About
Afefe Oke' (Ginitta Glass) is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has lived for over 30 years. She is a priest in the Yoruba Tradition with 23 years of practice. She completed the 2023 STL program at East Bay Meditation Center and has taught Dharma at EBMC's Maha and BIPOC sangha gatherings and at Green Gulch Farm. She has 30 years of training in hospice and palliative care, including two years at Zen Hospice. For the past two years, she has volunteered with Humane Prison Hospice, facilitating peer support training for incarcerated individuals. She has provided death and dying support for over 20 years and recently initiated a Black Doula Collective. She incorporates gospel music, chanting, and percussion into her work.
Teaching focus
Afefe Oke''s teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Zen tradition. Several threads come up: compassion training that doesn't collapse into pity or burnout; death and dying as a practice context;. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Afefe Oke' works with whatever shows up in the room rather than reading from notes, which is part of why these talks land as conversational instead of scripted. Short pauses, longer sits, and questions that come back to direct experience are usual. Listed specialties on the source profile include grief, in-person. The bigger move Afefe Oke' keeps making is back toward attention itself: what's happening, how it's being held, and what gets in the way. That keeps the teaching close to practice rather than drifting into commentary about practice. For talks, schedules, and longer essays, the affiliated organization's page is where the live material lives. Afefe Oke''s sessions tend to keep returning to the body, to breath, and to the felt quality of attention as the steady ground that the rest rests on. Afefe Oke''s sessions tend to keep returning to the body, to breath, and to the felt quality of attention as the steady ground that the rest rests on.
Background
Afefe Oke' teaches in the Zen tradition. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: Ginitta Glass, widely known as Afefe Oke', has called the Bay Area home for over 30 years. In 2000, she retired from The City and County of San Francisco as the only Black female electrician in the Traffic Signal Shop with 22 years of service. A dedicated spiritual leader, she has served as a priest in the Yoruba Tradition for 23 years. Her commitment to compassionate care is evident in her 30 years of training in Hospice and palliative care which has included a two year training from Zen Hospice in San Francisco CA. Currently, Afefe Oke' has been a volunteer for Humane Prison Hospice for two years, where she facilitates palliative care peer support training for incarcerated individuals. As a graduate of EBMC's 2023 STL program, she has shared Dharma wisdom at EBMC's Maha and BIPOC sangha gatherings. And she was also invited to give a Day Long offering at Green Gulch Farm in 2023. She has recently been inspired to initiate a Black Doula Collective and has provided death and dying support for the past 20 years. For over two decades, Afefe Oke' has traveled extensively, deepening her meditation practice and gathering insights she generously shares. At 67 years old, she is a proud grandmother to two amazing beings and a loving mama to two dogs and one cat. A percussionist for over 40 years, Afefe Oke' incorporates gospel music, chanting, and various instruments into ceremonial settings, enriching her diverse contributions to her community. To support her teachings, please use: CashApp: @ $ginittag or Venmo: @Ginitta-GlassAfefe Oke' is a Yoruba name which translates to "the wind that comes from the mountains". In a Zen container, what Afefe Oke' offers is steady, mostly silent practice with short pointed teachings. The form is the teaching as much as the words are. Sitting, walking, work practice, and the relationship with a teacher all carry weight. Afefe Oke''s page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Afefe Oke''s page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Afefe Oke''s page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography.
Lineage
Afefe Oke' teaches as a lay teacher in the Zen tradition. The institutional home, per the source listing, is East Bay Meditation Center, and that's where most of the public teaching schedule and any retreat offerings will be posted. The Zen lineage frame here, where stated, is what authorizes a teacher to lead practice, and the source page usually names the dharma teacher or root teacher when relevant.
What to expect
On a class or retreat with Afefe Oke', the basic shape is short instruction, longer sittings, and some Q&A. The container is shaped by East Bay Meditation Center, so format details, fees, and access policies follow that organization's norms. Expect plenty of silence, less talking-at-you than you might think, and an emphasis on letting the practice do its work rather than chasing experiences. For exact dates, registration, and any sliding-scale or scholarship information, There's usually a short Q&A window and, on retreats, optional teacher interviews where students can bring specific questions about their practice.
