East Bay Meditation Center

Alphabet Sangha
2017-08-08 19:00 - 20:30, 2017-08-01 19:00 - 20:30, 2017-07-25 19:00 - 20:30, 2017-07-18 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

Dharma in Motion
2017-08-08 17:30, 2017-08-01 17:30, 2017-07-25 17:30
A weekly offering of access-centered movement practices for all ages and abilities. Teachers and modalities will rotate every 5-6 weeks. Drop in format, no experience necessary. Please wear clothing that allows for gentle movement.

Every Body Every Mind Sangha
2017-08-06 18:00 - 19:30, 2017-07-30 18:00 - 19:30, 2017-07-23 18:00 - 19:30
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 Training Practice Day Long Retreat
2017-08-05 09:00 - 15:00
With Keiryu Liên Shutt
A one-day retreat geared to all those who have completed any of the Meditation Training 4-week classes offered by Rev. Liên, or a comparable meditation program. The day offers an opportunity to put the various meditations taught in the four-week training class into practice.
The schedule will be set up to accommodate those who want an opportunity to extend their foundational sitting practice skills, and includes interval sits of short and longer periods. Additionally, there will be some instructional/guided meditations and Q&A times to clarify or refresh your understanding of practice points.
While geared towards graduates of Meditation Training 4-week classes, all who have a meditation practice are welcome.
***
We strongly suggest bringing your lunch to this retreat as eating meditation is offered as part of the program to extend your concentration practice.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here to register.
https://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=aug17meditation
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.

People of Color Sangha
2017-08-03 19:00 - 21:00, 2017-07-27 19:00 - 21:00, 2017-07-20 19:00 - 21:00
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

People of Color Yoga
2017-08-03 18:00 - 19:00, 2017-07-27 18:00 - 19:00, 2017-07-20 18:00 - 19:00
Weekly Yoga Practice for Self Identified People of Color led by Satya de la Paz
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Build strength and flexibility while cultivating mindfulness in this all levels hatha yoga class. Each class has a unique, inspiring theme and personalized instruction that will leave you feeling joyous and rejuvenated.
No registration required. No mat or special clothes required.

EBMC Teen Sangha Summer 2017
2017-08-02 19:00 - 21:00, 2017-07-26 19:00 - 21:00, 2017-07-19 19:00 - 21:00
EBMC Teen Sangha
Summer 2017
Wednesdays: May 24 – August 9 (no meeting on June 21)
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Open to teens, ages 14-19
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.
Led by the EBMC Teen Sangha Team: Raúl Kahlil Betancourt, Anthony “T” Maes, Sarwang Parikh, Adrienne Price, Syra Smith, and Phoenix Soleil
Registration: Registration is encouraged and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=summer17teensangha
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.
Raúl Kahlil Betancourt began his buddhist studies when he was 16 in L.A. and has been studying steadily since. He has studied Vietnamese Zen in LA and Soto Zen in Santa Cruz and SF as well as Green Gulch and Tassajara. He spent a year as a personal student to a head instructor from Eijeiji, at his home temple in Japan. He also earned a black belt in Aikido. He eventually found his spiritual home at EBMC in Oakland. He is currently teaching science at a high school in SF where he is also a teacher meditation leader.
Anthony “T” Maes was born and raised in the East Bay. He has practiced Buddhist meditation since 2003 including long retreats and living in a monastery in Thailand. He has volunteered on many teen meditation retreats since 2009 where he enjoys leading mixed-heritage liberation, relational mindfulness, and acrobalance. “T” graduated from UC Berkeley in 2004, completed the yearlong Commit2Dharma program at EBMC in 2011, and is a graduate of the Heart Mind Curriculum mindfulness teacher training program.
Sarwang Parikh is a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern who has worked with young people for over a decade. He has meditated and practiced yoga for the past 10 years. He is currently a part of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner Program and EBMC’s Men of Color Deep Refuge group. Sarwang has worked therapeutically with young people across cultures and around the world in a variety of therapeutic, school-based and community settings. He currently provides holistic counseling, leads mindfulness groups, and facilitates trainings on mindfulness in education with Seeds-of-Awareness.org. Sarwang is passionately committed to integrating social change and personal healing through practicing mindfulness and developing relationships.
Adrienne Price is an educator, cultural producer, and social justice organizer living in Oakland, CA. Since she discovered Dharma practice in 2008, she has worked to deepen her learning. She looks forward to co-leading her first Teen Sangha through EBMC this summer. She has worked as a high school teacher and currently coordinates an education non-profit. She also organizes with SURJ (Standing Up for Racial Justice) and the Bay Area Childcare Collective. She hosts a weekly radio show on Radio Valencia entitled Pure Pop for Queer Lovers (Sundays 10am-12:00pm, www.radiovalencia.fm).
Syra Smith is an engaged artist, activist, community organizer, sharing cultivator and mindfulness educator interested in deep ecology and manifesting a culture where we can turn toward fearless abundance and generosity. Syra has been educating and working with young people for over 15 years. A lifetime meditator, she completed EBMC’s Commit to Dharma program in 2011 and is participating in a two year non-monastic ordination and lineage teaching program under the guidance of Venerable Pannavati Bhikkuni. In addition to co-leading EBMC’s Teen Sangha, she has joined the team at the Mind Body Awareness Project, providing transformational tools to at-risk and incarcerated youth.
Phoenix Soleil is an artist and trainer committed to creating more fun, authenticity and compassion in our society. She is a teacher and practitioner of the Vipassanna meditation tradition. She is also a teacher and practitioner of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a form of compassionate communication that supports us to attune to our feelings and values. Whenever possible she invokes her background in conscious dance, Laughter Yoga, acting, and the expressive arts to build healthy, authentic, joyful, and engaged communities of all ages.

Midday Sangha
2017-08-02 12:00 - 13:30, 2017-07-26 12:00 - 13:30, 2017-07-19 12:00 - 13:30
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

Making Friends with the Hindrances
2017-07-31 19:00 - 21:00, 2017-07-24 19:00 - 21:00
Open to all
3 Mondays: July 17, 24, 31
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Attendance is not required at all 3 classes.
With Louije Kim

The Five Hindrances—sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and doubt—are mental factors that are typically experienced with some degree of suffering and discomfort. They distort our mind’s ability to see clearly, creating obstacles to the growing of Wisdom. Through awareness, however, these obstacles can be taken as objects for mindfulness, leading to compassion and opening powerful insights into the nature of the mind. When taken into daily life practice, they can provide us with yet another framework for understanding our experience.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=july17hindrance
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.

Exploring Intimacy Through the Buddha’s Teaching for the LGBTQ and Gender Non-Conforming Community
2017-07-29 10:00 - 16:00
Open to all self-identified LGBTQ & gender non-conforming practitioners
Beginners are welcome!
With Shahara Godfrey and Baruch Golden

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it destination full of hope”. – Maya Angelou
“The only reason we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don’t feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.” – Pema Chodron
“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.” – Mary Oliver
The day will include periods of still and movement meditation with instruction.
The focus of the daylong is on deepening intimacy with ourselves, others, and all of life. Intimacy in relationships requires dialogue, transparency, vulnerability and reciprocity. Intimacy within ourselves requires an increasing awareness of our own mind states, moods, feelings and reactivity, and those of others. A talk, dialogue and relational exercises will be offered on exploring intimacy through the Buddha’s teaching.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=july17intimacy
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.

Meditation Training: Establishing a Meditation Practice in Four Weeks
2017-07-26 19:00 - 20:30, 2017-07-19 19:00 - 20:30
Open to all
4 Wednesdays: July 5, 12, 19, 26, 2017
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
With Rev. Keiryu Liên Shutt

Want to learn how to meditate? Or, have you tried at different times but just can’t quite figure how to make it work for you?
In this series, specific and easy-to-follow instructions will be given in three areas – body, heart/emotions and mind/mental states – to practice with one area per week. Then, in each class, you will have an opportunity to have your specific needs and questions addressed.
Think of this class as a four-week “training camp.” Come see how the two factors of practiced-guidance and cohort-support can help you to establish a sustainable practice in just four weeks!
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=july17training
NEW THIS YEAR: (Separate Registration Required)
Meditation Training Practice Day: A One-Day Retreat on Saturday, August 5, 2017 (9:00 am – 3:00 pm). This silent-retreat day has been scheduled as an adjunct to this class to provide you with an opportunity to apply these practices in a sustained, yet supportive, container. Look for it and sign-up right away!
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.

ONLINE: Trans/Gender-Expansive Deep Refuge Group
2017-07-24 18:30 - 20:00
Trans/Gender-Expansive Deep Refuge Group
Fourth Mondays (online over zoom)
6:30-8pm PM PST
This deep refuge group is by and for trans/gender-expansive people. Our goal is to provide a welcoming community space for trans/gender-expansive folks who are interested in exploring meditation and other aspects of Buddhist practice. Both beginners and experienced practitioners welcome!
To be added to the email list, please email tgedeeprefuge@eastbaymeditation.org with a quick note about your interest in the group. We look forward to practicing with you!
