About
Margarita Loinaz is a physician who trained in Tibetan and Theravada traditions. She studied with Kalu Rinpoche beginning in 1977 and is a Dzogchen student of Lama Drimed Norbu. She graduated from the first Community Dharma Leader's Program at San Francisco Zen Center and began teaching in 1997. She led the Women of Color Sitting Group in Marin City and co-organized the first People of Color Retreat in 1999. Her teaching integrates Dzogchen practice with social justice and environmental awareness. She is based at East Bay Meditation Center and has served as a physician in San Francisco's Day Laborers, Latinx, and homeless communities.
Teaching focus
Margarita Loinaz, MD's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Tibetan and Theravada traditions. Several threads come up: Dzogchen-style recognition of awareness; dharma applied to social and collective suffering;. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Margarita Loinaz, MD 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 Margarita Loinaz, MD 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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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
Margarita Loinaz, MD teaches in the Tibetan and Theravada traditions. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: Margarita Loinaz, MD has trained in the Tibetan and Theravada traditions. She met her root teacher Kalu Rimpoche in 1977 and is a Dzogchen student of Lama Drimed Norbu. She is a graduate of the first Community Dharma Leader's Program at SRMC and began teaching in l997 leading the Women of Color Sitting Group in Marin City with Marlene Jones and co-organizing the first People of Color Retreat in 1999. Her current teaching integrates Dzogchen practice with social justice and environmental awareness. As a physician, she served Day Laborers, the Latinx and Homeless communities in San Francisco. She is a grandmother and originally from the Dominican Republic. In the Insight stream Margarita Loinaz, MD 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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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. Margarita Loinaz, MD'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
Margarita Loinaz, MD teaches as a lay teacher in the Tibetan 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 Margarita Loinaz, MD, the basic shape is short instruction, longer sittings, and some Q&A. Retreats are part of the offering, usually a few days to a week, mostly silent. 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.
