After an inspiring afternoon drinking tea, talking and watching the world go by from the top of Primrose Hill, London with fellow blogger and friend Darius lukas from Let’s Sandbox, we attended a meditation flash mob with Wake up London.
At 5pm, just as the cafe we were in was about to shut, Darius received a reminder on his phone that there was a meditation flash mob happening over at Marble Arch in half an hour and asked, “Do you want to go?” Without hesitation, my response was a “Yes”.
Once we got their at exactly 5.30pm, we walked out onto Marble Arch to find group of people meditating in a circle with what I think were bay leaves burning in the middle.
Darius and I quietly sat down to join them for 30 minutes, 20 of which I closed my eyes. Meditating outside with a group of people in such a busy place with cars and buses constantly whizzing by, was a new experience for me. Strangely I didn’t find it distracting — being part of a group helped.
For the last 10 minutes, I enjoyed keeping my eyes open and just being present. watching the people around us, breathing and feeling connected in a city where strangers rarely smile at each other.
Not so anti social London
You hear it all the time “People in London are so antisocial”, “No one talks to one another on the tube”, “everyone in London is always in a rush”… While all these comments may be true, I think as the name suggests, London is waking up. On the whole, we want to be more sociable and nicer to one another.
As if on cue, as I was thinking these thoughts after Darius and I departed and I went to catch the tube back home, I took a photo of one of the ‘Acts of Kindness’ signs by artist Michael Landy.
And then, as I was about to get on the tube, for the first time, people were actually letting others get on the train first and offering seats to others (who weren’t old or pregnant) — an uncommon occurrence in London!
About Wake up London
Being part of the meditation flash mob was my first introduction to community Wake up London, so I don’t know much about them, but their website states that they’re “a community of young people, aged between 16 to 35, who come together to practice the art of mindfulness in the midst of everyday life.”
Inspiration is drawn from Zen Buddhism — specifically the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and after speaking to one of the members afterwards, it’s clear than the focus is on practice not strict beliefs or ideologies which is refreshing.
For more information and free meditation sessions in London and other parts of the world, please visit Wake up London to find out more.
Finally, thank you to the Wake up London community for organising the meditation flash mob today. It was a great experience to be a part of it.
