Something Feels Safe Enough Here to Release: Amy Huang on Dana, Abundance, and Community

“Every time I show up to practice, I end up crying. Something feels safe enough here to release.”

During our Season of Gratitude, we’re sharing reflections from members of our Sangha about how East Bay Meditation Center has supported their practice and their lives. This week, we’re honored to share a story from Amy Huang.

Amy began practicing with EBMC’s BIPOC Sangha after moving to Oakland and later deepened their involvement through the Commit to Sangha program. What stood out most for them was the sense of safety they felt each time they showed up.

As Amy reflected, they began to notice a pattern.

“I started to realize that every time I came to practice, I would cry,” Amy shared. “It felt like something in me was finally safe enough to release.”

Over time, Amy’s practice at EBMC opened into a deeper relationship with dana and gift economics. Like many of us, they came in carrying a strong sense of scarcity shaped by the world we live in.

“Dana became a way to notice how much abundance I actually have,” Amy reflected. “I wondered if, by giving as if I had enough, I could start to feel in my body that I do.”

For Amy, dana is not only about giving. It is also about receiving generously — trusting that care, connection, and support are not things we must earn, but something we deserve as human beings.

At EBMC, gift economics is a lived practice. It creates space for people to show up honestly, explore their inner lives, and feel held by community while doing that work.

During this Season of Gratitude, we invite you to reflect on what EBMC has offered you.

Your support provides a place of deep refuge — a sanctuary of belonging and care for our community in a time of great suffering in the world.
It keeps EBMC accessible online and in person.
It allows us to offer programs rooted in gift economics, making practice available regardless of income.

If EBMC has supported your practice, please consider making a year-end gift today.
We’ve raised $9,274 toward our $30,000 goal, and your support helps carry us the rest of the way.

👉 Make your gift today: Join us in our Season of Gratitude 2025

A Spiritual Home I Can Always Return To: Bong Lau on Belonging and Collective Care

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“EBMC is a spiritual home I can always return to. I feel welcomed there, and I get to participate in something meaningful.”
— Bong Lau

During our Season of Gratitude, we’re sharing stories from members of our Sangha about how East Bay Meditation Center has shaped their lives. This week, we’re honored to share a reflection from Bong Lau, longtime practitioner, teaching team member, and Friend of EBMC.

Bong first came to EBMC in 2008, during a period of deep stress while attending teaching credential school. A partner suggested he try EBMC, then located on 17th and Broadway.

From the moment he walked in, something shifted.

After long days of student teaching, the Center felt peaceful. People were kind. They looked him in the eye. That feeling of being truly seen stayed with him.

Over time, EBMC became a place of belonging. A place rooted in radical inclusivity, collective care, and the belief that we are not free until everyone is free.

One experience still gives Bong chills. During a Men of Color Deep Refuge retreat, more than twenty Black and Brown men moved together in walking meditation through downtown Oakland. Slowly. Intentionally. In silence and community.

“It was powerful,” Bong reflects, “to witness men of color choosing to be together in this way.”

Today, Bong is part of the teaching team for Practice in Transformative Action (PiTA) 2.0, an EBMC program that supports social justice activists in bringing mindfulness and care back to their communities and organizations.

Bong is also a Friend of EBMC. He gives back because EBMC has been a good friend to him. Because he has received so much. Because generosity feels like a natural expression of gratitude.

During this Season of Gratitude, we invite you to reflect on what EBMC has meant in your own life.

  • Your support keeps the lights on.
  • It keeps EBMC accessible online and in person.
  • It helps keep our programs financially accessible, regardless of income.

👉 Make your monthly gift today: Join us in our Season of Gratitude 2025

Thank you for being part of this community with your presence, your practice, and your generosity.

 

Taking Refuge: Melvin Escobar on Generosity, Trust, and Belonging

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When we sat down with EBMC core teacher Melvin Escobar to talk about community and gift economics, he surprised us by getting emotional before the camera even started rolling.

What he shared was simple, spacious, and deeply moving.

When asked about his role at EBMC, Melvin paused, then said:

“My primary role is human taking refuge. That’s the role. We arrive here and it’s like… wow.”

For Melvin, EBMC has long been a place of arrival — a place where showing up as you are is not only allowed, but welcomed. A place where refuge is not theoretical, but lived.

Melvin spoke about generosity not just as a practice, but as an act of trust. A faith that what is offered freely, without attachment, returns in ways we cannot always predict or control.

“Generosity is a faith practice. We offer freely, without attachment, and freely knowing it will come back. That is the divine law.”

That sense of trust is something Melvin felt early on in his relationship with EBMC.

“There was a wiser aspect of me that said, ‘This is somewhere you can be.’ And the Sangha reflected that back. There was unspoken permission to be here in my unique expression.”

This is what generosity makes possible at EBMC.

A place where people can arrive exactly as they are.
A place where refuge is real.
A place where belonging is alive and embodied.

During this Season of Gratitude, we invite you to support the community that has held thousands of us in moments of vulnerability, healing, and awakening.

Your generosity helps sustain EBMC’s refuge — for this moment and for generations to come

👉 Make your monthly gift today: Join us in our Season of Gratitude 2025

Thank you for being part of this community with your presence, your practice, and your generosity.

COVID-19 Safety Protocols

Dear Community,

We write to you with gratitude for the many ways our sangha continues to show up for each other and for the values we hold dear. As we navigate the complex world we inhabit, we are continually inspired by your compassion, adaptability, and care, even as we continue to heal from the grief of this global pandemic and the losses so many of us experienced. Together, we are gently moving forward.

After deep reflection and careful review of feedback from our recent Community Survey, we want to share an important update:

Starting January 1, 2026, EBMC’s in-person masking policy will shift from “masks required” to “masks strongly encouraged.”

This decision emerged from heartfelt listening and discernment. Through the Community Survey and dialogues, it became clear that our community is facing a form of accessibility friction where the needs of different members appear to be in tension.

  • For some, masks are essential, especially for those who are immunocompromised or care for vulnerable loved ones.
  • For others, masks present barriers, including people who rely on facial expressions for communication, those with breathing challenges, or those navigating trauma and mental health conditions that are worsened when faces are obscured.
  • And some shared that masking, in the current political climate, can feel isolating or even frightening, raising fears of being surveilled.

We acknowledge that there is no perfect solution. In the spirit of the Middle Way, we are choosing a direction that holds complexity, prioritizes relationships, and invites each of us into deeper awareness and discernment.

We will continue to provide:

  • Free N95 masks and COVID-19 test kits at the center
  • Strong encouragement to mask indoors, especially in large gatherings
  • Support for ongoing online and in-person programming

We also remain committed to safety and equity through the following ongoing protocols:

  • Self-assessment: Please stay home if you have a fever or symptoms of illness.
  • Vaccination: All in-person participants must be fully vaccinated (first two shots plus one booster.)
  • Air Quality: Three HEPA filters will run in the temple during all programming.
  • Sanitation: Bathrooms are stocked and clearly marked with handwashing instructions.
  • Exposure Notification: If you test positive after being at the center, please contact us at admin@eastbaymeditation.org so that we can notify others of potential exposure.

We know this change will be welcomed by some and difficult for others. Please know that this shift is not a departure from our values; it is an attempt to live our values in practice, amidst paradox and complexity.

Staff and the LSangha Executive Committee will revisit the policy monthly and remain open to adaptation as the context evolves. Individual teachers and practice groups may continue to require masks at their discretion, and EBMC will support those choices fully.

Thank you for continuing to navigate this threshold with care, curiosity, and courage. If you have questions or reflections, we welcome them at admin@eastbaymeditation.org.

In community,

EBMC LSangha and Staff

Click here to download a PDF of this policy update

Photo by Vadym Lebedych on Unsplash

What Sustains Us: Jenn Biehn on Community, Safety, and Monthly Giving

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Longtime East Bay Meditation Center movement teacher Jenn Biehn and her wife Joan Lohman are dedicated monthly supporters of EBMC. In fact, EBMC is the organization they give to most consistently.

For Jenn, the reason is simple.

“What we need is community. We need safety. We need belonging. And we find that here. We can show up with honesty and vulnerability, and that matters.”

Jenn has been part of the EBMC community for many years, witnessing how the Center holds space for deep practice, relationship, and refuge across difference. She knows firsthand how much stability it takes to keep EBMC accessible and rooted in care.

That’s why monthly giving matters so much to her.

“For those of us who can give monthly, and give monthly generously, it is so important. Monthly giving gives EBMC sustainability it can count on.”

Reliable monthly dana helps EBMC keep programs accessible, support teachers, and continue offering refuge to the full diversity of our community. It allows the Center to plan with confidence and respond to real needs as they arise.

Jenn also spoke about the future EBMC is building together. With a new permanent home within reach, sustained support — including larger gifts toward the building — helps bring this long-held vision closer to reality.

Monthly giving is one way supporters like Jenn and Joan help ensure that EBMC remains a place of safety, belonging, and collective care, now and for generations to come.

During this Season of Gratitude, we invite you to join Jenn, Joan, and hundreds of others who sustain EBMC through monthly generosity.

👉 Make your monthly gift today: Join us in our Season of Gratitude 2025

Your generosity helps keep EBMC strong — today and into the future.

Rosetta Saunders: “EBMC is medicine.”

Make your gift today and help sustain EBMC’s sanctuary for all who need it:
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When Rosetta Saunders talks about EBMC, her whole face lights up. For her, EBMC isn’t just a place to meditate. It’s a space where people can come as they are, breathe more freely, and experience the rare kind of care that changes lives.

“It’s transformative,” she says. “EBMC is a safe sanctuary. A place where folks know they’re cared for. I don’t know of another space that offers the opportunity to sit together like EBMC does.”

Rosetta describes EBMC as a kind of medicine — the kind that eases isolation, strengthens community, and gives people a place to land when life feels overwhelming. Her words remind us why this center exists in the first place and why our community continues to show up for one another with such generosity.

As we enter our Season of Gratitude, we invite you to join Rosetta in supporting EBMC’s mission. Your gift directly sustains our classrooms, our teachers, our access-centered programming, and the collective refuge so many depend on.

Help keep this sanctuary alive. Make a gift today:
👉 Join us in our Season of Gratitude 2025

Together, we make this possible.

Season of Gratitude 2025

The Season of Gratitude is EBMC’s annual celebration of community care and shared generosity. As we close out 2025, your support helps sustain everything that makes EBMC a place of refuge, practice, and belonging.

Your gift ensures that our center remains accessible to all, especially those who rely on EBMC as a space for healing, justice, and spiritual connection. Every offering helps provide:

• Trauma-informed and culturally responsive programs
• Weekly practice groups that nurture connection and collective care
• Accessible meditation teachings rooted in liberation
• A welcoming space where everyone can practice, regardless of financial means

EBMC has always been powered by community generosity. Your donation today helps us continue our mission of offering transformative programs without financial barriers. With your support, EBMC can stay strong, sustainable, and open to everyone who seeks a place to practice.

Thank you for being part of this community. Your generosity truly makes a difference.

DONATE NOW!

PiTA 2.0! A New Iteration of “Practice in Transformative Action”

Apply now!

PiTA 2.0: Practice in Transformative Action

We’re excited to announce the next iteration of PiTA (Practice in Transformative Action) 2.0, a 6-month, in-person program at EBMC facilitated by past PiTA Apprentice Teachers and endorsed by EBMC Founding Teacher Mushim Ikeda.

PiTA 2.0 empowers participants to integrate mindfulness and Buddhist principles into their social justice work through healing, practice, and community.

 


Who This Program Is For

PiTA 2.0 is open to individuals who:

  •  Practice (or are curious about) mindfulness and Buddhist-informed practices such as meditation, mindful eating, movement, metta, and self-compassion.
  • Are engaged in—or seeking to engage in—justice-centered activism as organizers, educators, healers, cultural workers, or other transformative roles.
  • Desire community and collective learning, rooted in the spirit of beloved community.
  • Can commit to two in-person sessions per month over six months (3.5 hours each; at least 8 of 10 sessions).
  • Are willing to bring time, energy, and emotional capacity to shared practice.
  • Embrace shared leadership and collective responsibility.
  • Are open to co-creating across differences with attention to healing, conflict transformation, and equitable practices.

 

Program Objectives

Together, PiTA 2.0 participants will:

  • Practice mindfulness in many forms, including meditation, movement, mindful eating, metta, and self-compassion.
  • Embody and share how Buddhist principles strengthen personal resilience and collective justice movements.
  • Co-create spaces for healing, transformation, and beloved community.
  • Apply mindfulness-informed strategies to build non-violent, joyful, and liberatory relationships and systems.
  • Connect with and be inspired by the intergenerational PiTA network past and present.

Application Details

  • Applications open September 1 – November 15, 2025
  • Notification of acceptance by December 1, 2025
  • If you’ve been part of a previous PiTA cohort, you are welcome to apply again.

Click here to apply

If you value inner practice as a foundation for outer change and are seeking a mindful, relational, and justice-rooted learning community, we warmly invite you to apply to PiTA 2.0

HYBRID: White and Awakening in Sangha

IN PERSON: Gather & Ground: Compassionate Community Building