About
Renata Moreira is a mindfulness teacher and transpersonal therapist based at East Bay Meditation Center in Berkeley, California. She holds an M.A.S.T. and CCHT certification and is certified as an MBSR instructor. Moreira has over 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and education. She has roots in Indigenous Xucuru Kariri and Portuguese ancestry and brings a metta-based practice to educational and clinical settings. She is a graduate of EBMC's Pita Program and has served the center in a leadership capacity. Her work integrates trauma-informed care, mindfulness, and somatic practice.
Teaching focus
Renata Moreira's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the MBSR and Insight traditions. Several threads come up: metta and the brahmaviharas as embodied, felt practice rather than as positive thinking; trauma-aware mindfulness that pays attention to the nervous system as part of the practice; and dharma applied to social and collective suffering. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Renata Moreira 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, LGBTQ+. The bigger move Renata Moreira 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. Renata Moreira'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
Renata Moreira teaches in the MBSR and Insight traditions. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: Renata Moreira, M.A.S.T, CCHT (She/they/Ela/Elu) is a queer mixed race lifelong educator of Indigenous Xucuru Kariri and Portuguese ancestries. She brings 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, development and strategic communications to the intersections of trauma-informed care, mindfulness, and culture making. This dynamic first generation immigrant mama is connected to an eclectic lineage of spiritual wisdom and earth keepers across the Americas. Currently, Renata serves as a social impact and wellness consultant, transpersonal therapist, and mindfulness teacher. She has brought a passionate Metta praxis to countless educational, public, and private sectors since 2012; always holding the firm belief that all people within systems can liberate themselves towards the rise of a more loving and just world for all beings. She is certified as an MBSR instructor, is a graduate of EBMC's Pita Program, and has served EBMC as Transition Director. When not co-creating beloved communities, cultivating medicinal allies, or geeking out on somatics and liberation, Renata can be found dancing with her 8 yr old magickal daughter and cooking up new ways to play into healing. Connect with Renata via renatametta | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree In the Insight stream Renata Moreira 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. Renata Moreira'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. Renata Moreira'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. Renata Moreira'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. Renata Moreira'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
Renata Moreira teaches as a lay teacher in the MBSR 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 Renata Moreira, 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.
