John Lejderman (Srajano)
Telephone: 450-228-3353 cell:514-231-2053
E-mail: info@rire-et-delire.com
John Lejderman (Srajano), laughologist, M.Sc., has been leading laugh workshops for fifteen years. He is a certified laugh leader of Laughter Club International founded by Dr. Kataria and President of the Montreal Laughter club He has studied the art of clowning with renowned clowns and for the last fifteen of years has presented a variety of clown shows. He is also a singer songwriter (member SOCAN) and certified translator (member OTTIAQ).
Background
In
1981, John Lejderman met Indian spiritual master Osho Rajneesh, who initiated him into laughing meditation and gave him the name Prem Srajano (Love the Creative One). John began inviting friends to participate with him in laughing meditation, and progressively he integrated a series of games into the sessions, preparatory to laughing for no reason. In 1993, this work culminated in a "LAUGH YOURSELF DAFT" festival held during the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. More recently, the meeting with Dr. Kataria,
in 2002 inspired him to push this technique farther, giving rise to the workshop Laugh for no reason in its current form. In 2003 John became coordinator of the Montreal Laugh club, where he acts as one of the main workshop leaders.
From 1981 to 1997, John Lejderman visited the Osho Rajneesh Commune, several times, in Oregon and in Poona, India, where he a participated in numerous meditation, personal growth and creativity programs. The therapeutic meditations, Mystic Rose, No-Mind and Born Again had a big impact on him. Through these processes participants laugh for no reason, cry for no reason, speak Gibberish, and play like babies, among others things. In other words, they let out a lot pent up feelings and irrationality, an excellent way to balance the emphasis of our civilisation on the intellect. He also took a year of training with Humaniversity Québec, a school of therapy that relies strongly on social and therapeutic meditations of a similar kind. These are among the most important experiences that led John to develop the workshop Laughter and Tears.
Since the early '90s, John has also studied clown and given clown performances. He studied with Sue Morrisson of
the Theater Resource Centre
in Toronto, and more recently with Francine Côté in Montreal, a clown of the Cirque du Soleil, and instructor for the organization Dr. Clown. As part of the Frappadingues troupe in Quebec City he played a clown in children's theater, and has worked on clown projects with Clowns without borders and Dr. Clown in Montreal. He
has also worked as a street performer and presented numerous one-off shows in the context of social activities and cabarets. These experiences led him to initiate the
workshop Laugh at yourself: clown and creativity.
John Lejderman (Srajano) has a Master's degree in Computer Science. He taught Computer Science at CEGEP Edouard Montpetit for three years. Today, member of the Ordre des traducteurs (OTTIAQ), the translators' professional association in Quebec, he works as a free-lance translator.
John Lejderman (member of SOCAN) writes humorous songs, several of which have been recorded.
