{"id":5657,"date":"2016-03-13T22:28:53","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T04:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=5657"},"modified":"2016-03-13T22:28:53","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T04:28:53","slug":"meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you.html","title":{"rendered":"Meditation Olympics &#8211; the winner might surprise you"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"540\" height=\"304\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4_6M0iJdDfc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p><p>Capitalizing on the ongoing surge in mindfulness popularity, comedian, actor, and motivational speaker Kyle Cease has produced a witty look into meditation in the contemporary world. Borrowing the last name of my favorite figure skater, Kyle co-comments on an Olympics-styled competition between three meditators:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An average Joe, just starting out (rather strangely said to be from Bangladesh)<\/li>\n<li>A super-metaphysical gadget-laiden hippyesque woman, and<\/li>\n<li>An Asian clad with all of the Western world\u2019s projections of what a spiritual Asian man should have, including \u201c247 Caves meditated in\u201d and \u201cKnows the Dalai Lama: Yes\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Brilliantly, the ensuing \u201ccompetition\u201d highlights at least a few of the realities people face when undertaking meditation in ordinary life, with the winner announcing \u2013 rather blandly but honestly: \u201cIt was mostly just about sitting there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Future autobiography title?<\/p>\n<p>Other funny takes on meditation can be found at:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2015\/11\/australias-next-top-guru-parody.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\">Australia\u2019s Next Top Guru (Parody)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2012\/11\/buddhism-in-pop-culture-namaste-portlandias-meditation-crush.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\">Buddhism in pop-culture? Namaste. Portlandia\u2019s Meditation Crush.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2012\/12\/are-you-a-buddhist-wanker-jerk-humor.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\">Are you a Buddhist Wanker (Jerk)? \u2013 (Humor)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Capitalizing on the ongoing surge in mindfulness popularity, comedian, actor, and motivational speaker Kyle Cease has produced a witty look into meditation in the contemporary world. Borrowing the last name of my favorite figure skater, Kyle co-comments on an Olympics-styled competition between three meditators: An average Joe, just starting out (rather strangely said to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":5658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,19],"tags":[80,522],"class_list":["post-5657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humor","category-meditation","tag-humor-2","tag-meditation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meditation Olympics - the winner might surprise you<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Capitalizing on the ongoing surge in mindfulness popularity, comedian, actor, and motivational speaker Kyle Cease has produced a witty look into\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meditation Olympics - the winner might surprise you\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Capitalizing on the ongoing surge in mindfulness popularity, comedian, actor, and motivational speaker Kyle Cease has produced a witty look into\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Buddhist Perspectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-14T04:28:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/83\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"391\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you.html\",\"name\":\"Meditation Olympics - the winner might surprise you\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-14T04:28:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-14T04:28:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\"},\"description\":\"Capitalizing on the ongoing surge in mindfulness popularity, comedian, actor, and motivational speaker Kyle Cease has produced a witty look into\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2016\/03\/meditation-olympics-the-winner-might-surprise-you.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meditation Olympics &#8211; 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