René Rivera is a meditation teacher, restorative justice facilitator, and leader, working and learning in all the spaces in-between race, gender, and other perceived binaries, as a queer, latinx, trans man. René teaches heart-centered, trauma-informed meditation, at the East Bay Meditation Center and other meditation centers. He has co-led the first residential meditation retreats for transgender, nonbinary and gender expansive people. René is a restorative justice facilitator for the Ahimsa Collective, working to heal sexual and gender based violence.
Events with René Rivera
May 18 - 24, 2026
We invite you to be our guest at Vallecitos this spring for self-retreat time on the land gently held by our treasured visiting teacher, René Rivera. Please join us to connect with your practice alongside the depth and magic of the land. We are offering you the simple experience of being on the land, safely using our facilities, receiving three nutritious meals a day along with daily guided sits in the mornings and evenings. Aside from optional morning and evening sits and meals, your time is your own to structure. Enjoy ample time to rest, explore, hike and continue your…
July 19 - 25, 2026
Join us for a six-night silent retreat in beloved community on the beautiful land of Vallecitos. For this 5th annual LGBTQIA+ Community retreat you are invited into deep refuge in relationship to the land, dhamma, community, and our capacity to awaken together. Guided by the wisdom of the land, we will cultivate our capacity to meet the conditions of this life by exploring some of the essential truths of existence the Buddha illuminated: the underlying unsatisfactoriness of life, things being in constant flux, and the illusion of a permanent fixed self. We will explore these characteristics of our experience through…