The Unreliability of Identity, and the Undeniability of its Impact: A NYI Pride Event
with Leslie Booker and René Rivera
Monday, June 28th, 2021 | 6:30pm – 8:30pm ET
**All friends and allies are invited to join the Insight OUT Refuge for this evening.**
Our identities, particularly our marginal identities, shape our lived experiences in tangible ways everyday; and at the same time, where do we locate these identities in our direct and constantly changing experience?
New York Insight and East Bay Meditation Center come together for a pride month online dharma dialog exploring the paradox of identity through a queer eye on the Buddha’s teachings on the five aggregates.
How to Join Us Online:
Click HERE to register for this program and receive the online access information.
You will be asked to enter your name and email address.
Soon after, you will receive a confirmation email containing your link.
(disregard the start time Zoom will provide – the program starts as noted above)
You may do so in advance for this meeting.
Please note: tonight’s link is different than the usual Sangha link.
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If you are unable to pay the Subsidized Base Fee, you can learn about volunteering to offer work exchange and letting us know how much you are able to pay for this program by emailing registration@nyimc.org.
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Teacher(s)
Leslie Booker
Leslie Booker is a Guiding Teacher at New York Insight. She brings her heart and wisdom to the intersection of Dharma, Embodied Wisdom, and Liberation. Using this framework, she supports folks in creating a culture of belonging through her teaching and writing on changing the paradigm of self and community care.
After training as a yoga teacher in 2007, Booker was drawn to Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Mindful Yoga and Meditation training which she completed in 2012. Supported by her teacher Gina Sharpe, she continued her formal teacher training at Spirit Rock through their Community Dharma Leaders Training, graduating in 2017, and their Retreat Teacher training program which she completed in 2020. Throughout these years, she worked as the Director of Teacher Trainings for Lineage Project, where she shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with incarcerated and system-involved youth for over a decade. She also worked with the youth population on Rikers Island through the LionHeart Foundation and at the National Institute of Health for two years.
Booker has spoken at venues including the Mind & Life Institute’s International Symposium, Contemplative Minds in Higher Education, the Fetzer Institute, and Vassar Colleges. She is a co-author of ‘Best Practices for Yoga in a Criminal Justice Setting’, and a contributor to Sharon Salzberg’s book ‘Happiness at Work’ and Dr. Rima Vesely–Flad’s book ‘Black Buddhist and the Black Radical Tradition’. Her writing and other work can also be found in Lion’s Roar, Tricycle Magazine, Yoga Journal and Ten Percent Happier. She currently lives in Philadelphia with her partner and pup.
W | LeslieBooker.com
IG | TheRealBookerProject
FB | LeslieBooker
René Rivera
René Rivera (he, him) is a leader and bridge-builder, working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer, mixed-race, trans man. He teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation and mindfulness practices at East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) and elsewhere. His path to spiritual leadership has included the Commit to Dharma and Practice in Action programs at EBMC and the Community Dharma Leaders program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He works with the Ahimsa Collective as a restorative justice facilitator.