I would like to bring some attention to the practice of discernment and the difference between discernment and judgment. In so doing, I’m not suggesting that there’s no place for judgment. There are many things we view as right or wrong that can be useful. Right and wrong can serve us well; judgments that we […]
Johnathan Woodside

Johnathan Woodside is an Insight Meditation teacher offering Dharma instruction rooted in the Theravada tradition of ethics, concentration and wisdom. He began his formal meditation practice in his youth and has been teaching Insight Meditation since 2011. Encouraging and promoting mindfulness meditation in the American heartland, Johnathan founded the non-profit Mindfulness Outreach Initiative (MOI) an Insight Meditation organization based in Omaha Nebraska in 2012. MOI's outreach activities serve the communities of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa and provide services to medical professionals, educational institutions, correctional facilities, recovery programs, community centers, and partners with corporations and other nonprofit organizations. Johnathan also established the annual citywide event Omaha Meditates as well as Mindful Omaha—a contemplative directory. His mentor in the Dharma is Joseph Goldstein who he has met with regularly since 2016. He has practiced at Insight Meditation Society, Forest Refuge, and Spirit Rock meditation centers among others and has over a year of silent meditation retreat experience. He is currently enrolled in the 2021-2025 Insight Meditation Center (IMC) Dharma Teacher Training Program with Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella.
Relating to Complications
There’s more to all of this than meets the eye. We can look at the world around us and see all the complications. There are uninvited difficulties and challenges, stresses and sorrows, mistakes and failures that appear to welcome themselves into our lives as fate. Life does feel very complicated at times. It’s a human […]