by Moshe Yoowho Cohen
Clown Your Zen
Levity Strategies for the Apocalypse
To be published in late April, 2027 by Shambhala Publications
“Clown your Zen” and invite humor into daily life with playful practices to restore balance, release stress, and strengthen your connections. With simple exercises, you’ll reconnect with your natural joy, deepen your presence, and embrace your sacred birthright of laughter.
Sacred mischief is humor with a purpose: a way to restore balance when life gets too heavy, too discouraging, or simply goes too far in any direction. Rooted in the Native American concept of the sacred clown, it invites you to meet seriousness with play, fear with curiosity, and overwhelm with a lightness of heart. It is a subtle art, a daily practice, and a way of being that can spark a smile in your community, your country, your world—or at the very least, on your own face.
Moshe Cohen has taught the sacred-mischief approach around the world, from Zen centers with the late Roshi Bernie Glassman to university classrooms, clown and theater schools, and even the corporate bored-room. Perfect for cultivating mindful presence and for countering negativity, these practices will help you awaken your own funny, your lightness, and your own sacred mischief. May you delight in them!
the Author
Moshe YooWho Cohen
Moshe Cohen is an internationally renowned teacher, performer, and sacred mischief maker. Since his first shows on the cobblestones of Annecy (FR) in 1981, he has toured his acclaimed Mr. YooWho show to festivals and theaters in more than 50 countries, giving over 1,000 performances worldwide.
A pioneering figure in Clowns Without Borders, Moshe founded the U.S. chapter in 1995 and has participated in more than 30 projects that bring joy and laughter to children and families in crisis zones. He is also cofounder and Closhi (“guru of subtle humor”) of the Zen Order of Disorder within the Zen Peacemakers. In this role he tries his best to live up to the OD motto, “Don’t be here now.”
Moshe has taught theatrical non-verbal clowning since 1993 and began leading Clowning Your Zen workshops with Roshi Bernie Glassman in 2001. Today, he teaches performers and non-performers in artistic, spiritual, educational, and workplace settings. Mr. YooWho continues to perform both on stage and with the Medical Clown Project in San Francisco.
Upcoming Events
April 27 2027
Publication Celebration. Time and place yet to be decided.