All News

Want to increase diversity in the neuroscience of meditation?

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Participate in the first community-based neuroscience study between EBMC and UCSF called the EMBODY study. We are looking for diverse meditators who 1) are 25-65 years old, 2) have consistently practiced meditation for 5 years in their lifetime, and 3) are interested in brain activity during meditation measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participation would involve 1) phone interview and online surveys, 2) 3-hour visit to UCSF Mission Bay, including 2 hours in a MRI scanner, and 3) receiving a picture of your brain and $75. Travel costs are reimbursed. People of all genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, and ability status are encouraged to participate. E-mail embodystudy@ucsf.edu or call 415-514-8445 for more information.

People should not participate if they have magnetic metal in their bodies, would not be comfortable in an MRI scanner, and are having difficulty paying attention to experiences (such as breath and thoughts). For an informational pamphlet on this study, go to: https://bit.ly/2AGlz4q

Be Safe Coming to and Leaving East Bay Meditation Center! — Self-awareness Is Self-defense

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Mindfulness meditation practice is of limited use unless it’s applied to our everyday lives. We want our East Bay Meditation Center Sangha (spiritual community) to be safe and to feel safe traveling from place to place by public transportation, and strolling or rolling down our urban streets. Download this free, information-packed article on self-awareness as self-defense from martial arts master Michele Benzamin-Miki here.
Photo:  Conner Baker on Unsplash

Doors Open for Silent Vigil, Meditation and Prayer – Wednesday, July 25th

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 25: Are you seeking a refuge for silent vigil, meditation and prayer? East Bay Meditation Center will provide a space for silent contemplation as part of our weekly […]

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Apply now for Practice in Transformative Action 2018-2019 yearlong program!

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Deadline for applications is August 6, 2018. This award-winning EBMC yearlong program is for people involved in social change who want to benefit from a solid foundation in secular mindfulness meditation-based practices and who are interested in learning how to share these stress-reducing practices with others in a culturally humble manner. PiTA6 is the sixth cohort of this unique yearlong experience for social justice activists and change agents. All are invited to apply, and there is a special invitation to People of Color. For more information, go to https://eastbaymeditation.org/programs/longprograms/#toggle-id-1
Please note that this is a secular mindfulness training program, not a Buddhist study program. 
Photo Caption: The PiTA4 yearlong program cohort, enjoying being in community at their daylong retreat, July 2017 

EBMC in the Buddhist media!

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Article about EBMC in Lion’s Roar magazine July 2018

Read all about #EBMC in the Buddhist media! “Where Everyone Can Thrive”: A fabulous feature article about East Bay Meditation Center in the July 2018 issue of Lion’s Roar magazine. With wonderful photos of our diverse Sangha! You can purchase a copy of the magazine at EBMC for a $5 donation now (they’re in the kitchen on the table near the electric kettle; limited number available), or you can find out where to purchase it for around $8 at a newsstand near you by entering your zip code at this link: http://magfinder.magnetdata.net/. After June 12, you can also order this magazine as a single issue order from the Lion’s Roar online store.

Medical Supplies Desperately Needed in Palestine: Please consider donating

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Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is helping to respond to a large number of casualties in Gaza. Hospitals there have been overwhelmed by those injured during recent protests. Supplies of many medical items and medicines are desperately low — and others have run out completely. Palestinians urgently need funds for trauma supplies, essential supplies for surgery, disposables for Gaza’s Central Blood Bank, limb reconstruction equipment, and more. 
If you wish to donate, you can do so through Facebook, which passes on 100% of donations to MAP, by clicking on this link: https://www.facebook.com/donate/252021992035461/10155639367872947/
 
or by clicking on the “Donate” button on MAP’s website, here: https://www.map.org.uk
 
Thank you, EBMC Sangha! 
 
[photo credit:  Medical Aid for Palestinians] 

EBMC’s Strategic Plan: A look at the next two, five and ten years of EBMC!

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For the past nine months, the EBMC community has been engaged in a dynamic process to develop a strategic plan that articulates our vision and outlines strategic actions for EBMC over the next two, five and ten years.

EBMC staff and Leadership Sangha (Board of Directors) have been working diligently to craft our strategic plan based on input from the Sangha.

With the invaluable help of our organizational consultants and the contributions from our community, we are pleased to be able to share this final document with you!

To read online or download, please click below:

EBMC SP Final Draft 4.15.18

Naturally, we’ll be celebrating this incredible milestone! Please save the date of Saturday, June 2nd 2018; all are welcome!

EBMC Announces 8th Annual Dharmathon on Saturday, May 12th!

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EBMC’s Eighth Annual Dharma-thon will feature some of the Bay Area’s most inspiring artists on May 12! Dharma-thoners will enjoy an intimate dinner with performances by Melanie DeMore, Naima Shalhoub, and Michelle “Mush” Lee, with a delicious multi-course meal cooked by local vegan Filipino caterer No Worries.  This event will take place at Betti Ono Gallery in downtown Oakland, an experimentally minded space for arts, culture and community.

To register, visit: https://www.firstgiving.com/event/EBMC/2018-Dharma-thon

 

Seeking volunteers: Registration email management and Backup Temple Keeper (cleaning)

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EBMC is seeking volunteers for the following volunteer positions:
 
Registration email management
Volunteer needs to have their own computer; they can do the tasks anywhere there is an Internet connection. The volunteer in this position is part of a team that is responsible for managing the EBMC registration @eastbaymeditation.org email one week per month. It entails processing cancellation requests for EBMC events through the Eventbrite online system, archiving emails, and forwarding emails to relevant EBMC staff members. Training is provided.
Time Commitment & Schedule:
One week per month (2-3 hours that week). The volunteer is expected to log-in to the registration email twice per week. We ask for a six-month commitment, renewable if mutually agreeable.
Please contact: Xiaojing Wang, EBMC Programs and Finance Director, Xiaojing at eastbaymeditation dot org
Backup Temple Keeper (cleaning EBMC), available Fridays before 5 pm
We need a volunteer available on Fridays before 5 pm, to sub when needed for our regular Temple Keeper volunteers. One regular volunteer does a one-hour shift on Fridays, cleaning the bathrooms and the kitchen. A second regular volunteer does a one-hour shift on Fridays, cleaning the entryway, office, and breakout rooms. Training is provided.
Please contact:  Mushim Ikeda, EBMC Community Coordinator, Mushim at eastbaymeditation dot org
Thank you!

Read DeNNiSOmeRa’s #SeasonOfGratitude Story

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To wrap up a beautiful series of Gratitude Stories, longtime Sangha member Dennis Somera shares his experience with cultivating beloved community through sangha:
 
For the past decade, arriving on my cushion at the East Bay Meditation Center’s People of Color Sangha has alloWEd me a deep sense of gratitude, especially surrounded by (as well as supporting) others seeking refuge from HEgemonic patriarchal white supremacist culture.
Practicing with the POC Sangha and then with the Men of Color Deep Refuge Group has deeply supported the reconnection of my Buddha nature to Sangha. The weekly and daylong affinity group meditation sessions embody EBMC’s commitment to Radical Inclusion, which structures care (from john powell) into its daily practice as an organization.
Where politicized Sangha might falter in other spaces, at EBMC, we work with each other at the nexus of power and privilege. It is currently happening with groups like White and Awakening in Sangha and the Men of Color Deep Refuge Group.
 
Through EBMC’s relentless efforts to create an accessible space – in terms of location, physical accessibility, the Gift Economics model, and radical inclusion – EBMC is institutionalizing a structure of care for all people. In another EBMC deep refuge group, the Restorative Practices for Dharma Practitioners, we are attempting to structure even more Sangha care by integrating restorative practices/ talking stick circles/ council structures (respectfully drawn from Restorative Justice and indigenous wisdom) into more regular practices at EBMC.
When meditation is not only radical acceptance and attendance to the 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows of our own individual lives, but is also extended outward to our communities, we can practice radically attending to each other and building a structure of care in BEloved community through a more inteRElational sangha practice.
 
EBMC’s radically inclusive care for all is the essential foundation for building beloved community and sacred sangha. It’s the way to open the door to everyone, allow our communities to learn and heal together, and bring this transformational practice into all of our daily lives.
In gratitude,
DeNNiSOmeRa