teachers

Noliwe Alexander has been a student of Vipassana meditation for over 20 years. Throughout this time of deep devotion to the Dharma, Noliwe has become a dedicated practitioner, meditation teacher of various retreats and sitting groups, day-longs and class series programs. She dedicates her coaching & Dharma practice to the POC, LGBTQIA+, At Risk and Elder communities. She is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s CDL4 program, EBMC’s Commit 2 Dharma program in 2010 and a graduate of Spirit Rock Teacher Training from 2017-2020. As founder of Peace At Any Pace, Inc, Noliwe offers a Journey to Healing from Intergenerational & Ancestral Trauma retreats, presented exclusively to people from the African Diaspora. Noliwe is a wisdom keeper and humbled by the presence of her ancestor’s spirit that lives within and walks beside her.

Rebekah Eppley is a white identified queer person born and raised among rivers and trees on Abenaki land in Vermont. She’s lived in the Bay Area since 1991. She was first introduced to meditation and the Dharma through a Mindful Writing course in 2013 by her late teacher Chris Malcomb and started a more formal meditation practice with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel at the Still Breathing Center in 2014. She found her way to EBMC in late 2014 where she’s been practicing since.
Rebekah has had many rewarding experiences at EBMC including serving as a Temple Keeper. She made her Bodhisattva vows with Mushim Ikeda in 2017. She was part of the Restorative Practices Deep Refuge group and serves on the Maha Sangha Coordinating Committee. Currently she’s part of the first cohort of EBMC’s Spiritual Teacher Leadership Training program which she will complete in 2023.
For those wishing to practice in person, space will be limited to 40 people to allow ample space for social distancing. Participants will be asked to wear N95 or KN95 face masks and be fully vaccinated against covid19, which at this time means having received the covid bivalent booster no less than two weeks before the event. (N95 face masks will be available at EBMC.)
East Bay Meditation Center is a scent free / fragrance free space and is wheelchair accessible.
To attend in person, you need to be completely free of fragranced body and clothing products — more information and a list of fragrance free products, including those that are especially good for people of color, appears on our website:
https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/fragrance-free-at-ebmc/
To make a gift to sustain the work of East Bay Meditation Center, please do so via Paypal: paypal.me/eastbaymeditation or our website: eastbaymeditation.org/dana 100% of our programming is sliding scale and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. Thank you for the gifts of your generosity and for supporting the work of East Bay Meditation Center and our beloved teachers who have volunteered their time.

ONLINE: Honoring Elderhood: Sharing and Caring as We Walk the Path Together.
2023-06-06 10:00 - 13:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
An Online Offering For Those 50 And Older
With Arisika Razak, Jenn Biehn, and Rosetta Saunders
TUESDAYS – June 6 and 13, 2023
10 AM – 1 PM (Time Zone Converter)
Closed Captioning Provided
As we honor our path to elderhood, we want to share with one another the richness of our aging process – sharing what we have gathered – the skills, the lessons, the creativity, the stories. As elders, we have all encountered losses and limitations and are actively engaged in transforming them into wisdom.
We may ask ourselves what does becoming an elder mean today? What is my relationship to my ancestors – and to those who are coming after me? What wounds and struggles am I leaving behind, and what new challenges and gifts are emerging? How am I embodying spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional balance at this time?
Join us as we explore our individual and collective answers to these questions through drumming, movement, silent meditation, writing, art and small and large group sharing.
Please bring a sacred object for our virtual altar, as well as writing and/or drawing materials. We invite all bodies, genders, ethnicities, sexual preferences, and abilities to share in our co-creative exploration of the gifts, challenges, and power of elderhood. We welcome those who came to our first offerings in February as well as new folks wanting to join us in June.

Please note: Registered participants will receive a zoom link to join us online with their Eventbrite confirmation email. Thank you for your support
Teachers

Arisika Razak, MPH, is professor emerita, and the former Chair of the Women’s Spirituality Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She served as an inner city nurse-midwife for twenty years, and her teachings incorporate diverse spiritual traditions, women’s health and healing, multicultural feminisms, queer theory, and diversity theory. Arisika has led national and international healing workshops and ritual celebrations for women for over four decades, and has facilitated embodied spiritual workshops for people of all genders for 30 years. She has been an active participant at EMBC for over a decade and is a core teacher there.

Active with EBMC for the past 12 years, Jenn Biehn has served on the Leadership Sangha and is a co-founder of Dharma in Motion, Restorative Practices for Dharma Practitioners, and Midday Sangha. She teaches Transforming White Privilege on the Path to Racial Equity with Neighbors for Racial Justice and Tai Chi Chih – Joy Through Movement through EBMC and other Bay Area community centers. She was recently an elder mentor for the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program which included cross cultural mindfulness practices. Jenn’s spiritual practice includes engaging with nature through cross country skiing and backpacking in the high Sierra and embodying awareness and healing movement in her life-long journey of building community.

Rosetta Saunders is a retired educator and historian with over 20 years teaching “People of Colors History” in the United States. Currently a core facilitator for Deep Time Liberation, Ancestral Healing retreats. Rosetta’s passion for West African and Afro-Cuban drumming has primarily been a source for individual and collective healing. She aligns herself with her ancestral lineage through Earth based practices. She was introduced to the Buddha/Dharma in 2002 and completed a two-year Dharmacharya program with Venerable Pannavati and Pannadipa receiving Confirmation of Ordination and recently completed the Braided Wisdom Leadership training program and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction certification program. Rosetta teachsTai Chi Chih regularly at EBMC and has participated over the past decade in many offerings from EMBC.
~
To make a gift to support the teachings, please do so via PayPal: sweetdrum8@gmail.com or Venmo: @Rosetta-Saunders.
The offering will be shared equally amongst the three teachers.
To make a gift to sustain the work of East Bay Meditation Center, please do so via Paypal: paypal.me/eastbaymeditation or our website: eastbaymeditation.org/dana 100% of our programming is sliding scale and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. Thank you for the gifts of your generosity and for supporting the work of East Bay Meditation Center and our beloved teachers who have volunteered their time.
East Bay Meditation Center is a scent free / fragrance free space and is wheelchair accessible.

HYBRID: Nourish to Flourish: A Daylong Retreat for Teachers
2023-06-03 10:00 - 16:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
A Hybrid Daylong Retreat with Tania Triana and Kinshasa Bennett
Saturday June 3rd 2023
10 AM – 4 PM PST (Time Zone Converter) Closed Captioning Provided
This daylong retreat aims to create a space of rest and restoration for teachers as the academic school year draws to a close. The daylong will consist of silent and guided meditation time, gentle movement, time for rest, and mindfulness practices to replenish our compassionate hearts and learn to release what is not ours to carry. During our time together we will explore the heart practices (compassion, love, joy, and equanimity), with special attention to cultivating equanimity and inner resilience as we cross the finish line at the end of the school year.

All registered participants will receive a link to join us via Zoom with their EventBrite confirmation email.

Tania Triana [pronouns: she/they/ella/elle] is an educator, activist, and translator raised in Rochester, NY. She joined EBMC in 2014 soon after relocating to Oakland, and accepted the Bodhisattva vows and precepts at a ceremony at EBMC in 2017, and renewed them in 2020. Tania is grateful to have found a spiritual home and social justice community here, and currently serves on the L-Sangha as Board Secretary. When she’s not teaching at the College Preparatory School, Tania enjoys yoga, traveling, cooking, reading, and being tía to the best sobrinitos ever, Javier and Nicolás.

Kinshasa (she/her). Queer, African-American, pet parent. Psychologist by day. Magic weaver by night (and also day). Currently integrating sitting, dancing, praying, and vocal meditation practices. Incorporating ritual, indigeneity, and authenticity into my life as a Buddhist and keeping sangha in my heart. Launched from EBMC in 2009 and Spirit Rock in 2011. You can find me watching Sci-fi, women’s sports, or dancing in my living room.

To make a gift to sustain the work of East Bay Meditation Center, please do so via Paypal: paypal.me/eastbaymeditation or our website: eastbaymeditation.org/dana 100% of our programming is sliding scale and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. Thank you for the gifts of your generosity and for supporting the work of East Bay Meditation Center and our beloved teachers who have volunteered their time.
For those wishing to practice in person, space will be limited to 40 people to allow ample space for social distancing. Participants will be asked to wear N95 or KN95 face masks and be fully vaccinated against covid19, which at this time means having received the covid bivalent booster no less than two weeks before the event. (N95 face masks will be available at EBMC.)
To attend in person, you need to be completely free of fragranced body and clothing products — more information and a list of fragrance free products, including those that are especially good for people of color, appears on our website:
https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/fragrance-free-at-ebmc/
East Bay Meditation Center is a scent free / fragrance free space and is wheelchair accessible.

White and Awakening in Sangha: Continuing on the Path
2023-05-28 10:00 - 12:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
White and Awakening in Sangha: Continuing on the Path

With Crystal Johnson, Heather Lear, and special guests

Sundays, January 22, February 26, March 26, April 23 and June 4, 2023

10:00AM – 12:00PM PST (Time Zone Converter)
Closed Captioning Provided

Since we first launched the White and Awakening in Sangha course in 2014 (and its sibling/cousin courses at SRMC, SFZC, SZBA and Branching Streams) we have had the privilege of being in community with hundreds of white identified people seeking to see more clearly into the delusion of race and move into wise action to disrupt the operation of white supremacy culture and the harm of race-based oppression. Many of you have asked for a regular forum to support your ongoing (un)learning and action.
This edition of Continuing on the Path will consist of 5 2-hour sessions (90 minutes just wasn’t enough!) on Sundays from 10:00-12:00 Pacific Time, January 22, February 26, March 26, April 23 and June 4, 2023 with Crystal Johnson and Heather Lear. We will focus on Metta (Lovingkindness) and Karuna (Compassion) as practices that support, sustain and inspire our efforts. Technology and COVID willing, we will do our best to hold some of these dates as hybrid programs, so that folks in the Bay Area can gather in person (!), and those who can’t come in person can join us via Zoom.
These meetings are a time for us to gather in community as white identified people working to operate in the world in a way that fosters equity, healing and community building. If you are like us, you find yourself from time to time overextending, or worrying about whether you are doing “enough,” or whether you are too concerned with your own happiness when there is so much suffering in the world. These are deeply conditioned mental/emotional habits that drain energy and get in the way of being effective and joyful. The practices of metta and karuna support you to build a sustainable course of action that fosters joy and connection.
In this series, we will offer brief dharma talks, guided practice, small and large group sharing and discussion, and, of course, lots of resources and some new readings. If you would like to be part of a small, peer-led group in between meetings, we will help you arrange that with other participants. We will offer partial recordings of the sessions for those who can’t attend live, but still want to see what we are up to.
If you are white and have not taken the original course, you are also welcome here; just know that this is not a beginning discussion. If you are biracial or otherwise identify with a significant dose of European ancestry, you are also welcome. Again, just know that our focus is on whiteness and white conditioning.
About the money: at the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC), we practice Gift Economics, which means, among other things, that we welcome you into our community, and invite you to contribute according to your capacity and inspiration, rather than as if you are purchasing a product/course. Those of you who have taken the course know that the teachers have always donated their time and wisdom as a personal practice of reparation. All proceeds from your registration contributions will go to support the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC). By donating to EBMC, you are supporting a community founded and dedicated to creating a dharma refuge for BIPOC, LGBTQI2+, people with disabilities, other marginalized communities, and everyone (including us white identified folks) who seek to end suffering and cultivate happiness. Our mission is to foster liberation, personal and interpersonal healing, social action, and inclusive community building. We hope that you will join us.

All registered participants will receive a link to join us via Zoom with their EventBrite confirmation email.

HYBRID: Maha Sangha
2023-05-26 19:00 - 20:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Maha Sangha for All People & Communities
Creating Freedom in Community
Hybrid, every 4th Friday of the month, 7:00 – 8:30pm.
Event Details: Meets weekly on zoom, and starting to meet once a month in person, email mahasangha at eastbaymeditation dot org for more info and get on our newsletter
The EBMC Maha Sangha for All People and Communities is a meditation and dharma group with an emphasis on radical inclusivity and social justice.
Maha is a Pali word meaning whole, great, larger/largest, deepest, and Sangha is a Pali word for community, or community of practitioners. Together, these words represent a place where all people and communities are warmly invited to explore the Dharma together in keeping with East Bay Meditation Center’s core mission to foster liberation, personal and interpersonal healing, social action, and inclusive community building. We hope that you will join us.
The EBMC Maha Sangha’s leadership team of teachers, dharma leaders, and sangha members includes: Arisika Razak, Fresh! Lev White, Rebekah Eppley, Sarwang Parikh and Shay.
Contact: mahasangha at eastbaymeditation org
