Founded July 27, 2012 by Johnathan Woodside. Mindfulness Outreach Initiative is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization providing insight meditation retreat opportunities.
History
Mindfulness Outreach Initiative (MOI) began as a community-focused nonprofit dedicated to making mindfulness meditation accessible to all. Through partnerships with medical professionals, educational institutions, and community organizations, MOI provided comprehensive meditation instruction and mindfulness training to individuals, groups, and underserved populations. Over time, MOI evolved to meet the changing needs of its community, transitioning to a retreat-focused organization. Today, MOI offers three weekend meditation retreats annually at the St. Benedict Center in Schuyler, NE, providing practitioners with a peaceful space to deepen their mindfulness practice and connect with the Dharma.
Mission
Providing transformative meditation retreats to cultivate mindfulness, deepen practice, and support the well-being of individuals and communities.
Vision
A world where people realize contentment and meaning through living a skillful life.
Overview
Mindfulness Outreach Initiative focuses on creating opportunities for individuals to deepen their meditation practice in supportive retreat environments. While our public offerings have concluded, we remain committed to hosting annual retreats to cultivate mindfulness and foster a strong community of practitioners. Mindfulness Outreach Initiative continues to serve as the area’s cornerstone for insight meditation retreats, inspiring individuals to embrace the transformative power of mindfulness.
MOI Founder
Johnathan Woodside is an Insight Meditation teacher engaged in bringing mindfulness and self-inquiry into the mainstream of wellness programs and daily life. He is the Guiding Teacher of Mindfulness Outreach Initiative and a consultant at various locations in Omaha Nebraska where he encourages greater self-awareness through stillness and dynamic meditation practices. He leads classes and retreats on mindfulness meditation for the promotion of greater health and wellness in the Omaha community.
Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness is a wholesome mental factor of awareness that meets experience directly, in the present moment, purposefully, with an attitude or intentional stance of nonattached equanimity. Mindfulness also has a very important ethical component; it means more than simply recognizing what’s present. It means being aware of what’s present without greed, without aversion, without delusion. Meditation teaches people through their own personal experience how to pay attention and sustain that attention moment by moment. Meditating is an effective and efficient technique that helps us know our mind and relax our bodies, helping to reduce depression symptoms, stress, anxiety, and boost mental health by promoting a harmonious outlook.
“What makes these methods [daily meditation practice] particularly practical is that, while they emerge out of the Buddhist meditation tradition, they are not necessarily tied to Buddhist doctrine in any restrictive way. Thus they can be practiced by followers of any religion or of no religion; they are openly available to anyone who aspires to become a more loving and compassionate person, even when this aspiration is not rooted in a specific system of religious beliefs.” ― Bhikkhu Bodhi
Source: Parabola Love and Compassion in Meditation and Action