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Commit 2 Dharma
A Year-Long Spiritual Practice Program
Announcement

The Program

Commit 2 Dharma is a yearlong program to deepen spiritual practice in Dharma and community.

In the midst of the challenges of life, we are creating a community of practice to provide support and learning that is both a refuge and a strategy. The program creates space to learn across the Three Jewels of the Buddhist path: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. This intertwines practice in 1. Deepening knowledge of Dharma teachings 2. Building connections with other mindfulness practitioners in Sangha and 3. Creating space in life for devoted practice in the teachings of the Buddha.  We will explore foundational teachings of the Dharma, as passed down in Theravada lineages of Southeast Asia.  Through a series of monthly full group meetings and semi-monthly small group meetings, we will take time to explore dharma wisdom like the Noble Truths, Paramis, Loving Kindness, and the Factors of Awakening. We will study the teachings through sharing and strengthening the unique community experience of EBMC, with spaciousness to try on new practices to experience the Dharma.

Each month’s topic will be introduced through email with readings and resources to study. Monthly half-day in person meetings will be used to build connections and explore topics in small and large groups. Dharma talks and invitations to a series of practices that include meditation, access-informed movement, journaling and reflection will be shared to work with for the month. Participants will have an opportunity to check in with teachers in their small group midway through the month, as well as a chance to connect quarterly for 1:1 interviews with teachers.

In this cohort, we will pay special attention to building relationships across the cohort, cultivating joy and meeting conflict with feedback and accountability. In our experience, these cohort relationships provide an infrastructure that supports a broad sangha commitment to EBMC through volunteering, leadership, and gift economics. Newer students and those who have trained in other spaces can particularly benefit from learning how sangha is created at EBMC, which can feel very different from other meditation centers. Commit to Dharma is a non-judgmental learning space to practice being in community together.

Commit 2 Dharma was created and led by Larry Yang from 2009 to 2014. We are recreating this program with Larry’s knowledge and support. Each of the three teachers participated in the original C2D year long program with Larry Yang. We hope to offer this transformative experience to other new leaders for EBMC. It is through our individual and shared practices that we begin to see the changes in the world that we want to be a part of.

 

Program Components

Year-long program including monthly full group meetings, small group meetings and home practice. This is a one year program with 12 months of facilitated meetings, moving through a schedule of topics.

Each month will include:

• One monthly full group meeting with 2-3 teachers at EBMC

  • First month will be a full day at EBMC (8 hours)

  • Middle 10 months will be a half day at EBMC on the third or fourth Saturday (4 hours)

  • Last month will be 2-day overnight at a different location TBD

• Monthly practice letter after the full group meeting, with resources relevant to the month’s topic and practice instructions. With the practice letter, students will have prompts and practices to engage with for daily practice and to prepare for and engage with small group meetings.

• One monthly small group meeting with one teacher (2 hours)

• One monthly peer-led small group, with no teacher (2 hours)

Expectations of engagement with the Program:

• Explore and develop a daily meditation practice of at least 45 minutes

• Keep a Journal of Dharma thoughts, reflections, questions, issues—at least weekly.

• Complete readings, exercises and research in monthly practice letters

• Try on and engage with all practices which are offered

• Follow EBMC’s Agreements for Multicultural Interaction in all meetings

• Practice Dana/Generosity to support the program and EBMC

Program Schedule and Topics

Application Timeline

May 17, 2026: Announce program

June 1, 2026: Application process opens.

June 20, 2026 9-10a PT: Q&A on Zoom with Dawn, Patrick and René

July 13, 2026 5-6p PT: Q&A on Zoom with Dawn, Patrick and René

July 24th, 2026: Application deadline

August Review process

August 21, 2026: Initial acceptances go out

September 19, 2026: Program begins

 

Schedule of Monthly meetings to be held at EBMC in person

We are asking you to commit to being at EBMC on these dates. (All dates are 3rd Saturdays except for 4th Saturdays in Sept and Oct, and topics are subject to change)

 

 

Application Process and Requirements

This is not intended to be a beginner’s program. Strong applicants are looking to grow their existing practice and have demonstrated, in their own way, commitment to their own learning and growth. Applicants will be able to speak to their significant engagement in practice, service, and sangha building – this could be residential or daylong retreat practice, volunteer commitments at EBMC, daily meditation practices, and/or other committed engagement to your spiritual development. If you are accepted into the program, you will be asked to commit to all of the Program components (above) in writing. We ask that you agree and understand that your participation in the Practice of Dana (or the Practice of Generosity and Giving) is integral to the support and sustenance of the program, the teachers, and EBMC.

Preference in program admission will be given to people living in the Bay Area, to BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and other identities marginalized in Western Convert Buddhist Centers. you will have space in your application to share access and logistical needs. Please know that it is expected that the number of applications to C2D will be very high. There is no guarantee for acceptance into the program, even if you meet the program criteria.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY – APPLICATIONS OPEN UNTIL JULY 24TH

Please send any questions to  C2D2@eastbaymeditation.org

COVID Protocols for in person meetings

We ask all participants to be fully vaccinated and boosted for COVID-19 and to agree to wear a N95 or KN95 mask for all full group meetings. The BIPOC, Alphabet, Midday, and Maha coordinating committees will be using the results of an anonymous survey to create accessibility agreements around masking for our sangha spaces that consider the diverse needs of our sanghas. We will be guided by the agreements the coordinating committees set after considering the results of the surveys, and this may update the COVID protocols for the C2D program.

 

The Teachers

Dawn Haney is a teacher, coach, and consultant, committed to helping communities and organizations learn how to navigate change while attending to dynamics of identity and power. They braid together wisdom from Buddhism, social justice, and psychology traditions, and alchemize this with their own experiences as a white, fat, queer, neurodivergent, nonbinary femme to support individual and community change. A dharma student since 2003, she is a Community Teacher at East Bay Meditation Center, offers DEIA and organizational development consulting to meditation programs and social change groups, and taught across the US as former Co-Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.

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 enjoys 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 is committed to expanding access to the Dharma to all beings.

René Rivera is a meditation teacher and restorative justice facilitator working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer Latinx trans man. René teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation, as a core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center. He has co-led the first residential meditation retreats for transgender, nonbinary and gender expansive people, and offers classes and retreats for many Buddhist centers and groups. René is a restorative justice facilitator for the Ahimsa Collective, working to heal sexual and gender based violence.