Thank you so much for your interest in teaching at the East Bay Meditation Center.
There are several steps involved in proposing a new program at EBMC. Please read this thoroughly before you propose a program.
1. Learning about EBMC’s mission, philosophy, culture and community
The mission of EBMC:
Founded to provide a welcoming environment for people of color, members of the LGBTQI community, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented communities, the East Bay Meditation Center welcomes everyone seeking to end suffering and cultivate happiness. Our mission is to foster liberation, personal and interpersonal healing, social action, and inclusive community building. We offer mindfulness practices and teachings on wisdom and compassion from Buddhist and other spiritual traditions. Rooted in our commitment to diversity, we operate with transparent democratic governance, generosity-based economics, and environmental sustainability.
All programs offered at the center must be rooted in spiritual exploration.
We seek to build and nurture a multicultural sangha that represents the great diversity of our home in Oakland. One of our strategies to ensure the diversity of our program participants is to encourage facilitation by dharma leaders of color, or by a team that includes leaders of color. We find that this is essential to creating a safe space in which to practice. Our sangha is diverse in many ways. Please read the Guidelines for Teaching at EBMC, so you can help support our collective practice of diversity. Also helpful to understanding our philosophy is the document EBMC Policies and Practices of Inclusion.
EBMC is committed to being accessible to people with all bodies and abilities. Learning how to do this is a constant process. Please help us live into our mission by reading the information we’re providing about Accessibility Awareness, as well as our Accessibility Policy.
EBMC is an all “Dana” center. This means that in the Buddhist tradition of Generosity, no event at EBMC ever has a fee. All support for the Center and the teachers is done through voluntary donations that the participants provide. This means that the teachers and the organizers of the events must be comfortable telling folks this and educating them about this form of support. There are no fees in order to not have finances be a barrier to the community, but this does not mean that events are “free.” Without community support, we would not be able to survive. You can read more about the practice of Dana and Generosity Economics.
EBMC is run largely by volunteers. Without the generosity of our volunteers, no events would happen, and EBMC would simply not exist. It is volunteers who support the teachers at every step of an EBMC program, including scheduling, publicity, keeping a clean and functional space, and supporting the teacher before and during an event. It’s very important to honor their part in our community-created culture, which is completely based on this continual, smooth flow of generosity. Please learn more about how to work with our volunteers: Working with EBMC Volunteers.
2. Submitting a completed Teacher Application
This is required of all teachers at EBMC, so we can get to know you and make sure that you and your styles of teaching are aligned with our values.
[Fill out TEACHER Application Form]
3. Reading and signing the Teacher Agreement
For the mindfulness and safety of our sangha, we ask everyone who teaches at EBMC to abide by some ethical agreements. A program proposal will not be considered until this step is completed.
[Download and email TEACHER AGREEMENT FORM]
4. Submitting the Program Proposal Form – Part I
After you have submitted a Teacher Application and a Teacher Agreement, you should submit the initial Program Proposal. This form will provide basic information about the intentions and outcome of this class: Title, Intended Audience, Content focus, Desired class format and dates. Please keep the EBMC mission and philosophy in mind when completing your proposal.
- The Program Committee will send you an email indicating receipt of the proposal.
- The Program Committee will review your proposal. This committee is composed of volunteers. While they are committed to reviewing all proposals in a timely manner, it may be 4-6 weeks until they are able to respond. Please take this into account when you propose dates for your class.
- The Program Committee will respond to this initial proposal with comments and any requests for clarifications.
[Download and email PROGRAM PROPOSAL – PART I PDF]
5. Submitting Program Proposal Form – Part II
Upon approval of your initial submission, the Program Committee will ask you to submit a more detailed proposal providing information on class format, Content, Activities, specifics of dharma/spiritual teaching being used and explored, etc.
You are welcome to begin completing this form right away. However, we recommend that you do not submit it to the Program Committee until the Program Committee responds to Part I, as questions and comments may lead to changes in what you submit.
[Download and email PROGRAM PROPOSAL FORM – PART II]
6. Program Approval
If a proposal is approved, we will schedule events no sooner than 3 months after approval. This is to create the time to do the publicity and outreach. This is an approximate timeline to be aware of.
If you have questions, please email the EBMC Program Committee: programs@eastbaymeditation.org
We look forward to receiving your proposal. Thank you for your generous desire to share the teachings with our sangha.
The EBMC Program Committee