An Online Retreat with Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith and Fresh “Lev” White

Saturday February 24, 2024

10:00 am – 4:00 pm PT (Time Zone Converter) Closed Captioning Provided

Let’s get together as self-identified Black/African/African American people of all identities, genders, shades, blends, and sexualities for a day of reflection, compassion, and mindfulness, to support our resiliency at this time, in this life.

Please join Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith and Fresh Lev White for a day of practice for Black people of the African diaspora. We will practice compassion and introduce equanimity as tools for strengthening our hearts. We will offer silent and guided meditation, accessible movement and periods of discussion.

All levels of practitioners are welcome. You’re invited to prepare snacks, drinks, and have a notebook nearby for your convenience. We will take a 45 minute break.

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

Teacher Bios:

Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA, brings over 25 years of cumulative meditation practice and spiritual studies to her livelihood as a Spiritual Teacher and Leader. Silent Vipassana (insight) meditation retreats, Theravada Buddhist studies and earth-based indigenous spirituality and healing arts are at the heart of her practice. Ramona Lisa is passionate about spiritual studies and sharing wisdom teachings. She is a MTI Certified Mindfulness Teacher and Certified Cloud Sangha Mentor, as well as a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP6) and East Bay Meditation Center’s (EBMC) Commit to Dharma Program (C2D3) and Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training. She will complete her certification in Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy (IFOT) in Spring 2023. Ramona Lisa serves as a mentor, facilitator and/or teacher for multiple organizations, including EBMC, Cloud Sangha, Dhamma Dena Retreat Center, Peace At Any Pace, Inc.’s Deep Time Liberation ancestral healing journey retreats, Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley, Marin Sangha, Mills College Love and Liberation Sangha, Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group, and Spirit Rock Meditation Center-BiPOC Sundays. Ramona Lisa offers classes, retreats and mentoring through her business, FREE SPIRIT

Fresh “Lev” White is a lover of life and all beings, who lives to reflect and offer the possibilities of unconditional love and self-compassion to his diverse global community through his writing, mindfulness offerings, and Diversity Trainings. A graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leadership Program, Lev offers Dharma at centers around the SF Bay Area, including his sangha home at the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC). He is founder of the Bay Area’s first Trans and GQ Mindfulness Sangha, and contributor to the following: of Real World Mindfulness for Beginners, edited by Brenda Salgaldo, Trans Buddhist Anthology (Nov. 2019); and Trans Bodies; Trans Selves, a resource guide, edited by Laura Erickson-Schroth, for the Transgender community and those who support them socially and professionally.

Learn more about Lev on LinkedIn at: “Fresh “Lev” White”

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.