Sean Feit Oakes, PhD (he/him, queer, Puerto Rican & English ancestry, living on unceded Pomo land in NorCal), teaches Buddhism and somatic practice focusing on the integration of meditation, trauma resolution, and social justice. He received teaching authorization from Jack Kornfield, and wrote his dissertation on extraordinary states in Buddhist meditation and experimental dance. He teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, East Bay Meditation Center, Insight Timer, and locally. SeanFeitOakes.com

Larry Robinson has been a practicing Buddhist for 47 years, mostly in the Zen and Vipassana traditions. He is a member of the Occidental Laguna Sangha in Sebastopol, studying with Bruce Fortin in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi. A long-time environmental and social justice activist, he is a retired ecopsychologist and former mayor of Sebastopol. He serves on the board of directors of the Center for Climate Protection and the board of trustees of Meridian University. His “large and foolish project” (in the words of Rumi) is to restore the soul of the world through reawakening the oral tradition of poetry. He is also the founder and producer of Rumi’s Caravan.

Group discussions are a perennial favorite at GBF, allowing us to get to know each other in a way that speaker-led dharma talks do not always allow. We will meditate, followed by discussing a topic suggested by our Facilitator. We break into small groups of 4-6, both in-person at SFBC, and in Zoom ‘breakout rooms’.

Steven Tierney is Professor Emeritus of Counseling Psychology at CIIS. Steven began his Buddhist practice in 1993 and is now an ordained priest in the Soto Zen lineage of Suzuki Roshi. He is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco, specializing in addiction and recovery, life transitions and resilience. His therapeutic approaches are grounded in mindfulness-based, trauma-informed therapies. He is the co-founder and CEO of the San Francisco Mindfulness Foundation. Dr. Tierney is a certified suicide prevention and intervention trainer and offers community-based workshops to promote safer, healthier communities.

Eugene Cash is the founding teacher of the San Francisco Insight Meditation Community of San Francisco. He teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and leads intensive meditation retreats internationally. His teaching is influenced by both Burmese and Thai streams of the Theravada tradition as well as Zen and Tibetan Buddhist practice. He is also a teacher of the Diamond Approach, a school of spiritual investigation and self-realization developed by A. H. Almaas.

Group discussions are a perennial favorite at GBF, allowing us to get to know each other in a way that speaker-led dharma talks do not always allow. We will meditate, followed by discussing a topic suggested by our Facilitator. We break into small groups of 4-6, both in-person at SFBC, and in Zoom ‘breakout rooms’.