MEDITATION surrounded by traffic and pedestrians may not be everybody’s idea of a relaxing lunch break, but local MedMob organiser Will Lau is willing to give new ideas a go.

MedMobs are group meditations outdoors in public spaces where anybody can join in.

Will Lau

Will (right) led Wellington’s first MedMob on January 24 in Te Aro Park and says feedback from the 12 participants was positive.

“They loved it. I got lots of big smiles and thanks for organising it,” says Will.

“The meditation was really deep and silent, so it was quite surreal to be doing it in the middle of the day with traffic all around, but it felt like even the traffic was quieter around us.”

Will, 40, works full-time in IT and project start-up. He was inspired to set up a MedMob through friend and MedMob co-founder, Patrick Kronfli.

“He was doing it in Berlin and I thought it would be a good thing to do here.”

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Napier, Will has been in Wellington for just over a month, but found it simple to organise the event, using social networks Facebook and Intersect.

“It’s been really easy and a nice experience.” he says.

The first MedMob was held in Austin, Texas, in January 2011, and has now spread to more than 280 cities world-wide, according to co-founder, Patrick Kronfli.

One of Patrick’s friends videoed the first MedMob and posted it on Facebook, gaining exposure  that ignited interest in seven other cities and tripled the number of people who showed up for a second MebMob in February.

“It grew to 18 cities in the 3rd month,” says Patrick.

“Then New York had a 200-plus person MedMob in the middle of Union Square and it jumped to 26 cities. Then London had a 400 person MedMob in Trafalger Square and it jumped to 54 cities and it has continued to grow.”

While Patrick has traveled internationally in support of MebMob, he and co-founders Joshua Adair and Ben Heath are still based in Austin.

Thanks to social networking they are able to provide support and inspiration to interested people anywhere in the world.

“Mostly everything is done through Facebook and Skype.”

Here in Wellington, Will Lau says he’ll definitely arrange another MedMob.

He’ll be in India for several months this year, to assist in the production of a documentary about food systems, and would like to see other people step forward to co-ordinate MebMobs in his absence.

“I hope it gains traction for a regular event.”

If you would like to learn more about MedMobs, visit MedMob.org.

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