East Bay Meditation Center

In February 2021, a small but mighty cohort of dedicated Dharma practitioners began a two year journey in an exceptionally diverse and inclusive multi-lineage Buddhist teacher training program based in Oakland, CA. We became the first cohort of East Bay Meditation Center’s Spiritual Teacher and Leadership (EBMC’s STL) Program stewarded by four core EBMC teachers who are majority BIPOC and majority Queer. STL’s goal is to foster liberation for diverse communities by advancing personal and interpersonal healing, social engagement and transformation, and radically inclusive community building.

This is one of the first socially-engaged Buddhist training programs of its kind! Help us disrupt the mainstream US Buddhist narrative with your generous donation.

Here we are in all of our colorful queer, colorful multiracial, multiclass, transgenerational BADASS glory! Learn more about our cohort backgrounds here.

Our cohort has adopted a “Village Economics” model of shared financial responsibility in order to support EBMC and its teachers in offering this program. This means that instead of each person paying for their own tuition, we are sharing the responsibility to cover the program costs. The overall cost of the two-year program is $240,000. Half of this amount was raised by EBMC with generous support from the Kataly Foundation, so the total cost for program participants to fundraise is $120,000.

As of now, the members of our cohort have pledged $90,000 of that amount, and in order to make up the remaining $30,000, we are inviting your generosity.

As part of STL we are immersed in 6 interconnected pillars of study and practice:

Buddhism and Mindfulness

Radical Inclusivity

Social Justice and Healing

Village Economics

Teaching Methodology

Shared Leadership

Our cohort meets monthly for either daylong or five-day intensive trainings to cultivate our personal and collective growth. In between meetings, we are busy studying and exploring the Buddhadharma with our mentors, spiritual buddies, and dharma learning pods. We are already planting seeds in our communities by organizing and teaching in sanghas for affinity groups, families, sex workers, and transgender/nonbinary people.

We invite you to support our village by donating what you can to help us reach our goal of $30K!

Please join our larger village by checking out the EBMC program calendar here.

Keep reading to meet three of our fantastic STL members:

Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith

Photo credit: Monique Arelle (Ramona’s daughter)

Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA and Certified Mindfulness Teacher, brings over 25 years of cumulative meditation practice and spiritual studies to her livelihood as a Spiritual Teacher and Leader. Silent Vipassana (insight) meditation retreats and Theravada Buddhist studies are her focus. She is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners Program, East Bay Meditation Center’s (EBMC) Commit to Dharma program, and the Mindfulness Training Institute’s Teacher Certification program. She is currently enrolled in the first cohort of EBMC’s 2-year Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training. Ramona Lisa earned her BA in Business Economics with a minor in Ethnic Studies and her MBA in Management at Mills College. She aims to weave her non-traditional entrepreneurial spirit, “black” feminist thought, business, and leadership skills into her meditation practice, Dharma interpretation, and teachings with kindness and humor. As a sole proprietress, Ramona Lisa offers various services to mindfulness-based organizations and their leadership through her business, Free Spirit (www.FreeSpiritOfferings.com).

Jonathan Discaya Relucio

For a decade, Jonathan Relucio taught trauma-informed yoga, meditation, and mindfulness in urban schools, mental health clinics and juvenile detention centers as a Senior Trainer for Niroga Institute. He has completed Spirit Rock's Mindfulness, Yoga and Meditation Training program; and currently teaches at the East Bay Meditation Center and is enrolled in their Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training. Jonathan facilitates transformation in social justice movements with Rockwood Leadership Institute, and integrates trauma-informed mindfulness with restorative circles for healing and racial equity as co-founder of AllThriveEd.org. With over 20 years of experience in social services, community organizing, training, and leadership development, Jonathan values yoga and meditation as practices for liberation that heal us from the impact of oppressive systems.

Ramon Honea

My name is Ramón Honea. With deep roots in the Bay Area, I am a biracial gay man who finds service and joy in holding space for education and meditation. For twenty years I have worked as a teacher and administrator of public school education. I hold an M.S. in Educational Leadership, a teaching and administrative credential, and a Mindfulness teaching certificate. Currently, I am enrolled in the first cohort of EBMC’s two-year Spiritual Teacher and Leadership training. I support Founding Director Carol Cano at Braided Wisdom, co-teaching and hosting various classes. Through Braided Wisdom, I connect my various cultural learnings with the Buddha-dharma and the teaching of Mindfulness. Due to the COVID pandemic, my job as a residential Retreat Manager at Spirit Rock Meditation Center ended. Thus, my current aspiration is to create an urban and accessible residential retreat center in Oakland for black and brown men+. If you have any Zoom hosting/teaching / residential retreat needs please be in touch.

Learn more about all of us here.