Rebekah Eppley is a writer and former librarian at Oakland Public Library. She began meditating in 2013 through a mindful writing course and formalized her practice in 2014 at the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC), where she has been practicing since. She made Bodhisattva vows with Mushim Ikeda in 2017 and renewed them in 2024. Eppley completed EBMC's Spiritual Teacher and Leadership program in 2023 and is currently enrolled in the Community Dharma Leaders Training at Spirit Rock. She serves on EBMC's Program Committee and volunteers with the organization's Maha Sangha.
Rebekah Eppley's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Mahayana and Insight 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. Rebekah Eppley 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. The bigger move Rebekah Eppley 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. Rebekah Eppley'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. Rebekah Eppley'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.
Rebekah Eppley teaches in the Mahayana and Insight traditions. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: Rebekah is a writer and worked as a librarian at Oakland Public Library for 18 years. She was introduced to meditation and the Dharma through a Mindful Writing course in 2013 by her late teacher Chris Malcomb. She started a more formal meditation practice with Zenju Earthlyn Manuel at her Still Breathing Center in 2014 and found her way to the East Bay Meditation Center in late 2014 where she has been practicing since. She made her Bodhisattva vows with Mushim Ikeda in 2017 and renewed them in 2024. She's a member of EBMC's Program Committee and volunteers and teaches with EBMC's Maha Sangha. In 2023 she graduated from EBMC's Spiritual Teacher and Leadership program and is currently part of the Community Dharma Leaders Training at Spirit Rock. In the Insight stream Rebekah Eppley 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. Rebekah Eppley'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. Rebekah Eppley'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. Rebekah Eppley'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. Rebekah Eppley'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. Rebekah Eppley'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. Rebekah Eppley'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.
Rebekah Eppley teaches as a lay teacher in the Mahayana 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.
On a class or retreat with Rebekah Eppley, 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.