East Bay Meditation Center

ONLINE: 8 Step Buddhist Recovery Deep Refuge
2023-02-25 10:00 - 11:30, 2023-03-04 10:00 - 11:30, 2023-03-11 10:00 - 11:30, 2023-03-18 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | 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.

White and Awakening in Sangha: Continuing on the Path
2023-02-26 10:00 - 12:00
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.

Every Body Every Mind Sangha
2023-02-26 18:00 - 19:30, 2023-03-05 18:00 - 19:30, 2023-03-12 18:00 - 19:30, 2023-03-19 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: Trans/Gender-Expansive Deep Refuge Group
2023-02-27 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!

ONLINE: WE BELONG: Heart practice for QTBIPOC
2023-02-27 18:30 - 20:30
February 13th Update: Until further notice, all programs will be online-only, due to the theft of audio/video tech during a break in. We are sorry we can’t host you and will send out updates when we have them
Mondays, February 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th, 2023
With Patrick Brown and René Rivera
6:30 – 8:30PM PST (Time Zone Converter)
Closed Captioning Provided
As our world burns in conflict and violence we return to heart practice to find refuge and belonging. As Queer and/or Trans People of Color we are under attack, sometimes at multiple identity locations. This class series will create a space for us to practice together, to build community, belonging and resilience to hold our outrage, fear and grief. We will use the four divine abodes of Lovingkindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity as a foundation to resource ourselves to meet this moment.
This class is suitable for both new and experienced meditators and open to self-identified Queer and/or Trans People of Color.

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

Patrick Brown is an activist, advocate and teacher from Chicago. Patrick moved to California and first came to EBMC in 2010 as a practitioner with the People of Color and Alphabet Sanghas. As an advocate and facilitator, his professional career is focused on racial equity and leadership development and is supported by his practice and the teachings of the Dharma. Patrick completed EBMC’s Commit to Dharma program in 2015 and he is a proud graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders’ fifth cohort (CDL5) training with Spirit Rock. Patrick has served on the POC and Alphabet coordinating committees and recently began teaching both at EBMC and in Sanghas throughout the Bay Area. Patrick is grateful for the deepening of his practice in the EBMC community and committed to expanding access to the Dharma to all beings.

René Rivera (he, him) is a leader and bridge-builder, working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer, mixed-race, trans man. He teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation and mindfulness practices at East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) and elsewhere. His path to spiritual leadership has included the Commit to Dharma and Practice in Action programs at EBMC and the Community Dharma Leaders program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He works with the Ahimsa Collective as a restorative justice facilitator.
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 (the practice of “Dana”) for the expenses of the meditation center and the support of the 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.
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.)
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 – 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.

HYBRID: The Buddha’s “How to” Guide to a Life of Happiness and Well-being (Eightfold Path)
2023-03-01 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-03-08 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-03-15 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-03-22 18:30 - 20:30
February 13th Update: Until further notice, all programs will be online-only, due to the theft of audio/video tech during a break in. We are hoping by late February we will have our new technology installed.

Wednesdays, March 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd, 2023
6:30 – 8:30PM PST (Time Zone Converter)
With Mushim Patricia Ikeda

Online on Zoom and in-person @ 285 17th St, Oakland, CA 94612
Closed Captioning Provided
Part of EBMC’s Core Buddhist Teachings – 7-month Curriculum

Everyone wants to live and be happy, yet human life is marked by suffering. Many are intimately and historically affected by social injustice, and we all experience loss of what is dear to us, sickness, aging, and death. How do we develop wisdom (insight) and spiritual strength (a practice that sustains us during the hard times)? The Buddha’s teaching of the Eightfold Path is a roadmap for a life well-lived. This class series will include meditation, Dharma talks, and discussion. 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.

To offer a gift to support the teachings, please do so Venmo: Mushim Ikeda @MushimPatricia-Ikeda or PayPal: info@mushimikeda.com
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: People of Color Sangha
2023-03-02 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-03-09 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-03-16 19:30 - 21:00, 2023-03-23 19:30 - 21:00
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: Maha Sangha with Arisika Razak and Ramona Lisa-Ortiz Smith
2023-03-03 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-03-10 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-03-17 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
2023-03-03 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-03-10 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-03-17 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: Embracing the Dharma: Compassion, Community Care, & International Solidarity
2023-03-05 10:00 - 13:00
An Online Half-day workshop led by Arisika Razak and shah noor
Saturday March 5th
10am – 1pm PST (Time Zone Converter) Closed Captioning Provided
The teachings of the dharma can teach us how to embrace each other skillfully and move into wise and compassionate action. “Embracing the Dharma: Compassion, Community Care, & International Solidarity” is a half-day interactive workshop led by Arisika Razak and shah noor where participants will have the opportunity to meditate, reflect, and dialogue on the power of compassion. In this time when transwomen, gender expansive folk, and LGBTQAI+ communities are threatened with erasure and violence, let’s come together and celebrate the concept of gender equity, self-love and joy. Let’s remember our s/heroes and gender expansive kinfolk who paved the way forward for us, naming, claiming and opening the roads. We’ll use writing, story-telling, meditation and music to honor the diversity of our bodies, our identities, and the power that arises from within. Bring a candle – or the light in your heart – writing/art supplies, and a story of someone who inspires you this International Women’s Day.

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.

Teacher Bios:

Arisika Razak, MPH, is Professor Emerita, and the former chair of the Women’s Spirituality Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies is currently a core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center. For over twenty years she provided midwifery care to women in the San Francisco Bay Area, serving as a home and hospital birth attendant, healthcare administrator and patient advocate. Her current research interests include Africana wisdom traditions, Buddhism and womanism, and embodied spirituality and movement. A graduate of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner Program and the Sounds True Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, Arisika leads community based sanghas in the Western Insight convert-based meditation tradition, and is a regular contributor to Buddhist books and journals. Her teachings incorporate diverse spiritual traditions, multicultural feminisms, queer theory, and contemporary diversity theory. She has led spiritual and healing workshops and ritual celebrations for over four decades, and regularly presents at online and in-person conferences on women and other marginalized members of the African Diaspora.

shah noor hussein, MA (they / them) is a writer, visual artist, and educator crafting narratives at the nexus of Black feminist thought and Queer diaspora studies. They are a doctoral student and Cota-Robles Fellow at UC Santa Cruz and earned their masters from California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in 2017. shah’s poetry has been featured in Fog Lifter Press (2021), the LA Review of Books (2020), Umber (2019), and CUNJUH (2017). shah’s work has been published in numerous anthologies, including a forthcoming collection of Black feminist writing, When We Exhale, alongside the words of Maya Angelou, Sonia Sanchez, and June Jordan. shah works as Managing Editor for the Arrow Journal, publishing scholarship at the critical nexus of racial justice and spiritual wisdom. shah found refuge in EBMCs sanghas in 2014, participated in EBMC’s 2019 Resilience, Refuge and (R)evolution Program, and graduated from the 9th cohort of the award-winning Practice in Transformative Action year-long secular mindfulness program in 2022. They have been teaching writing since 2015 and began offering these teachings at EBMC workshops in 2021.

shah’s photo credit: Kate Dash

HYBRID: Alphabet Sangha
2023-03-07 19:00 - 20:30, 2023-03-21 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

ONLINE: Multiracial Peer-Led Deep Refuge Group
2023-03-11 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

ONLINE: Social Justice Lunchtime Sangha - Peer Led Deep Refuge group
2023-03-14 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
