Spark Your Bliss

Myokei Caine-Barrett, ShoninBishop, Nichiren Shu Order of Buddhism of North AmericaMyokei Shonin - as she is called with her bishop title, was born in Okinawa in Japan. Raised by a Japanese mother and an African American father, Myokei grew up in Texas, where, as a young girl, she first connected with the community of Japanese women who gathered to chant together. Dedicating her life to the practice of chanting and with the completion of the arduous training of austere practices in Japan years

Aaron StrykerAfter a spiritual crisis at the age of 18, Aaron began practicing Mysore-style Ashtanga Yoga with Angela Jamison in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He encountered Zen on a trip to Dai Bosatsu Zendo in New York State, with an emerging student meditation group at Wesleyan University. During his senior year, he worked with the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship to co-found Dharma Gates, supporting young students to do retreats in various Buddhist traditions.He wrote an honors thesis in

Zen Master Soeng Hyang Barbara RhodesBarbara Rhodes (Zen Master Soeng Hyang), known as Bobby to her students, has almost five decades of Zen practice and teaching experience. She met the late Korean Zen master Seung Sahn in 1972, received inka (permission to teach) from him in 1977, and dharma transmission in 1992. She has been teaching and leading retreats since 1978, and has been the head Zen master of the global Kwan Um Zen tradition since her teacher’s death in 2004. A registered nurse since

Tim ColohanA Zen student of the late Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn in the Kwan Um Zen tradition since 1985, Tim attended two 90-day winter kyol che - traditional intensive Zen retreats in silence - at Hwa Gae Sah Temple and Shin Won Sah Temple in S. Korea in 1995 and 1997. In 2022, he received inka, permission to teach from Zen Master Soeng Hyang Barbara Rhodes in the Kwan Um Zen tradition. He has been on the Teachers Council of Long Beach Meditation since 2015. Tim also practices with the “Silver

Lama Ludrup Yongsoo - also known as Yongsoo Sunim, is a Korean American monk ordained in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism since 2003. He did a four-year intensive retreat in Dordogne, southern France, under the guidance of his main teacher, Pema Wangyal Rinpoche. Since 2008, he has been a pioneer in introducing Tibetan Buddhism to Korea. Yongsoo Sunim teaches the foundational Mahayana principles with emphasis on meditation and cultivating compassion. He is the guiding teacher at Shechen

Rebecca Otte is from Topeka, Kansas, in the United States. She grew up Christian in rural Kansas and began meditation in the Kwan Um Zen tradition in 1996. One of the founding members of the Prairieth Zen Center in Topeka, she practiced extensively for over two decades, including a ninety-day-long intensive retreat known as kyol che. She received inka (permission to teach Zen) in 2020 and became the guiding teacher of the Prairieth Zen Center. Rebecca has also worked as a nurse midwife delivering

Welcome to Spark Your Bliss - conversations that dive into the deep questions of life and death, insights from meditation practice, and helpful Buddhist teachings to digest our experiences. Kathy shares her own experience of stepping into the dharma stream unexpectedly upon her return to her native country, South Korea, many years ago. What began as the first deep transformation of her life became the spark that continues to fuel her inner lamp to now shine on others. Kathy Park is Korean and began