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Supporting Universal Prosperity: A Peaceful Perspective Occupies Wall Street

Oct 31, 2011 10:51AM ● By Meredith Montgomery

Months before Occupy Wall Street gatherings began boldly voicing people’s intolerance for greed and corruption in America’s economic leadership, a New York meditation group was quietly acting to consciously support universal prosperity.

It’s called Med Mob, and its mission is to create an environment for people from all religions, worldviews and experience levels to unite in meditation. The movement has affiliates around the world and periodically organizes meditation flash mobs in public places to raise awareness of the power of meditation and positive intention.

According to MedMob.org, a flash mob is, “a large group of people meeting in a crowded public place [to engage] in a coordinated, unexpected, random activity.”

Humble Beginnings

Historically, Med Mob participants have been invited to bring their own intention for themselves, their community or the world. But when Anthony Finno, one organizer of the New York City Med Mob group, discerned a coming shift in the financial markets, he decided to mob with more focused intent.

Before becoming a community organizer and founder of City Life Wellness community, in Brooklyn Finno was an investment banker and traded stocks for 24 years. He says, “When I pulled up the stock charts to investigate the market prediction [made by peers in the city’s conscious community], my experience kicked in and I immediately saw that it was exactly right. An economic collapse was waiting to happen.” This revelation inspired Finno to write a statement of intention for upcoming meditations in support of conscious prosperity for all.

“I wrote two paragraphs on a large poster about how we can trade intolerance for acceptance, so that we can let [negativity] go and move toward a solution,” says Finno. “I used

Photo: Jessa Johnson/City Life Wellness
Photo: Jessa Johnson/City Life Wellness
capitalism as a vehicle to create awareness for letting go of something that is not working, so that we can move on to something that can work better.”

For three months, beginning in June, the New York Med Mob displayed this written intention while they meditated daily during lunchtime in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Passersby stopped to read the sign and some took part. The revolving group of 10 to 30 participants brought a patch of calmness and peace to an otherwise busy New York sidewalk for an hour each day.

On July 13, the activist magazine Adbusters posted the initial call for the Occupy Wall Street movement on its website: “On Sept 17, flood into lower Manhattan,  set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street.” For the two months that followed, hype for the planned occupation grew and according to CNN, several hundred people showed up on day one.

Initially, the New York Med Mob decided to wrap up their daily meditations and to stand clear. Finno says, “The online posts were written from a place of fear. They were demanding that the system was wrong and seemed to need an excuse to blame the state of their own lives.” While Finno does not ascribe to this approach, he acknowledges that it has served the purpose of at least generating awareness.

Then, a week into the Occupy Wall Street movement, New York Med Mob organizers remobilized for a meditation flash mob at the park where the occupation was taking place. Coincidentally, the protesters were marching uptown at the same time.

“When we arrived, there was no one in the park, so we had the whole space to meditate,” says Finno. “When the marchers returned, the park was grounded with meditators and there

Photo: Jessa Johnson/City Life Wellness
Photo: Jessa Johnson/City Life Wellness
was a [palpable] shift of energy.”

Since that day, meditations take place in the park on Saturdays at noon and Wednesdays at 3 p.m. It has been transformed into, “an example of sustainable awareness,” according to Finno. Peaceful energy surrounds individuals engaged in art installations, permaculture, music and Tai chi. Med Mob groups and others are currently posting similar events all over Facebook. “It’s well out of our hands now; it’s just happening,” remarks Finno.

Join in this Month

A global meditation flash mob is planned for November 5 (see Tinyurl.com/44jrp8x). Communities around the world are encouraged to partici- pate; planned events include Austin, Texas; Los Angeles; New York City; Orlando; and Paris.

According to the global event’s Facebook page, the goal is to inspire, “10,000 people to meditate and emanate a wave of high vibration energy that will shift and evolve our self and every person, business and system in our city.”

Finno believes that the power of meditation for individuals and communities is understated. When asked to define meditation, he says, “It is an opportunity to be at one with yourself, [and] to be grounded and focus on a solution.”

The universalized peaceful actions of Med Mobs are ultimately more powerful than localized, anger-filled demonstrations, because as Finno notes, “Anyone can relate to meditation; everyone is working for a solution to something.”


For more information, visit MedMob.org or OccupyTheNet.com.

Meredith Montgomery publishes the Mobile/Baldwin, AL edition of Natural Awakenings (HealthyLivingHealthyPlanet.com).

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