By Kimberlee Otto
Peace from Union
Laughter fills the tent of women’s panel at the “Living Peaceably begins by Thinking Peacefully” event hosted on the College campus of the School of Metaphysics in conjunction with the Parliament of the Worlds Religions. Some participants’ chuckle under their breath while others laugh out loud with red faces and their eyes watering. This Pre-Parliament of the Worlds Religion event has drawn a wide range of speakers and participants.
Melanie Rudolph is a certified laugher and teacher of Laughter Yoga. On the 25th anniversary of Rudolph’s mother taking her own life she was officially certified in Laughter Yoga as a way to pay tribute to her mother’s memory. She is full of energy and information about Laughter Yoga. There are laughter yoga groups all over the country. One of the main commonalities between all the groups is the practice of laughing daily.
One way that these groups connect is to laugh for 20 minutes for no reason on a conference call with those all over the world. Rudolph has been a certified laugher for about 2 years. She spoke on the importance of daily “laughter for no reason” to aid in bringing out the inner child, creating inner peace and instilling a sense of joy in the life.
“People always ask if we tell jokes,” Rudolph said. “Humor and jokes are laughing from the outside in. Laughter Yoga is laughing from the inside out.”
Rudolph instructed the group to participate in a variety of Laugher Yoga poses. Self Love laughter involves wrapping the arms around the body in a “self-hug”. Then laughing for one minute. Love your mind laughter and milkshake laughter are a few others she instructed the audience to perform. Rudolph believes “the brain does not know the difference between real and fake laughter.” Still, she recommends faking it with passion and the laughter will become real.
Peace from Unity
Lynn Wieties of the Regional Baha’i counsel of the central states was also present at the women’s panel to share her thoughts on what is real. Baha’i is a religious faith that spans the globe. Baha’is believe that all of the great prophets or messengers came at different times in humanity’s history to bring the same message. Abraham, Buddha, Jesus, Mohamed and many others, the Baha’I’s believe brought one message of peace and unity at times that the world needed them most.
“As individuals, it is our opportunity to respond to each other with love and unity (as well as) find ways to work together.” She recited some of the teachings offered by Baha’ullah, whom the Baha’is believe was the last great prophet and whom the Baha’i faith is centered around. Wieties spoke about the importance of love for our fellowman and the role each person plays in creating a peaceful planet.
“Each of us has an opportunity that we are contributing to and all are very important to the work we do and our vision has come from the messengers. We are all united under one God and one humanity,” she stated.
Peace from Unification
Grandmother SilverStar, an American Indian peacekeeper elder, brought to bear the importance of unity in the movement toward world peace. She claims to be the keeper of a 52,000-year-old Star Knowledge Medicine Bundle, part of the ancient belief system of the Tsalagi and Lakota tribes.
SilverStar spoke of the necessity to remember who we are through embracing our ancestry and honoring the indigenous people. Once a Dakota brother prophesied a gathering and upon his return he shared with her the sentiment, “We all remember home. When mother Earth was a garden, remember this and we will live in the garden again.”
She spoke of her belief that the duty of indigenous people is to care for and protect the earth. “Indigenous people have their feet in the earth, so we can create our home, our earth. Through love we cause our thoughts (of peace) to move.”
She instructed the group on the ancient ways of peacekeeping and the importance of personally getting involved in creating world peace. “We can all feel that (unpeaceful) energy and so we must act on it now (to stop it)”.
SilverStar believes that it is essential that each person embraces the true identity and becomes aware of the depth that lies within. “Take a breath,” she instructed the group, “and in one breath become aware of the self within.”
She does not believe that peace inner or outer should be a struggle. “Peace is already here,” she says, “we are just stuck in the old conditioning. Peace is here.”
All the speakers were from different back grounds and cultures but the central focus of each presentation was the same. “Peace is here.” SilverStar received the thought from an ancestor, Wieties received that idea through reading wisdom offered by Baha’ullah and Rudolph is committed to 20 minutes daily of laughing to bring the reality of inner peace into the present moment. Each of the speakers brought a different perspective on path that leads to one destination, which is world peace.
