About
Beth Smith has practiced Vipassana meditation for more than 10 years. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who supervises and trains psychotherapists. Smith volunteers as a Buddhist Chaplain at Laguna Honda Hospital and is pursuing further training in spiritual caregiving through Clinical Pastoral Education at the Pacific Institute of Essential Conversations, building on initial training at the Sati Center. She teaches medical and mental health providers on disability liberation and anti-racism. Smith has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. She is affiliated with the East Bay Meditation Center.
Teaching focus
Beth Smith's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Vipassana and Insight traditions. Several threads come up: dharma applied to social and collective suffering;. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Beth Smith 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 trauma. The bigger move Beth Smith 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. Beth Smith'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. Beth Smith'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. Beth Smith'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
Beth Smith teaches in the Vipassana and Insight traditions. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: Beth has practiced meditation, according to the Vipassana tradition, for more than 10 years. She works as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, supervising and teaching psychotherapist trainees. She also volunteers as a Buddhist Chaplain at Laguna Honda Hospital and is continuing her training in spiritual caregiving, which began at the Sati Center and continues through Clinical Pastoral Education at the Pacific Institute of Essential Conversations. Beth regularly teaches medical and mental health providers on topics related to disability liberation and unlearning racism. She has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. In the Insight stream Beth Smith works inside, the emphasis is on direct attention to body, feeling tone, and mind, alongside the brahmaviharas and an ongoing investigation of how clinging and aversion arise. Talks tend to be conversational rather than scripted, and there's room for sila and ethics to be talked about as part of practice rather than as a separate topic. Beth Smith'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. Beth Smith'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. Beth Smith'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. Beth Smith'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. Beth Smith'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. Beth Smith'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. Beth Smith'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
Beth Smith teaches as a lay teacher in the Vipassana and Insight traditions. 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 Insight lineage in the West runs through teachers like Mahasi Sayadaw, U Ba Khin, Anagarika Munindra, and Dipa Ma into the founders of IMS, Spirit Rock, and the regional centers, and most contemporary Insight teachers position themselves somewhere in that broad family.
What to expect
On a class or retreat with Beth Smith, 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.
