ONLINE: Buddha's Four Big Truths (4 Noble Truths)
2024-02-07 18:30 - 20:30, 2024-02-14 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Wednesdays January 31st, February 7th, 14th and 21st 2024
With Mushim Patricia Ikeda

Online on Zoom
6:30 – 8:30PM PST (Time Zone Converter) Closed Captioning Provided
Part of EBMC’s Core Buddhist Teachings – 7-month Curriculum
Why do we suffer? How can we be released from suffering? The Buddha’s first teaching after his Enlightenment is called the Four Truths for Noble Ones. These form the foundation of Buddhist life and understanding. The four “big” truths address human suffering and oppression, analyze their root causes, and describe a path of liberation from human suffering that is both profound and practical. Dharma talks, mindful journaling, meditation, community building and optional readings. Beginners in meditation are welcome.

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

Mushim Patricia Ikeda is a socially-engaged Buddhist teacher, community activist, diversity, equity and inclusion consultant, parent and author based in Oakland, California. She has a background in both monastic and lay Buddhist practice. At EBMC, Mushim is also guiding teacher of the award-winning yearlong Practice in Transformative Action (PiTA) program, which provides secular mindfulness training for justice activists. Mushim is the recipient of a Global Diversity Leadership award; an honorary doctor of sacred theology degree from the Starr King School of Ministry; and was named one of Colorlines’s 20 transformative racial justice leaders in 2018.
Universal Access Requests for Zoom Participation:

Please do not use virtual or blurred backgrounds
Please keep your camera still when it’s turned on
Please repeat your name when you speak
Facilitators will attempt to read any comments in the chat out loud
A good microphone, strong internet connection, and quiet environment help with audio access
Please mute when you’re not speaking

IN PERSON: Silent Meditation Drop-in
2024-02-08 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-12 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-13 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-14 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-15 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-19 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-20 11:00 - 13:00, 2024-02-21 11:00 - 13:00
New! Mondays to Thursdays in February (1st to the 29th)
11 AM to 1 PM PT

In Person Only
You’re invited to drop in for open practice time at EBMC and sit or lie in the Main Temple. We have a variety of cushions and chairs available. Staff hosts will ring the bell every half hour. Our Library and Compassion Room will be available for use. You may also enjoy a cup of tea in our Kitchen.
In person participants are asked to use an N95 or KN95 mask. For those wishing to practice in person, space will be limited to 40 people to allow ample space for social distancing. N95 face masks will be available at EBMC. See our complete Safety and COVID guidelines here: https://eastbaymeditation.org/covid-19-updates/

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.
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.

Ceasefire! Practice for Liberation
2024-02-08 17:30 - 18:45, 2024-02-15 17:30 - 18:45
ONLINE: Ceasefire! Practice for Liberation
5-class series, Thursday evenings
Feb 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
5:30 – 6:45 PM PST (Time Zone Converter)
Online, over Zoom

In the month of February we will hold space for the dharma of Palestinian Liberation. Across the world, people are rising up in support of Palestine. Many thousands of people gather every day, taking action in the streets, making calls and sending letters, organizing their people and communities, to practice with this call for land and freedom, for respect for life and self-determination, and an end to colonization and racism. We follow the call from Palestinians, Jews and people of conscience across the world who say “Ceasefire Now.”
These sangha ceasefire evenings will offer you support and belonging to continue your work for a meaningful and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Through mindfulness practice with the full range of our experience, internally and externally, as well as sharing from the heart and working with the body to contact grief, anger and love with compassion, we intend to strengthen our community’s response to Palestine.
In the streets we hear the chant, “We are not freeing Palestine, Palestine is freeing us.” We know that the work of liberation happens at the individual, collective, and societal level. Our hearts are with Palestine at this time, with gratitude for what we are learning about freedom in taking action to end the genocide in Gaza. We welcome you to practice together in community with us towards this freedom.

Session Guide
Session One—Getting Present with Palestine
Session Two—Bearing Witness with Palestine
Session Three—Freedom Dreams with Palestine
Session Four– Resourcing Endurance
Session Five– Being with our People

Please note: Registered participants will receive a zoom link to join us online with their Eventbrite confirmation email. Thank you for your support
THIS CLASS IS ONLINE ONLY
Universal Zoom Access Requests

Please do not use virtual or blurred backgrounds
Please keep your camera still when it’s turned on
Please repeat your name when you speak
Facilitators will attempt to read any comments in the chat out loud
A good microphone, strong internet connection, and quiet environment help with audio access
Please mute when you’re not speaking

Teacher Bios

Dr. Tania Triana. Pronouns: She/They/Ella/Elle is an educator, activist, and translator who began a Buddhist practice in 2014 soon after relocating to Oakland. She currently serves on the Board of East Bay Meditation Center. Tania is a graduate of EBMC’s Spiritual Teacher and Leadership Program.

Ream. Pronouns: They/Them is a queer organizer of European ancestry on unceded Ohlone Land, working for over 25 years in the labor movement, currently as the Strategic Campaigns Director for the United Domestic Workers’ Union. Ream is a Community Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, a co-founder of EBMC’s Social Justice Sangha, and leads “Racial Justice Skills for White Practitioners” there, and graduated from Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner’s Program in 2016. Ream is a teacher and practitioner with Generative Somatics, co-leading “Somatics for White Racial Justice Organizers.”

Andrés González. Pronouns: He/they/él/elle is a two-spirit Mestizo with primarily Yaqui, Mexican, Spanish, & Scottish ancestries. He’s also a transracial adoptee, connected to a lineage of indigenous adoptees separated from family, land, & culture by way of the U.S. child welfare system. Andrés’ lived experience walking between these many worlds has informed his path as a healer and Dharma teacher. Trained as a psychotherapist, he holds a masters degree in social work. He is also a graduate of EBMC’s two-year Spiritual Teacher & Leadership Training and is presently participating in the 2023-2024 certificate program in psychedelic facilitation at UC Berkeley’s Center for the Science of Psychedelics. Weaving the sacred traditions of Theravada & Mahayana Buddhism with his ancestral curanderismo lineage, Andrés brings a wide-range of practices & perspectives into his healing-justice work with individuals & communities. He now resides on Yokuts’ land (aka Bakersfield, CA).

Cost
The teachings are regarded as priceless, so they are offered without a fee. You are invited to support the teachings and our efforts by contributing voluntary donations
Please consider donating to the Arab Resource Organizing Center of the Bay Area/Ohlone Land: https://araborganizing.networkforgood.com/projects/100246-main-giving-page
To make a gift to support the teachings, please do so via:
Paypal: taniatriana@gmail.com or Venmo: @Tania-Triana (the teachers will share the gifts)
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: Maha Sangha with Arisika Razak and Ramona Lisa-Ortiz Smith
2024-02-09 19:00 - 20:30, 2024-02-16 19:00 - 20:30
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: Maha Sangha
2024-02-09 19:00 - 20:30, 2024-02-16 19:00 - 20:30
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: 8 Step Buddhist Recovery Deep Refuge
2024-02-10 10:00 - 11:30, 2024-02-17 10:00 - 11:30
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: Multiracial Peer-Led Deep Refuge Group
2024-02-10 19:00 - 21:00
The Multiracial Deep Refuge Group is a monthly exploratory Deep Refuge Group for and by people who identify as multiracial. Our meetings include periods of mindfulness meditation and sharing of narratives and perspectives as we come together to be seen and to see one another. By sitting and exploring our own unique stories, we can come to know and care for the common threads that bind us together. Our collective work bravely expands the narrative that informs multiracial experience today. Meets 7pm-9pm on the second Saturdays of every month. Online and occasionally hybrid (in-person at EBMC + online).
Newcomers welcome- please contact us before your first visit: mrdrcoordinators at googlegroups dot com

Every Body Every Mind Sangha
2024-02-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-02-18 18:00 - 19:30
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.

ONLINE: Trust the Struggles: Making Peace with the Five Hindrances to Mindfulness
2024-02-12 18:00 - 20:00, 2024-02-19 18:00 - 20:00
An Online Class Series with Melvin Escobar
4 Monday sessions, February 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th, 2024
6:00 – 8PM PST (Time Zone Converter)
Closed Captioning Provided
Why’s it so hard to meditate!? This question is as old as the practice. Join us for this class series that gets to the root of our struggles: The Five Obstacles. We’ll learn ways to work with these “hindrances” guided by Buddhist teachings, contemporary psychological frameworks and an understanding of structural oppression. Through talks, interactive exercises, stationary and gentle moving meditation, and recommendations for home practice, participants will gain awareness on how to use each of the five obstacles as gateways to deepen our practice.
Attend some or all:
Week 1 – Doubt
Week 2 – Sloth + Torpor and Ill Will
Week 3 – Restlessness + Worry
Week 4 – Sensual Desire

All Registered participants will receive a Confirmation Email & Zoom Link via EventBrite.
Universal Access Requests for Zoom Participation:

Please do not use virtual or blurred backgrounds
Please keep your camera still when it’s turned on
Please repeat your name when you speak
Facilitators will attempt to read any comments in the chat out loud
A good microphone, strong internet connection, and quiet environment help with audio access
Please mute when you’re not speaking

Teacher Bio:

Melvin Escobar is a bilingual-bicultural Dharma teacher, licensed psychotherapist, and certified yoga instructor. He is a graduate of EBMC’s Commit to Dharma, and for more than a decade has served EBMC in a variety of roles, including on the development team for Resilience, Refuge and (R)evolution, a six-month leadership program for People of Color. He is a U.S.-born bilingual-bi-cultural Salvadoran who haswalked the path of service for most of his life, drawing on his life experiences as a working-class queer man of color. Having encountered the priceless wisdom embodied in Buddhism and Yoga, he continues daily to learn the revolutionary potential of body-centered contemplative practices for personal and social healing.

To support the teachings, please do so via:
PayPal: melvin@melvinescobar.com
Venmo: @Melvin-Escobar

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 to donate to EBMC; the teachers will not receive any part of this online donation).
* Or directly to the teacher:
PayPal: melvin@melvinescobar.com
Venmo: @Melvin-Escobar
Thank you for your generosity. EBMC will be only be sustained through our collective generosity.

ONLINE: Social Justice Lunchtime Sangha - Peer Led Deep Refuge group
2024-02-13 12:00 - 13:00
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

ONLINE: Midday Sangha
2024-02-14 12:00 - 13:35, 2024-02-21 12:00 - 13:35
Join our peer-led multicultural sangha for silent meditation practice and community building.
Every Wednesday
12:00 – 12:45pm PST Silent sitting, standing or lying down meditation with optional walking meditation.
12:55 – 1:35pm PST Facilitated conversation about our practice and being the dharma in the world
HYBRID EVERY FIRST WEDNESDAY, ONLINE FOR OTHER MEETINGS (unless otherwise noted)
Midday Sangha Coordinating Committee:
emiko yoshikami, Jennie Powe Runde, Sakshi Uomoto, Elese Lebsack and Robert Gavino
email middaysangha at eastbaymeditation dot org for zoom link and password

ONLINE: Racial Justice Skills for White Practitioners Peer-Led Deep Refuge Group
2024-02-15 18:00 - 19:00
Racial Justice Skills for White Practitioners meets monthly online in 2024 on the third Thursday of the month from 6PM-7PM Pacific time, with the intention to support self-identified white practitioners of meditation in working with the skills and commitments of meditation practice to contribute to racial justice and to end white supremacy, in ourselves and in the world. This group is open to all self-identified white people who have a regular meditation practice and are working towards racial justice. In each meeting we will work with a skill from dharma practice to undo a habit of white supremacy culture.
Sign up for the Zoom link at tinyurl.com/RJSWP21

HYBRID: People of Color Sangha
2024-02-15 19:00 - 20:30
The People of Color Sangha is a growing community of people of color waking up and getting free!
Thursdays
7 – 8:30 PM PST
(please note the 7pm start time is new for 2024)
Closed Captions Provided.
Zoom info: Meeting details are shared through their mailing list (subscribe on their website), and their Facebook group.

ONLINE: Nourishing Freedom: Finding the Middle Path to Body Liberation
2024-02-17 10:00 - 14:00
Online, Saturday, February 17th, 2024 (via Zoom)
With Melvin Escobar and Marcella Raimondo
10am – 2pm PST (Time Zone Converter)
Closed Captioning Provided
Radically accepting ourselves and our experiences is a revolutionary act. We receive many problematic messages about food that make it challenging to nourish ourselves. Our bodies, especially those of us living in larger bodies, continue to be subject to great harm and derision. By weaving the timeless Dhamma with contemporary psychological frameworks, we will deconstruct aspects of structural oppression (including diet culture). We will be invited into somatic awareness practices, along with interactive and reflective exercises to explore kinder ways of relating to our bodies to create community on the middle path to body liberation for all.

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

Melvin Escobar is a bilingual-bicultural Dharma teacher, licensed psychotherapist, and certified yoga instructor. He is a graduate of EBMC’s Commit to Dharma, and for more than a decade has served EBMC in a variety of roles, including on the development team for Resilience, Refuge and (R)evolution, a six-month leadership program for People of Color. He is a U.S.-born bilingual-bi-cultural Salvadoran who haswalked the path of service for most of his life, drawing on his life experiences as a working-class queer man of color. Having encountered the priceless wisdom embodied in Buddhism and Yoga, he continues daily to learn the revolutionary potential of body-centered contemplative practices for personal and social healing.

Marcella Raimondo, PhD, MPH is a queer cisgender able-bodied woman of color and a passionate and spirited clinical trainer speaking from her heart on multicultural issues in eating disorders since 1995. Marcella currently serves as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Kaiser Oakland’s eating disorder clinic and also serves as adjunct faculty at the University of San Francisco and UC Berkeley Extension. Marcella herself recovered from anorexia nervosa over 15 years ago. Marcella trains in Kajukenbo at Hand to Hand Kajukenbo Self Defense Center in Oakland and holds a first degree black belt. Her recovery and her martial arts training inspire her dedication to multicultural body nurturance and community celebration.

To make a gift to sustain the work of East Bay Meditation Center, please do so on 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
2024-02-20 19:00 - 20:30
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
