Larry Yang

Larry Yang teaches mindfulness and loving kindness retreats nationally and has a special interest in creating access to the Dharma for diverse multicultural communities. Larry has practiced meditation for almost 30 years, with extensive time in Burma and Thailand, and a six month period of ordination as a Buddhist monk under the guidance of Ajahn Tong. Larry is on the Teacher’s Council of Spirit Rock Meditation Center, is one of the core teachers of both East Bay Meditation Center (Oakland) and Insight Community of the Desert (Palm Springs). His current focus is training spiritual leadership within Communities of Color and LGBTQI communities. Larry was honored for his work in racial justice by being selected as the community’s choice for Grand Marshal in the 2016 San Francisco LGBTIQ Pride Parade. He is part of the coordinating team developing future diverse community meditation teachers in Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leadership Programs and is one of the core trainers for the next Spirit Rock Dharma Teacher Training Program to develop the participation from multicultural communities as fully empowered Dharma teachers. His article, “Directing the Mind Towards Practices in Diversity” was included in Friends on the Path: Living Spiritual Communities, by Thich Nhat Hanh. His essay “Family Tree Practice” addresses how meditation and contemplative practice has directly influenced his experiences with racism, heterosexism, and oppression; it is part of Will Yoga and Meditation Really Change My Life, edited by Stephen Cope. Larry is a co-editor of Making the Invisible Visible: Healing Racism in Our Buddhist Communities, a booklet developed for building inclusive communities within spiritual practice. He contributed to the groundbreaking anthology, Dharma, Color, and Culture, by Hilda Gutiérrez Baldoquín—a volume that provides a unique perspective from practitioners of color across the spectrum of Buddhist traditions. His book, Awakening Together: the Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community, scheduled for release by Wisdom Publications in October, 2017.