Hello, I’m Rebecca Stanwyck. When I created this site a few years ago, I had a mission:  to demystify mindfulness and to make mindfulness meditation classes more accessible to the folks who live and work here, in the central East Bay part of the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

There weren’t any meditation centers or teachers here in the suburbs when I first started teaching my Mindfulness for Beginners class at the Castro Valley Adult School in 2011, and I found that I was doing a lot of explaining about what mindfulness is, and is not. (For example, it doesn’t involve going into a trance, and you don’t have to become a Buddhist to do it.)

Today I find that most people have a much better grasp of what mindfulness and meditation are all about, thanks to the explosion of books, podcasts, apps, and online courses by people like Tara Brach, Rick Hanson, Dan Harris, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg. Mindfulness has become the new yoga, as more people are learning its benefits for health and well-being.

And yet, there are still no meditation centers here, and I am still one of a very few mindfulness teachers in my community. Yes, you can learn a lot by reading a book, listening to a podcast, or using an app, but in order to really reap the benefits of mindfulness meditation, there’s just no substitute for a live, interactive class with an experienced teacher.

The pandemic pushed me to learn how to teach online via Zoom, and now after months of doing so, I feel confident and ready to expand my online class offerings. So beginning in December 2020, and continuing throughout 2021, Mindfulness East Bay will offer a variety of classes and small groups live and online.

Please check out the new Events Calendar, and I hope you will join me in a class or group soon!

Why sign up for a Mindfulness East Bay class or group?

• Experienced, skilled teacher
• Jargon-free, secular approach
• More fun to learn with others
• Accessible online format
• Affordable pricing