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Supporting Universal Prosperity A Peaceful Perspective Occupies Wall Street


tion,” says Finno. “I used 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 dis- played 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


by Meredith Montgomery M


onths 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 mis- sion 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 or- ganizes 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 inten- tion 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 de-


28 Westchester/Putnam NY Edition


cided to mob with more focused intent. Before becoming a community organizer and founder of City Life Well- ness 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 eco- nomic 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 intoler- ance for acceptance, so that we can let [negativity] go and move toward a solu-


Adbusters posted the initial call for the Occupy Wall Street movement on its website: “On Sept 17, flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitch- ens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street.” For the two months that followed, hype for the planned oc- cupation 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 medita- tions 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 acknowl- edges 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 medi- tation flash mob at the park where the occupation was taking place. Coinci- dentally, 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 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


Photo: Jessa Johnson/City Life Wellness


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