Why so serious? Joy, laughter and liveliness can be key to consciousness and mindfulness..

The practice of consciousness and mindfulness seems to mainly consist of things like meditation, reflexion and introspection. While in no way I want to disregard any of these, to me it always felt like something is missing that is very important to me, something essential. Finally I found the missing part last week in Hawaii (which might have helped 🙂 )

I found it during one magic moment I would like to share with you:

Sunday morning, 7:00 a.m., last day of the intersect conference. A group of people sitting on their mats, the daily Yoga class about to start. A conversation emerged, about the evening activity the night before, and all of a sudden we were in the midst of a lively discussion, laughing out loudly and totally uncontrolled as a group. It was the total opposite to the “normal” Yoga class start, where you would sit still, maybe with a short meditation (kind of religios thing you know..) getting prepared for the mindfulness practice.

With this laughing and lightness there was a sudden magic in the air and I felt more connected to that group than ever. Everyone showed up so human and the distance I felt even with the very hands-one teacher al of a sudden faded away.

I noticed that during laughing thinking stopped, suffering and judging, something I usually find VERY HARD during meditation. The lightness and laughter in the context of Yoga and meditation showed me that this is ONE thing, all together. That there is no distinction between “the serious, the real stuff” like reflecting, meditating and the fun thing like laughing, dancing, singing. I experienced how it all played together, supporting each other: the beautiful teachings Marc gave us during the class rooted more deeply than usual, and the laughter was free and floating due to the trustful, human and mindful spirit the conference context provided to us.

So next time when I will work with our clients on creating “conscious organizations”, how to help people feeling more connected, free and self-expressed in their work-/lifespace, I will add the elements of the laughing Buddha, (by the way a core topos in Buddhist Dharma). And make sure to remind all of us of the power of laughter and the full expression of being and feeling alive. Be it private or work.