About
Kenji Oshima is affiliated with the East Bay Meditation Center and completed both of its yearlong programs: Commit to Dharma and Practice in Transformative Action. He is not currently teaching. Oshima has worked as a community organizer for grassroots gay Asian and Pacific Islander HIV prevention groups since moving to the Bay Area in 1993. He has also worked as a spiritual and life coach focusing on entrepreneurs with ADHD. Oshima has lived with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for over two decades and contributed to accessibility initiatives at EBMC.
Teaching focus
Kenji Oshima's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Insight and Theravada traditions. Several threads come up: chronic illness and pain as practice ground;. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Kenji Oshima 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+. The bigger move Kenji Oshima 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. Kenji Oshima'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. Kenji Oshima'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. Kenji Oshima'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
Kenji Oshima teaches in the Insight and Theravada traditions. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: (not currently teaching) Kenji Oshima graduated from both of EBMC's yearlong programs, Commit to Dharma and Practice in meaningful Action. As someone who has lived with CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) for over two decades, he was on the team that addressed accessibility issues for EBMC at the old Broadway Street location. Kenji moved to the Bay Area in 1993 to act as a community organizer, nationally, for grassroots gay Asian and Pacific Islander HIV prevention groups. As a spiritual and life coach he focuses on other entrepreneurial types who also grapple with ADHD. He has a unique perspective as a bi-racial/bi-cultural/bi-coastal, disabled, gay man. In the Insight stream Kenji Oshima 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. Kenji Oshima'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. Kenji Oshima'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. Kenji Oshima'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. Kenji Oshima'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. Kenji Oshima'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. Kenji Oshima'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. Kenji Oshima'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
Kenji Oshima 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 Kenji Oshima, 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.
