Recently, I volunteered to serve as the registrar for an online retreat. This role primarily involved keeping track of participant registrations. It also included responding to their emails if they had issues or questions. Every email I received was about offering donations (called dāna in Buddhism). So, for this month’s blog article, I thought I […]
Kyle Sorys
Kyle Sorys started practicing mindfulness meditation in 2008. Inspired by the fruits of the practice, Kyle then moved to Boulder, CO to study Buddhism at Naropa University in 2011, receiving both a Bachelors in Contemplative Psychology and a Masters of Divinity. In 2016 Kyle returned to Omaha where he currently works as an interfaith chaplain, providing spiritual care to those who are distressed, sick, dying, grieving, in pain, and suffering. Understanding the importance of a spiritual community, Kyle came to MOI with the intention of strengthening and supporting his own practice alongside other meditators in the Insight tradition. Kyle is passionate about mindfulness meditation, especially within the container of a structured retreat setting. Kyle has participated in numerous silent retreats over the years and knows firsthand the importance of periodically unplugging from the chaos of daily life. It was in these settings — in silence, stillness, solitude, and seclusion — that Kyle truly discovered his own innate capability of cultivating compassion, peace, and understanding. It is Kyle’s hope to share the wisdom and the teachings of the Insight tradition with all who are interested, helping others to cultivate their own sense of peace, joy, and happiness.
Embracing Grace
When I was in my chaplaincy program at Naropa University, an insight occurred to me one day. I realized that even though I was studying Buddhist chaplaincy, it was much more likely that I would be ministering to people who identified as Christian rather than Buddhist (and I was right, especially when I worked in […]
Seeing Our Interests in Our Practice
For the longest time, I have held this idea that mindfulness practice was all about how much time I spent in seated meditation. Of course, I also cultivated mindfulness practice using walking meditation and mindful eating. But for me, it was always about sitting — about getting into the correct posture and continually returning to […]
Meditation as Medicine
Fact: Life is stressful. There is not one single person in history who has escaped the inevitable stressors of life. When we experience stress, especially when it feels unmanageable, it is a warning sign that something deeper is ailing us. Sometimes stress is inescapable; there is nothing we can do about it — such as […]