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ONLINE: White and Awakening Monthly Sangha

June 14, 2026 @ 10:30 am - 12:00 pm

The White and Awakening Monthly Sangha will meet on the second Sunday of each month from 10:30 am to Noon PT/1:30-3:00 pm ET  beginning January 11, 2026.  This group is a joint offering of EBMC and Brooklyn Zen Center.  All meetings are on Zoom.

 

Facilitated by Crystal Johnson, Sarah Emerson, Heather Lear, Kitsy Schoen and guests, the monthly sangha is an opportunity for white people to gather and discuss their dilemmas and successes in waking up to whiteness and making a difference in undermining white supremacy culture in all of its many manifestations, including in our sanghas.  Our intention is to create a supportive space that allows us to do the hard and painful inner work that frees us to take action in the world.

 

Open to all self-identified white people and to those for whom whiteness is an important part of their identity.  Questions?  Email us at whiteandawakening@eastbaymeditation.org.  

 

Sign up here to receive the zoom link.  

 

FACILITATORS

Crystal Johnson photo

Crystal Johnson is a retired clinical psychologist and a Community Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) in Oakland, CA, where she also serves on the Leadership Sangha (Board) and as a member of the Radical Inclusivity Committee. She completed the year long Commit2Dharma training at EBMC, as well as the 2-year Dedicated Practitioner Program and the 2-year Community Dharma Leader Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. In her teaching, she focuses on creating/co-creating programs for white dharma practitioners seeking to build awareness, knowledge and skills to challenge the dynamics of white privilege and race-based oppression, and create truly inclusive sangha. Her courses include White and Awakening in Sangha at EBMC, Unpacking Whiteness: Reflection and Action at the San Francisco Zen Center, White and Awakening Together at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Unpacking Whiteness for the Soto Zen Buddhist Association and Unpacking the Whiteness of Leadership for Branching Streams. She offers consultation to individuals and organizations seeking to disrupt the practices of white supremacy culture and support change toward racial equity.

Sarah Dōjin Emerson’s formal practice in Soto Zen began in 1996. She received Dharma Transmission from Abbott Konjin Gaelyn Godwin of the Houston Zen Center in 2015. She has a M.A. in Counseling Psychology, and has worked in the fields of mental health and pastoral care with children and adults. She experiences Bodhisattva Zen practice as deeply supportive to inquiring into, challenging and transforming systems of oppression, particularly racial inequities and the harm they cause within convert Buddhist sanghas, and in U.S. society generally. Sarah has worked for many years in grief support- clinically, ritually and in community- specializing in child loss. She lives with her partner, Charlie Pokorny (who is also a Soto Zen Buddhist priest), their children (who are her most profound and constant teachers) and numerous pets in Brooklyn, NY.

Heather Lear (she/her) was born and raised with the Dharma in a family of Insight Meditation practitioners in the South, and is now based on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land in San Francisco. She studies and teaches at the intersection of heart-centered Dharma, embodiment practices and DEIA work around white and awakening in community, and serves as the Program Manager at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Heather has completed various study and teaching programs, including Spirit Rock’s LEAP program, the Sati Center’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Training, and Radiant Heart Qigong Teacher Training with Teja Bell. She has served on the board at Insight Santa Cruz, on the teaching team offering the 6-month White and Awakening in Sangha program at the East Bay Meditation Center since 2019, and is part of the current Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders (CDL7) cohort.

Kitsy Schoen, MSW, began her mindfulness practice and was inspired to work as a hospice social worker after meeting Stephen Levine in 1979. Throughout her career she has been able to integrate mindfulness and her passion for racial equity into her work. At Kaiser Permanente, Kitsy led the NCAL Kaiser Psychiatry’s Cultural Diversity Workgroup and was a founding member of the “Isms Collaborative”, a group of representatives from public and private health care organizations that sought to address workplace bias in agencies committed to reducing health disparities. In 2004 she began Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leader program with the specific focus of bringing insight and compassion practices to working with other white people on racism. In 2007, she joined the Leadership Sangha (board) of East Bay Meditation Center and began offering antiracism classes to white practitioners. Kitsy has provided training and consultation to numerous mental health training programs and dharma centers on issues of racism, power and privilege.

Details

Date:
June 14, 2026
Time:
10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Series:
Event Categories:
, ,

Venue

East Bay Meditation Center
285 17th Street
Oakland, CA 94612 United States
+ Google Map
Phone
510-268-0696

Details

Date:
June 14, 2026
Time:
10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Series:
Event Categories:
, ,

Venue

East Bay Meditation Center
285 17th Street
Oakland, CA 94612 United States
+ Google Map
Phone
510-268-0696