Welcome to the Mindfulness + Spirituality Clown Hub 

 

 

Clowning asks us to be deeply present: to notice what is happening in each moment, attend to the smallest details, respond spontaneously, and meet the world with openness and curiosity. These qualities have echoes in spiritual traditions across cultures, where foolishness, play, paradox, and the disruption of ordinary ways of seeing can become pathways to insight. We can find this in the life and poetry of the Zen monk Master Ryōkan, in the sacred clown and contrary traditions of Indigenous peoples including the Lakota Heyoka and Pueblo Koshare, and in other traditions of the “holy fool,” such as the yurodivy of Russian Orthodox Christianity. This hub explores the intersections between clowning, mindfulness, spirituality, and well-being, bringing together practices, stories, teachings, and reflections that invite us to consider clown not only as a form of performance, but as a way of paying attention, relating, questioning, and being in the world.

Masterclasses

Below are six incredible masterclasses from leaders in Mindful Clowning!

Moshe Cohen

Moshe Cohen is an internationally renowned clown, teacher, and “sacred mischief maker” who has explored the intersections of clowning, Zen, mindfulness, and lightness for decades. A pioneer of Clowns Without Borders and co-founder of the Zen Order of Disorder, he teaches clowning as a pathway into spontaneity, humor, presence, and a more playful way of being.

Watch Moshe Classs

Danielle Levsky 

Danielle Levsky (they/she) is a multidisciplinary theater artist, clown teacher, and creator of Fool’s Yoga, a practice that blends yoga, mindfulness, and clowning. Trained at The Clown School and through 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification and study with clown masters, they explore presence, vulnerability, joyful expression, and embodied play as pathways to self-discovery.

Watch Danielle's Class

David Bridel

This masterclass explores reversal and satirical praise as playful ways to see ourselves and the world differently. Through ritual, costume, chanting, and theatrical play, participants create an exaggerated church in praise of something they dislike, disrupting familiar perspectives and opening up new ways of seeing.

Watch David's Class

Holly Stoppit

Holly Stoppit is a clowning and fooling teacher, dramatherapist, and facilitator who has spent decades exploring the intersections of clowning, play, mindfulness, and self-discovery. Creator of Clown-o-therapy and artistic director of Beyond The Ridiculous, she creates playful spaces where people can explore presence, authenticity, vulnerability, and the transformational potential of creative play.

Watch Holly's Class

Sky de Sela

Sky de Sela is a clown, circus artist, teacher, and artistic director who has spent decades exploring presence, vulnerability, and the transformative potential of clowning. Founder of Compagnie Mezcla, she brings extensive experience as a performer, director, and teacher to her clown pedagogy, creating spaces for authentic expression, spontaneity, and the discovery of one’s own clown.

Watch Sky's Class

Moshe Cohen

Moshe Cohen is an internationally renowned clown, teacher, and performer whose work has been deeply influenced by decades of study in Butoh, including with Hiroko Tamano and legendary Butoh master Kazuo Ohno in Japan. Since developing his ButohClown practice, he has explored how slowing down, subtle movement, and deep bodily awareness can open new dimensions of clowning, presence, and non-verbal expression.

Watch Moshe Classs

Sacred Clowns from Different Cultures

Below are some examples and stories about different sacred clown figures from different cultures from Elders in the Earthrise Collective. These come from a panel that happened at Clownvergence 2025.

The Sacred Source 

This is the first unit of the Clown Connection series, exploring the shared “clown spirit” beneath the many forms clowning takes across cultures.

Barnaby introduces sacred clowning traditions where clowns serve powerful social and spiritual roles, the relationship between comedy and ritual, and why these practices matter to community life.

There is a presentation, creative prompts as well as a workshop. Feel free to do any or all of these.

Check out The Sacred Source

Deeper Dives

Below are two longer learning journeys - a course and a series of workshops - with many elements of Mindfulness + Spiritual Clowning

Awaken Your Clown Spirit

Awaken Your Clown Spirit is an invitation to discover clowning as a mindful, spiritual practice rooted in lightness, connection, presence, and joy. Through playful exploration, you’ll awaken your own clown spirit and discover what becomes possible when you meet yourself and the world with greater curiosity and openness.

Explore the Course

Clowning for Mental Health

Clowning for Mental Health is a series exploring how clowning can support wellbeing, emotional regulation, resilience, connection, and self-expression. Through playful, embodied and mindful practices, you’ll discover ways to reconnect with yourself, loosen self-judgment, and bring more joy, presence and aliveness into your life.

Check out the Workshop Recordings

Podcasts

Below are some Clown+ podcasts that include themes of mindfulness and spirituality.

Listen how Lakota clown traditions, sacred humor, and contrary behavior can challenge dominant beliefs, nurture resilience, and restore balance.  

Real exploration of how play, humor, and systems thinking can nurture human connection, expand our sense of possibility, and help us navigate complex times.  

A meandering conversation exploring how playfulness, imperfection, and the cracks within our systems can create openings for transformation, innovation, and new ways of being.  

Explore how Indigenous East African wisdom, playfulness, and trickster traditions can inspire healing, creativity, and personal and social transformation.

Hear how a 28,000-mile bicycle journey fueled by the kindness of strangers led Nathaniel Allenby to clowning and a renewed faith in humanity.  

Discover how clowning, Gestalt therapy, and the interconnectedness of mycelial networks can deepen curiosity, resilience, and human connection.  

Discover ways clowning, mindfulness, and self-awareness can help us navigate the attention economy and build a healthier relationship with technology.  

Inspiring stories of how unlearning, clowning, and unconventional approaches to education can challenge dominant systems and open up new possibilities for living.  

Articles

Below are some research articles about clowning + mindfulness and spirituality.

This paper explores ritual clowning as a form of cultural critique and philosophical inquiry, drawing parallels between Pueblo clowns, irony, and deconstruction. It argues that sacred clowning uses parody, inversion, and play to challenge rigid social structures and foster deeper self-awareness.

This research summary examines the role of ritual clowns in tribal societies, drawing comparisons between their ceremonial function as magical healers and their mythical origin as violators of fundamental taboos.

This study examines the functions, organization, and behaviors of sacred clowns among the Pueblo and Mayo-Yaqui Indians, analyzing whether their shared ceremonial practices derive from pre-Columbian traditions or Spanish colonial influences.

5-Minute Clown Journal

The 5-Minute Clown Journal is a simple practice for slowing down, noticing, and bringing more presence into everyday life. Through a few minutes of playful reflection and observation, the journal invites you to pay attention to what is happening in your body, your surroundings, and your inner world, while approaching yourself with the curiosity and openness of the clown. A small daily practice that can help cultivate awareness, spontaneity, and a deeper connection with the moment.

Check out 5-minute Journal