Shaman's Breath-A Metaphysical Journey to the Sacred

East Bay Meditation Center
2147 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94612

(near the 19th Street BART station)

This one-day retreat will provide participants with a foundation for understanding and working with cross-cultural shamanistic ritual tools that will assist in participants evolving their own personal transformations.

Please bring an item to place on the altar; you will collect it at the end of the day.

Namonyah Soipan


Namonyah Soipan, Ph.D. is a shamanistic psychologist who has for the past 25 years practiced African and Native American shamanic wisdom medicine, and has used her vast experience to hold sacred space for people on their healing path.

Registration is required.

Please click here to register. If that does not work, copy and paste the following link into your browser:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=x0hMm249N0ux4oor7f1mgg_3d_3d

If you still cannot access the online registration link, please send an email with your full name, and "Shaman's Breath" in the subject line or call (510) 268-0696.
Cost: There is no registration fee for attending this event, nor most EBMC events. However, EBMC is not independently funded.

The center and the teachers will be sustained only by your voluntary donations (the practice of generous giving, or "dana"). Please donate generously, in proportion to your ability:

* Either online (you will be offered an opportunity at the end of the online registration process)

* Or at the event, where dana will be collected for the center and the teachers.

Thank you for your generosity. Giving together, our unique, diverse center will grow and thrive!

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.



Wheelchair symbol
East Bay Meditation Center is wheelchair accessible.

In The Meantime Men's Group: The Magic of L.A. Black LGBT Pride Opening Reception

In The Meantime Men's Group, Inc.
Thursday, July 2, 2009


THE MAGIC OF LA
4EVER UNITED
21st Annual Official ATBLA
Black LGBT Pride Opening Reception

Event Hosted and Sponsored by
IN THE MEANTIME MEN'S GROUP, INC.

Host Hotel: 6161 West Centinela Avenue
Culver City, California 90230
Thursday, July 2, 2009
7:00p.m.- 10:00p.m.

Walk the RED CARPET

General Admission $5 per person
Table seating $20.00 (Based on space availability)

Attire: L A C h i c
For additional information, 323-733-4868

Entertainment by
The Chuck Johnson Jazz Band
The Girls of Illusion
Special Guest Appearances

In The Meantime is proud to participate in this years celebration.
Congratulations to ATBLA for representing LA for 21years and counting.

SF Pride Hip Hop Invasion

Films @Frameline 33

Greetings All,


A couple of my friends have films in this year's Frameline Film Festival. If you are in the bay area please come out and support.




Films: "Family"
Purchase Online

*

Wednesday, June 24, 9:30 PM
Victoria Theatre
FAMI24V

+ Add to My Festival

Buy Tickets
*

Friday, June 26, 12:30 PM
Castro Theatre
FAMI26C

+ Add to My Festival

Buy Tickets

watch



"Family"

USA, 2008, 111Minute Running Time
Bay Area Premiere
Genre/Subjects: Bisexual,Black/ African American, Coming Out, Drama,Lesbian,Parenting/ Family
Program: U.S.Features
Language: English

DIRECTOR: Faith Trimel

Closeted life can be pretty cramped, what, with all the hangers hitting your head. Not being able to live out in the open is sometimes a small price to pay compared to the fear of familial and professional backlash. But the price becomes too high for thirty something Felicia, as she finds herself coaxing her lesbian lover into a closet due to a surprise visit from her mom. Her relationship now in jeopardy, Felicia has a proposal for her similarly repressed group of sapphic friends: all six must come out within thirty days.

Of course, this is easier said than done. For cocky WNBA player Kemp, future endorsements are on the line.Sabrina, a meek churchgoer, must reconcile her beliefs with her desires. Tonya feels ongoing pressure from her fiancée, but can’t stand up to her pushy sister, and Melanie will do whatever it takes to regain custody of her daughter from a former girlfriend. The bravest of the bunch, Monifa, confesses her sexuality to her parents with hilarious results, but then finds herself swept up in an unexpected love affair. And Felicia, the catalyst for the pact, is too afraid to stick to her own plan.

Tackling relevant African American LGBT issues such as church values and coming out in Hollywood, writer-director Faith Trimel (Black Aura on an Angel,Frameline28) effectively transcends color lines with her powerful,relatable story of confronting your own truth. — ANGELIQUE SMITH
Text Voting Code: F118



Co presented by

NIA Collective
Sponsor:

AT&T

Official Film Website



Films:Mississippi Damned
Purchase Online

*

Thursday, June 25, 9:15 PM
Castro Theatre
MISS25C

+ Add to My Festival

Buy Tickets

Mississippi Damned

watch Mississippi Damned trailer



Mississippi Damned

USA, 2009, 120Minute Running Time
West Coast Premiere
Genre/Subjects: Black/ African American, Butch/ Femme Issues, Drama,Drugs/ Addiction, Lesbian,Parenting/ Family, Violence
Program: U.S.Features
Language: English

DIRECTOR: Tina Mabry

Based on true events and spanning between 1986 and 1998,Mississippi Damned follows three young African Americans in the rural south as they suffer through the devastating cycles of poverty, addiction and abuse. Leigh is a bull dyke with an unhealthy,and long-lasting, obsession with her girlfriend. Sammy gives up his youth, innocence and body for a shot at his basketball dreams. Kari,the most promising of the three, has aspirations to attend New York University to further develop her musical talents, but fights to keep her head above water as her relatives and circumstances drag her down.

This captivating drama takes the viewer through his orher own internal conflict: you want the characters to catch a damn break already, but you almost don’t want to give them a chance to mess up another opportunity. Each well-written individual is raw and genuine, with hidden complexities and agendas, which is rare for an ensemble cast. Jossie Thacker’s Charlie is especially tragic and haunting, as a woman whose own dark past demands forgiveness for her inability to be a better mother.

Under writer-director TinaMabry’s delicate touch, no plot twists feel forced, even when coming out of left field. Yet, the most predictable of actions leaves you blindsided. With the intimacy of hand held camera work,Mississippi Damned is a film that is both compelling and heartbreaking. — ANGELIQUE SMITH
Text Voting Code: F109



Copresented by

Queer Women ofColor Media Arts Project and Womenof Color Resource Center

OfficialFilm Website

Jair-The Literary Masturbator™
myspace.com/theliterarymasturbator
http://theliterarymasturbator.blogspot.com/

Flashback Thursday-Feeling The 90's

Okay I know these songs are not music that is deep or long lasting but I sure did have fun shaking my ass to them. I hope everyone knows by now that the vocals are by the one and only Martha Wash.

Write From The Heart: One Day Writing And Meditation Workshop

A writing and meditation workshop
open to all


with Mushim Ikeda-Nash and Susan Moon


Sunday, June 7, 2009, 10 AM to 5 PM

East Bay Meditation Center
2147 Broadway, Oakland (near 19th St. BART)


We will spend the day sitting together, writing together, and enjoying the silence words are born from. All levels of experience with writing and meditation are welcome. This is a good workshop for people who want a jump-start in writing. In a supportive setting, we'll lower our buckets into the wells within ourselves and pull up surprising riches. We'll laugh together, collaborate, read to each other, and celebrate our creativity.

Bring pen, notebook, lunch, and playful mind.

Registration is required.

To register, please click on the following link, to fill out a registration survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VKQ_2fJyTEbc2mywP8I85tTg_3d_3d

(If the link does not work, please copy it, and paste it into your web browser. If that still does not work, email us at admin@eastbaymeditation.org -- or reply to this email -- with your full name, and a message requesting a registration form for the "Write from the Heart" June 7 event.)

Cost: There is no registration fee for attending this event, nor most EBMC events. However, EBMC is not independently funded.

The Center and the teachers will be sustained only by your voluntary donations (the practice of generous giving, or "dana"). Please donate generously, in proportion to your ability:

* Either online (you will be offered an opportunity at the end of the online registration process)
* Or at the event, in the two baskets at EBMC, one for the center, the second for the teachers.

Thank you for your generosity. Giving together, our unique, diverse Center will grow and thrive!


Mushim Ikeda-NashMushim (Patricia) Ikeda-Nash has taught writing at Oberlin College, the University of Iowa, and the Oakland public schools. A former Zen Buddhist nun, she has published poetry, essays, and fiction in ColorLines, Inquiring Mind, Shambhala Sun, Premonitions: The Kaya Anthology of New Asian North American Poetry, and elsewhere.

Susan Moon has taught creative writing courses and workshops at St.Mary's College and Tassajara Zen Center among other places. A lay Buddhist teacher in the Soto Zen tradition, she was the editor of Turning Wheel,the Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism for many years. She is the author/editor of several books on Buddhism, including The Life and Letters of Tofu Roshi and has published widely.
Out of respect for those with environmental illnesses, please do not wear fragrance or scented products or clothing laundered with fragrance products to EBMC.

EBMC is wheelchair accessible, located on major bus lines, and only two blocks from the 19th Street BART station.

Flashback Thursday-The One The Only Shirley Horn...