SAVE THE DATE: Re-opening Community Gathering – July 16th

East Bay Meditation Center is celebrating our community by hosting a summer party at Snow Park!

We have been mostly online for over three years. As we learn to meet in person more safely, we are looking forward to marking this new moment with a community celebration. Join us as we commemorate EBMC’s hybrid programming at our July 16th Reopening Celebration at Snow Park followed by a week of hybrid classes and practice groups.

On Sunday, July 16th from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM we will be holding space at Snow Park, a block from our center and also hosting group tours of the temple. We are honored to have one of our dear EBMC founders, Larry Yang, welcome us to the celebrations at the park. Join us for group meditations, sound healing, dance and drumming under the oak trees. You’re also invited to bring your spiritual friends and community, roll out a blanket and catch up in the sun.

Small group tours of EBMC will happen on the hour, with sign-ups at the park, and include: access to a memorial altar honoring sangha/community members lost in these last three plus years, a twenty-minute group meditation in the temple room, and information about the center and upcoming programs. For the tour, you will be asked to put on shoe booties at the door and to wear a KN95/N95 mask throughout your time inside the center.

There will be a closing circle at the Snow Park’s Putting Green at 1:45 pm.

Come celebrate with us! Watch this space for the Sunday event and weeklong hybrid schedule.

Email ramon (at) eastbaymeditation.org if you want to volunteer, have proposals or questions

Please save the date and look out for more details to come.

Larry Yang teaches meditation nationally, and has spent much energy to deepen Dharma teachings within multicultural communities. Larry is a core teacher of EBMC. He is on the Teachers’ Council and the Board at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and is the Guiding Teacher of Insight Community of the Desert in Palm Springs, CA. Larry is trained as a psychotherapist and has spent six months as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He considers retreat practice, family practice, livelihood practice, and householder practice all integral to a spiritual path towards Freedom. He is one of the teachers who coordinate the Community Dharma Leadership training program cultivating future leadership in the dharma.

 

 

 

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.

 

COVID-19 Safety Protocols

To come to EBMC in person, please be fully vaccinated and wear a mask. More information HERE.

Photo by Vadym Lebedych on Unsplash

Agreements for Multicultural Interactions

Agreements for Multicultural Interactions at EBMC 

Created by  © VISIONS

Try It On: Be willing to “try on” new ideas, or ways of doing things that might not be what you prefer or are familiar with.

Practice Self Focus: Attend to and speak about your own experiences and responses. Do not speak for a whole group or express assumptions about the experience of others.

Understand The Difference Between Intent & Impact: Try to understand and acknowledge impact. Denying the impact of something said by focusing on intent is often more destructive than the initial interaction.

Practice “Both / And”: When speaking, substitute “and” for “but.” This practice acknowledges and honors multiple realities.

Refrain From Blaming Or Shaming Self & Others: Practice giving skillful feedback.

Move Up / Move Back: Encourage full participation by all present. Take note of who is speaking and who is not. If you tend to speak often, consider “moving back” and vice versa.

Practice Mindful Listening: Try to avoid planning what you’ll say as you listen to others. Be willing to be surprised, to learn something new. Listen with your whole self.

Confidentiality: Take home learnings, but don’t identify anyone other than yourself, now or later. If you want to follow up with anyone regarding something they said during a session, ask first and respect their wishes.

Right To Pass: You can say “I pass” if you don’t wish to speak.

 

To download a PDF Version of the Agreements for Multicultural Interactions, please click here

Got a question about EBMC? Input? For the EBMC Directory, click HERE.

I Vow Not to Burn Out

EBMC Core Teacher Mushim Patricia Ikeda writes in the August issue of Lion’s Roar magazine about the “Great Vow for Mindful Activists”

Aware of suffering and injustice, I, _________, am working to create a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. I promise, for the benefit of all, to practice self-care, mindfulness, healing, and joy. I vow to not burn out.

Image: “Superman Buddha, Force Within” by Elisa Insua.