I live in the Bay Area as well and I am gonzo on Lifering!!! I will be attending the Lifering congress which will be taking place in Santa Rosa at the end of the month, very excited about that. I also convene a meeting in the Bay Area as well.
Yes, sometimes there are meetings that don't go well. I had that experience once when I was much earlier on in recovery, last year. He was an alternate convenor who was running the meeting for someone else. Used attack techniques to run the group, very unpleasant and confrontative, and in the end used his position to smuggle a lot of 12-step philosophy into the meeting, which of course is terrible at a Lifering meeting and not what you go there for. My solution? Didn't go to that particular meeting anymore.
I currently attend 2 f2f meetings per week (one that I convene, and one that I attend) and I find them invaluable. A really relaxed, fun, insightful bunch of people. Invaluable to my recovery. And we talk like normal people, we focus on the future, and when we talk about so-called recovery, we all make sense. No chanting. No handholding. No mysticism. Just support without all of the distracting window dressing. Powerful stuff.
If anyone wants to know more about Lifering they can PM me as well. I'm pretty plugged in.
-DrS