About
Sarwang Parikh is a psychotherapist and meditation teacher based in the SF Bay Area on unceded Ohlone land. They practice and teach within Vedic yoga, Theravāda, and Indian Vajrayāna traditions, with over 25 years of study in ancestral lineages. Parikh completed East Bay Meditation Center's 2-year Spiritual Teacher Leader program and participates in Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leader cohort. They teach at multiple centers including East Bay Meditation Center, Spirit Rock, SF Insight, Inward Bound Mindfulness, Dharma Homies, and Braided Wisdom. They serve on the board of Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Parikh's teaching approach integrates decolonial and liberatory frameworks with ancestral and contemporary healing practices.
Teaching focus
Sarwang Parikh's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Theravada and Vajrayana 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. Sarwang Parikh 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 Sarwang Parikh 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. Sarwang Parikh'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. Sarwang Parikh'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
Sarwang Parikh teaches in the Theravada and Vajrayana traditions. The teaching home is East Bay Meditation Center. From the teacher's own profile: Sarwang Parikh (he/they) is a decolonial psychotherapist and meditation teacher based on unceded Ohlone land in the SF Bay Area. Born into a devotional Indian lineage with an immigrant, working-class background, Sarwang has been practicing and studying the Dharma for over 25 years through their ancestral traditions of Vedic yoga, Theravāda, and Indian Vajrayāna. They have completed various multi-year teaching and study programs, including East Bay Meditation Center's (EBMC) 2-year Spiritual Teacher Leader program, and are currently in Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leader cohort. Sarwang teaches with Dharma Homies, East Bay Meditation Center, Inward Bound Mindfulness, Braided Wisdom, Spirit Rock, and SF Insight. They also serve on the board of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Rooted in a liberatory and decolonial approach to mindfulness and healing, Sarwang integrates deep ancestral wisdom with contemporary healing practices. They find joy in playing the handpan, immersing in nature, and getting free on the dance floor.Venmo: @sarwangpPayPal: @Sarwang or paypal.me/Sarwang In the Insight stream Sarwang Parikh 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. Sarwang Parikh'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. Sarwang Parikh'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. Sarwang Parikh'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. Sarwang Parikh'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. Sarwang Parikh'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
Sarwang Parikh teaches as a lay teacher in the Theravada and Vajrayana 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 Sarwang Parikh, 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.
