East Bay Meditation Center

Mindfulness of Breathing: Working Towards Peace and Insight
2016-11-09 19:00 - 21:00, 2016-11-02 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
3 Wednesdays, November 2, 9, 16, 2016
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
With Devin Berry
In this 3 part series, geared toward new meditators and those seeking a refresher course, we will explore the Buddha’s own teaching on cultivating both tranquility and deep insight through the full awareness of breathing.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=nov16breath
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.

EBMC Teen Sangha Fall
2016-11-09 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-11-02 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-10-26 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-10-19 19:00 - 20:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Wednesdays: September 21 – December 14 2016
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Open to teens, ages 14-19
Led by the EBMC Teen Sangha Team: Raúl Kahlil Betancourt, Lulu Cook, 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=fall16teen
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.

Midday Sangha
2016-11-09 12:00 - 13:30, 2016-11-02 12:00 - 13:30, 2016-10-26 12:00 - 13:30, 2016-10-19 12:00 - 13:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
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

Alphabet Sangha
2016-11-08 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-11-01 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-10-25 19:00 - 20:30, 2016-10-18 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
For more information, visit the ALPHABET SANGHA WEBSITE

Post-traumatic Growth: For Self-Identified People of Color
2016-11-07 19:00 - 21:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
3 Mondays: November 7, 14, and 21, 2016
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
With Mushim & Melvin Escobar
People of color and people of mixed race heritage are subjected to potentially traumatic situations on a daily basis throughout our lives. This 3-class series will offer an understanding of the neuro-physiological science of trauma, plus embodiment practice tools and mindfulness-based skills that can be practiced in class and at home, and a supportive and compassionate community learning and healing space. In this social-justice-based approach, we will affirm that our communities can thrive and grow into healing, well-being, and joy. Talks, meditation, facilitated discussion, progressive relaxation techniques, and trauma-informed Dynamic Mindfulness gentle movement.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
https://nov16postraumatic-poc.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.

Every Body Every Mind Sangha
2016-11-06 18:00 - 19:30, 2016-10-30 18:00 - 19:30, 2016-10-23 18:00 - 19:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
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.

Friday Open Practice Group
2016-11-04 18:30 - 20:30, 2016-10-28 18:30 - 20:30, 2016-10-21 18:30 - 20:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
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.

People of Color Sangha
2016-11-03 19:00 - 21:00, 2016-10-27 19:00 - 21:00, 2016-10-20 19:00 - 21:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
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

Healing Our Hearts, Minds and Bodies
2016-10-30 11:00 - 17:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
With Shahara Godfrey and Sandy Boucher
Whether we are healthy or challenged by illness, we may yearn to come back into balance, to access our deepest compassion for our struggling selves, to connect with the natural joy of our being.
In this daylong, Shahara and Sandy, both survivors of life-threatening illness, will help us settle into relaxation and self-acceptance, and guide us in applying our meditative awareness to life’s emergencies. Through writing, music and sacred dance, held in the cradle of meditation, we will explore and share our compassionate healing capacities.
Please bring a bag lunch and a pen and paper or a journal.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=oct16heal
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.

Nurturing the Fires of Transformation: People of Color Day
2016-10-29 09:30 - 16:30 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Loving Kindness, Compassion and the Great Composting Heart
A Day of Practice for Self-Identified People of Color
With Noliwe Alexander & Syra Smith
In the wisdom of loving kindness (metta) and compassion, lay the seeds to deep healing and transformation.
As we meet life’s challenges and come into direct contact with the truth of suffering in today’s world, the fragility of our common humanity touches everyone. Through this awareness, we begin to dissolve our illusion of separateness, where the conditions for cultivating universal metta and compassion naturally arise, opening the way toward liberation.
In this daylong, we’ll explore this understanding while strengthening our practice through deep listening, sitting and moving meditation, group discussion and exercises — including the ancient Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Tonglen.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
https://oct16mettapoc.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.

Liberation Dharma in the Time of the Great Unraveling
2016-10-28 19:00 - 22:00 | First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison Street, Oakland, United States
EBMC Benefit with Joanna Macy & Ty Blair
When we face together what’s happening to our world–from climate chaos to permanent war–we can open to the liberation to be found in the Buddha Dharma. Even as familiar systems unravel around us, we find the vitalizing power of Sangha. Grounded in the fact of our mutual belonging, the Sangha helps deconstruct the separate self while incubating patterns of generosity and justice to transform the broader culture.
Please join us for a rare appearance by Joanna Macy in her 88th year to discuss the liberatory potential of the Dharma. Ty Blair will join Joanna as a speaker for the evening, and our program will include poetry from Ann Marie Davis, movement with Amana Johnson, an interactive process from the Work That Reconnects, and chanting to close.
The event will be ASL interpreted and wheelchair accessible.
EBMC operates using a gift economics model, which means that all of our regular programs are offered at no set fee and participants are asked to give to the extent that they are able for the good of the community. In order to support this unique approach, which means that no one is ever turned away for lack of financial means, we ask that you purchase your ticket at the highest end of the scale that you can afford.
Fundraising events such as this are the only time we charge an entrance fee. We offer “Generosity Tickets” for those who are not able to purchase a ticket. If you would like to buy a ticket to support someone else to attend, please click on “Generosity Ticket” and choose an amount to donate. We will share it with someone who would like to attend.
We thank you for your generosity!
If you have questions please contact Cassandra@eastbaymeditation.org.

Buddhist Myths and Teaching Stories
2016-10-26 19:00 - 21:00, 2016-10-19 19:00 - 21:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Wednesdays, October 5, 12, 19, 26, 2016
7:00 – 9:00 pm
A class series led by Sean Feit Oakes, PhD
As Buddhism evolved from its roots in the radical contemplative teachings of the Buddha, a vast body of teaching stories and myths grew in each of its home countries. Starting with the Jataka Tales, which describes the Buddha’s past lives as animals, popular Buddhist teachings often took the form of symbolic myths and morality parables. In this class series we’ll read and discuss beautiful stories from several Buddhist cultures, chosen for their wisdom, practical ethics, and social justice relevance.
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=oct16myth
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.

Introduction to Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation
2016-10-22 09:00 - 17:00 | East Bay Meditation Center, 285 17th Street, Oakland, CA, 94612, United States
Two-Day Workshop with Kazu Haga and Assistant Facilitators Lori Lechien and Mike Tinoco
Saturday, October 22, 9 am – 5 pm
Sunday, October 23, 9 am – 5 pm
This two-day training will provide participants with a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy and strategy of Kingian Nonviolence. This training is useful for anyone who deals with conflict: inter-personal or larger social conflicts, whether in your personal life, in the workplace, or in your work for social change.
During this training, we will go over the types and levels of conflict, readings and analysis of Dr. King’s thinking, the six principles of nonviolence and the six steps of nonviolence. The training will include lectures, role-plays, video presentations, and other interactive activities. More information available at www.eastpointpeace.org
Registration: Registration is required and space is limited. Click here or the link below to register.
http://eastbaymeditation.org/ebmcreg/?event=oct16knv
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.
