Alphabet Sangha
2016-08-23 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-08-30 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-09-06 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-09-13 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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
For more information, visit the ALPHABET SANGHA WEBSITE

Midday Sangha
2016-08-24 12:00 - 13:30, 2016-08-31 12:00 - 13:30, 2016-09-07 12:00 - 13:30, 2016-09-14 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Midday Sangha at EBMC Wednesdays at Noon!
Join our peer-led multicultural sangha for silent meditation practice and community building.
Every Wednesday
12:00 – 12:45 Silent sitting, standing or lying down meditation with optional walking meditation.
12:45 – 1:35 Potluck lunch with facilitated conversation about our practice and being the dharma in the world
Midday Sangha Coordinating Committee:
Abe Doherty, Bang Nguyen, Jenn Biehn, Kam McCallum, Karen Jackson, Manuel Vasquez, Preston Justice, Shawki, Yvette Flores

EBMC Teen Sangha: Summer 2016
2016-08-24 19:00 - 20:30 UTC
Wednesdays: July 6 – August 24, 2016
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Open to teens, ages 14-19
Led by the EBMC Teen Sangha Team: Raúl Kahlil Betancourt, Anthony “T” Maes, Sarwang Parikh, Adrienne Price, Syra Smith, and Phoenix Soleil
EBMC Teen Sangha is a weekly meditation group for teens, ages 14-19. Our focus will be on creating deeper relationships with ourselves and each other, having fun, getting real and supporting each other. Learn mindfulness meditation and explore the dharma (Buddhist teachings) in creative and practical ways. No experience necessary. We are committed to maintaining a Sangha (community) that is welcoming to people of all identities, cultures, beliefs and ways of being.
Registration: Registration is encouraged and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=summerteen
Cost: There is no registration fee for attending this event, nor most EBMC events. However, EBMC is not independently funded. The Center and the teachers will be sustained only by your voluntary donations (the practice of generous giving, or “dana”). Please donate generously, in proportion to your ability:
* Either online (you will be offered an opportunity during the online registration process)
* Or at the event, in the two baskets at EBMC, one for the Center, the second for the Teacher
Thank you for your generosity. EBMC will be only be sustained through our collective generosity.
Fragrance-free: In order to protect the health of community members with environmental illness, please do not wear fragranced products (including “natural” fragrances) or clothes laundered in fragranced products to EBMC.
EBMC is wheelchair accessible.

Mindfulness and Aging: Claiming our Eldership & Wisdom
2016-08-25 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sunday, September 11, 2016
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Half-day retreat for self-identified women and gender-fluid people
With Noliwe Alexander and Arinna Weisman
How do we open to aging; the loss of physical resilience, perhaps increasing illness, the decline of our mental faculties and memory? The Buddha offers us a path of mindfulness and loving kindness that challenges the habitual ways we have ‘owned’ or ‘identified’ with our bodies and minds, and that allows us to join the natural processes of nature and our planet earth. Join us as we claim our eldership and wisdom, which have come with our years lived, and the blessings these bring.

People of Color Sangha
2016-08-25 19:00 - 21:00, 2016-09-01 19:00 - 21:00, 2016-09-08 19:00 - 21:00, 2016-09-15 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The People of Color Sangha is a growing tribe of people of color waking up and getting free!
Thursdays
7:00 – 9:00 PM
For more information, visit the: POC SANGHA WEBSITE

Friday Open Practice Group
2016-08-26 18:30 - 20:30, 2016-09-02 18:30 - 20:30, 2016-09-09 18:30 - 20:30, 2016-09-16 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Open to All
Fridays
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Our sangha meets every Friday and is led by a rotating group of teachers; the teacher schedule is available here.
Schedule:
6:30 pm to 7:00 pm Mindful movement (yoga, qigong, or another form of mindful movement, led by the teacher or a guest)
7:00 pm to 7:30 pm Silent meditation with instructions
7:30 pm to 7:45 pm Announcements and break
7:45 pm to 8:25 pm Teacher’s talk on relevant themes and/or group discussion
8:25 pm to 8:30 pm Close
By strengthening our ability to bring mindfulness to the moment-to-moment events in our lives, we bring to consciousness the unconscious thinking patterns that often govern our behavior. As we see and understand those patterns, we break free of their control over us. With this freedom comes joy and the ability to live our lives from a place of wisdom.
This ongoing sitting group at the East Bay Meditation Center is for anyone interested in learning more about mindfulness meditation and practicing this ancient discipline with others. The group will also incorporate mindful movement practices, which enhance and support our meditation practice.
Many thanks to the volunteers who generously offer their time every week to help make this group happen. If you would like to volunteer with our sangha, please send an email to: ebmc.friday.sangha@gmail.com.

Every Body Every Mind Sangha
2016-08-28 18:00 - 19:30, 2016-09-04 18:00 - 19:30, 2016-09-11 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Every Body Every Mind Sangha is a weekly sitting group for people living with disabilities, limitations, differences and chronic illnesses.
Sundays
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
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!
Teachers include Charlie Johnson, Deb Kerr and others.
For more info, visit the Every Body Every Mind Sangha Website.

Meditation & Movement: Creating Space in Your Body & Your Life
2016-09-04 10:00 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Sunday, September 4, 2016
10 am – 4:30 pm
with Mushim and Master Ellis
Open to all East Bay Meditation Center www.eastbaymeditation.org 285 17th Street, Oakland Event Description (100 words maximum): This class will use meditation and movement to explore how to create greater mindfulness and maintain spiritual balance throughout the day. Movements are taught standing, sitting and reclining, and are appropriate for people with diverse abilities. Class size limited to 50.

For People of Color: Beginning a Meditation Practice
2016-09-07 19:00 - 21:00, 2016-09-14 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
3 Wednesdays: September 7, 14, and 21, 2016
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
A class series for POC led by Mushim
Are you a looking for a way to start a mindfulness meditation practice, but don’t quite know how? These classes will give you the basics of sitting and walking/movement meditation in the vipassana (insight) style, and metta (goodwill) meditation. Don’t worry about “getting it right” – if you can sit – on a folding chair, on floor cushions, in a wheelchair – or lie down – and breathe, you’re off to a good start! For everyone seeking stress reduction and (optional) for those new to Buddhism. As self-identified people of color, we will practice creating beloved community to support each other’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Let’s Practice: Plain and Simple
2016-09-10 09:30 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Saturday, September 10, 2016
9:30 am – 4:00 pm
Open to all Daylong retreat with Larry Yang
No fancy titles or themes or descriptions. No attempts of language or description to convince anyone to do something or anything. Let us just have a spiritual practice day together. Let us meditate together. Let us be still and quiet. Let us reflect, dialogue, question, advise, and support each other in community. Let us care for each other. That would be something to be grateful for. Please bring a bag lunch. Practitioners of all levels invited to attend.

Family Practice Class: Opening the Heart through the Buddha's Teachings
2016-09-11 10:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
with Eve Decker, Baruch Golden, and Michele Ku
We invite you to come and help create the diverse family sangha at EBMC. We welcome families with babies, toddlers and children up to age 12. The teachers will offer the Buddha’s teachings and mindful practices that can be practiced at home. Parents/caregivers and young people will meet together and separately during the class. Children under 5 will need to have a parent/caregiver stay with them. We will explore bringing the Dharma to our daily lives through song, story, sharing, art and mindfulness practices. We are committed to creating a diverse family sangha. No prior experience is necessary.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=sept16family
Cost: There is no registration fee for attending this event, nor most EBMC events. However, EBMC is not independently funded. The Center and the teachers will be sustained only by your voluntary donations (the practice of generous giving, or “dana”). Please donate generously, in proportion to your ability:
* Either online (you will be offered an opportunity during the online registration process)
* Or at the event, in the two baskets at EBMC, one for the Center, the second for the Teacher
Thank you for your generosity. EBMC will be only be sustained through our collective generosity.
Fragrance-free: In order to protect the health of community members with environmental illness, please do not wear fragranced products (including “natural” fragrances) or clothes laundered in fragranced products to EBMC.
EBMC is wheelchair accessible.

Mindfulness and Aging: Claiming our Eldership & Wisdom
2016-09-11 13:30 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Half-day retreat for self-identified women and gender-fluid people
with Noliwe Alexander and Arinna Weisman
How do we open to aging; the loss of physical resilience, perhaps increasing illness, the decline of our mental faculties and memory? The Buddha offers us a path of mindfulness and loving kindness that challenges the habitual ways we have ‘owned’ or ‘identified’ with our bodies and minds, and that allows us to join the natural processes of nature and our planet earth.
Join us as we claim our eldership and wisdom, which have come with our years lived, and the blessings these bring.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=sept16elder
Cost: There is no registration fee for attending this event, nor most EBMC events. However, EBMC is not independently funded. The Center and the teachers will be sustained only by your voluntary donations (the practice of generous giving, or “dana”). Please donate generously, in proportion to your ability:
* Either online (you will be offered an opportunity during the online registration process)
* Or at the event, in the two baskets at EBMC, one for the Center, the second for the Teacher
Thank you for your generosity. EBMC will be only be sustained through our collective generosity.
Fragrance-free: In order to protect the health of community members with environmental illness, please do not wear fragranced products (including “natural” fragrances) or clothes laundered in fragranced products to EBMC.
EBMC is wheelchair accessible.

Interconnected: Challenging Racism and White Privilege with Mindfulness and Compassion
2016-09-12 18:30 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
A class series for white people
4 Monday evenings & 1 weekend daylong
Mondays, September 12, 19, 26 & October 3: 6:30 – 9:00 pm
Sunday, October 2: 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
*We ask participants to commit to and attend all sessions.
with Kitsy Schoen and Gregory Mengel
Mindfulness practices are incomplete if they don’t include the investigation of social injustices and the ways we inadvertently perpetuate the system in our unexamined behaviors and beliefs. Social justice and anti-racism efforts can cause harm if they don’t include the wisdom and understanding that comes from mindfulness and compassion practices
In this class series we will support each other in addressing our own racism and white privilege using both multicultural theories and tools along with Buddhist teachings and practices.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://sept16interconnected.eventbrite.com
Cost: There is no registration fee for attending this event, nor most EBMC events. However, EBMC is not independently funded. The Center and the teachers will be sustained only by your voluntary donations (the practice of generous giving, or “dana”). Please donate generously, in proportion to your ability:
* Either online (you will be offered an opportunity during the online registration process)
* Or at the event, in the two baskets at EBMC, one for the Center, the second for the Teacher
Thank you for your generosity. EBMC will be only be sustained through our collective generosity.
Fragrance-free: In order to protect the health of community members with environmental illness, please do not wear fragranced products (including “natural” fragrances) or clothes laundered in fragranced products to EBMC.
EBMC is wheelchair accessible.

Annual Brunch Celebrating EBMC's Volunteers, Past & Present!
2016-09-17 10:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Calling all #EBMC volunteers, present *and* past, we want to celebrate and thank YOU at our annual Path of Service Sangha brunch and optional open mic talent share on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, from 10 am to 1 pm! To RSVP, fill out this brief questionnaire at http://svy.mk/2bkZubr to help us organize the potluck lunch and the just-for-fun optional open mic sharing of a poem, a song, a painting or craft you may want to show.
Each volunteer who fills out the RSVP and comes to the brunch will receive a special swag bag with #EBMC mystery swag that’s just for our fabulous volunteers! If you have questions, contact us through the EBMC website or at admin@eastbaymeditation.org. We look forward to seeing you at the brunch!
Fragrance-free: In order to protect the health of community members with environmental illness, please do not wear fragranced products (including “natural” fragrances) or clothes laundered in fragranced products to EBMC.
EBMC is wheelchair accessible.

Cultivating a Meaningful Life and Building Community
2016-09-18 09:30 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
with Carol Cano and Shahara Godfrey

In this half-daylong retreat, we explore cross- cultural practices that will help embrace the long journey of healing from Addiction and Substance Abuse. In many cultures this journey is an initiation crucible, one that takes the individual through the deep territory of their inner self.
We will practice the art of meditation and how to sit comfortably with silence as we cultivate deep listening. We will introduce the practices of Loving Kindness, compassion and forgiveness. We will explore the value of one’s relationship to self and community.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=sept16recovery
Cost: There is no registration fee for attending this event, nor most EBMC events. However, EBMC is not independently funded. The Center and the teachers will be sustained only by your voluntary donations (the practice of generous giving, or “dana”). Please donate generously, in proportion to your ability:
* Either online (you will be offered an opportunity during the online registration process)
* Or at the event, in the two baskets at EBMC, one for the Center, the second for the Teacher
Thank you for your generosity. EBMC will be only be sustained through our collective generosity.
Fragrance-free: In order to protect the health of community members with environmental illness, please do not wear fragranced products (including “natural” fragrances) or clothes laundered in fragranced products to EBMC.
EBMC is wheelchair accessible.
