About
Jenn Biehn is a Buddhist practitioner with 40 years of experience in the Buddha/Dharma/Sangha tradition. Based at East Bay Meditation Center in the San Francisco Bay Area, she has been active there for 15 years and serves on the Leadership Sangha. She co-founded several peer-led sanghas, including Midday Sangha. Biehn has taught mindful movement practices—tai chi and qigong—for 35 years across various Bay Area communities. She teaches a course on transforming white privilege in relation to racial equity and served as an elder mentor for the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program, which incorporates cross-cultural mindfulness practices.
Teaching focus
Jenn Biehn's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Insight and Theravada traditions. Several threads come up: steady attention to body and breath; the relationship between ethics and meditation; and short, direct teachings rather than long talks. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Jenn Biehn 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 LGBTQ+, in-person. The bigger move Jenn Biehn 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. Jenn Biehn'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. Jenn Biehn'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
Jenn Biehn teaches in the Insight and Theravada traditions. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: A Buddha/Dharma/Sangha practitioner for the past 40 years and active with EBMC for the past 15 years, Jenn Biehn has served on the Leadership Sangha and is a co-founder of several peer-led sanghas including Midday Sangha. Co-creating communities of belonging without othering has been a lifelong focus for Jenn. She teaches Transforming White Privilege on the Path to Racial Equity and was recently an elder mentor for the Braided Wisdom Leadership Training Program which includes cross cultural mindfulness practices. She has taught mindful movement practices including tai chi and qigong for the past 35 years to various communities throughout the SF Bay Area. Jenn's spiritual practice includes engaging with Mother Earth through cross country skiing and backpacking in the high Sierra. To offer a gift to support the teachings, please do so via PayPal: [email protected] In the Insight stream Jenn Biehn 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. Jenn Biehn'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. Jenn Biehn'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. Jenn Biehn'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. Jenn Biehn'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. Jenn Biehn'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. Jenn Biehn'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
Jenn Biehn teaches as a lay teacher in the Insight and Theravada 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 Jenn Biehn, 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.
