*Oct 29: Nurturing the Fires of Transformation - Retreat for People of Color

Nurturing the Fires of Transformation: Loving Kindness, Compassion and the Great Composting Heart

A Day of Practice for Self-Identified People of Color

With Noliwe Alexander & Syra Smith

Image Credit: Artwork by Carmen B. Costello and Ari Honarvar © Copyright 2016

In the wisdom of loving kindness (metta) and compassion, lay the seeds to deep healing and transformation. As we meet life’s challenges and come into direct contact with the truth of suffering in today’s world, the fragility of our common humanity touches everyone. Through this awareness, we begin to dissolve our illusion of separateness, where the conditions for cultivating universal metta and compassion naturally arise, opening the way toward liberation. In this daylong, we’ll explore this understanding while strengthening our practice through deep listening, sitting and moving meditation, group discussion and exercises -- including the ancient Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Tonglen.

Noliwe Alexander has been a student of Vipassana meditation for over 15 years. She became a dedicated practitioner after attending the 2nd POC Vipassana retreat at Spirit Rock in 2000 and the African American Retreat in 2002. She is a graduate of Community Dharma Leaders 4 program though Spirit Rock Meditation Center, completed the Commit2Dharma (C2D) program through EBMC and delivers Dharma talks at the Alphabet and POC Sanghas at EBMC and throughout the SF Bay Area. Noliwe is a Life & Business Coach, empowerment workshop facilitator, dedicating her coaching & Dharma practice to the LGBT, At Risk and Elder communities.

Syra Smith is community organizer and mindfulness educator interested in deep ecology and manifesting a culture where we can turn toward fearless abundance and generosity. She co-facilitates EBMC’s weekly Teen Sangha and is a mindfulness and meditation instructor with the Mind Body Awareness Project where she helps to provide tools for resiliency to at-risk and incarcerated youth. Syra works with Resolve to Stop The Violence and Victim Impact in San Francisco County, sharing meditation and mindfulness with incarcerated practitioners. She completed EBMC’s Commit to Dharma study program in 2011 and will graduate Spirit Rock Meditation Center's 2 year Community Dharma Leaders training in 2017.

The East Bay Meditation Center continues the Buddhist tradition of depending on a Generosity-based "All-Dana" model to fund our Center. This means that EBMC does not have specific fees for events, but rather relies on the generosity of individuals to keep the Center operating.

We believe that our Generosity-based model is an essential component of attaining spiritual freedom, and allows the greatest accessibility to the Dharma for the greatest number of people.

All classes at the Center come with a financial cost. When registering, please consider donating to support the center. There is also an opportunity to give Dana at the event. Please note that no one will be turned away for lack of funds. If you would like to explore any EBMC volunteer positions, please send an email expressing your interest to admin@eastbaymeditation.org

EBMC TEACHERS ARE NOT PAID BY THE CENTER. They offer their teaching on a Dana basis and you can offer Dana to them at the class.

In order to protect the health of community members with environmental illness, please do not wear fragranced products (including natural fragrances) or clothes laundered in fragranced products to EBMC.