Dharma the Cat with Commentary
Ego
by David Lourie

Moving/Being
New Beginnings in Old Containers
by Paul Linden

Swami Says
Blisskrieg
by Steve Bhaerman

Verbasana
Yoga and Ice Cream
by Thatcher Ross

Feng Shui Today
Q&A with Sylvia Watson and Connie Spruill

Swarmi Beyondananda has been cruising the innew planes for the past month-and-a-half, and has emerged with a startling discovery. One of the key obstacles to peace -- both inner and outer -- is seriousness. Seriously, seriousness is one of our most serious problems nowadays. Think about it. Do clowns or comedians ever start wars? When a comedian "kills", he or she paradoxically makes the audience come alive. And if a comedian should "die" onstage, he gets to come back -- usually with better material.

Serious times call for serious laughter, and that is why the Swarmi has launched his "Blisskrieg" and why I have launched a brand new interactive Wake Up Laughing web site. Both the Blisskrieg and the new web site have the same mission...to light up the world with healing laughter and cosmic comedy, and of course to counteract laugh-threatening seriousness. As our tag line says, "we take humor seriously, and seriousness humorously."

First, the Blisskrieg -- if we consider war a necessary evil, says the Swarmi, why don't we treat peace as a necessary good? Swarmi's mission is to spread the light of love, playfulness and laughter to illuminate all of the shadow places where toxins have infected the body politic.

"We will light them on the land," says the Swarmi, "we will light them on the sea, we will light tehm in the air, we will even light them in their caves -- and of course, we will light up our own corridors of power. Yes, those corridors of power have been very poorly lit lately."

Wake Up Laughing is where healing laughter and "new edge" comedy meet. For years we have been learning that laughter in and of itself has proven physiological benefits. Laughter produces endorphins, our body's natural painkiller. Laughter improves immune function. Hearty laughter is literally good for the heart, because when we laugh it causes our blood vessels to dilate. And that is certainly better than having them die early!

But laughter is medicine in the Native American sense as well, a transformational tool that used wisely can bring not just physical healing, but emotional release, mental flexibilty and spiritual perspective. George Carlin once said that most people go to comedy clubs to release just enough tension so they can go back to their basically unsatisfying lives. Put all of these unsatisfying lives together and you get...well, just turn on the TV.

What I call "new edge" comedy has enough of an edge to cut through the bull that lurks behind every sacred cow. But unlike the cynical (and even mean) comedy that our culture has cultivated over the past 30 years, Wake Up Laughing offers a healing intention designed to awaken joy, compassion, kindness, wisdom -- and the innocent playfulness that so many of us abandoned when we were tricked into believing that life is serious. As Swarmi Beyondananda has said, "Life is a joke but God is laoughing with us, not at us." And if God is laughing, who are we to not laugh? Wake Up Laughing is here to help you wake up to the Cosmic Comedy, and go forth and multiply playfulness and joy.

Copyright 2002 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. To find out more about Swarmi, go to www.wakeuplaughing.com or call the Swarmi hotline 1-800-SWARMI-BE.