Laughter

5 Benefits of Laughter Yoga for Seniors

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It feels timely to focus on being a Senior and share below the five main benefits of Laughter Yoga for Seniors in our society, as outlined by Indian Physician Dr Madan Kataria. He was the Founder of the free community laughter club movement in 1985 and since then, research on laughter is having an increasing impact all around the world.

At our laughter clubs, the majority of people who come are women and in their senior years. We have a few gentlemen also, however coming along to laugh may be a little daunting for some people and especially to the men. Mind you we highly recommend ‘getting out of your comfort zone’.

May I also suggest you consider becoming involved as a volunteer, involved in a laughter club in Victoria? It is easy, a commitment well worthwhile and rewarding. From what I observe people who commit to regular laughter find, without realising it, their lives becoming transformed. Club members have shared how it helps them move on and be involved in life, one after being in a depression for some years and the other simply feeling rather flat and without purpose.

As I often share, it is wonderful for developing brain neurons (Neuroplasticity) as is singing and dancing. You can see people’s eyes light up and feel their energy become lighter, more fun filled, joyous, spontaneous, when in the process of a laughter session.

Obviously, it is best for it to be regular, for a facilitator to attend an aged care place or for people to come along to a laughter club regularly. Language is not a barrier either, or inability to speak, the language of laughter and love surpasses all. Hearts connect and we are very honoured to be able to share the laughter and upliftment with those willing to do it with us. We finish each session with a short meditation, some people haven’t even experienced that before and relish it. Sometimes we include some music for a short sing along and occasionally a few residents get up for a little dance movement. It is such a joy to see the change in their demeanour when they do so, a real joy.

Following then are the 5 main benefits of Laughter Yoga, as outlined in the professional training manual of Laughter Yoga International. They do not say all the physical, emotional, social benefits, rather concentrating on the general ones that are so easily recognisable for why seniors would benefit from more laughter in their life.

1. Adds More Laughter to Life: With advancing age we laugh less or stop laughing. We get out of the habit of laughing and often with dementia and Alzheimer’s that is more so the case. Laughter Yoga is a physically oriented technique, is an ideal exercise that provides many health benefits without using mental and cognitive abilities.

2. Promotes Physical Health: With the wear and tear of old age many seniors develop ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis etc. Laughter Yoga facilitates healing by strengthening the immune system, improves blood circulation and increases oxygen to the body’s cells. It is also a cardiovascular workout.

3. Improves Mental Health: Isolation, loneliness and depression are common among older adults as they lose loved ones and their health begins to decline. Mental health is improved by boosting neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin.

4. Building Social Bonds: Laughter Yoga helps bring people together and improve their social bonding. Retirees and able-bodied older adults who attend our laughter clubs develop friendships and rapport. This helps them to move on, be resilient and decrease loneliness at the same time increasing their quality of life.

5. Longevity: Laughter Yoga helps us when we feel we have lost our way giving us greater reason and purpose to continue living a full and rewarding life. It is a simple and easy routine, which is practiced by people all throughout the world in their 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. As the population is increasingly older every day, Laughter Yoga is a tool for transformational aging and increased longevity.

From my personal experience Laughter Yoga does all of the above and gives me a lift in my life and relationships. Life becomes more fun filled and you can also be a part of that. It is free and we love to laugh together. You are not committed to attend every time, only as much as you can fit in with your (probably) very busy life!

Thank you for your interest in reading about this very important topic. I hope to see you soon on either a Saturday or Sunday.

Cheers, Lynette.

Acknowledgement Dr Kataria, Founder of Laughter Yoga International

 

Could Laughter Yoga be Part of Your Self Support in 2019?

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Hello and how have you been since the start of the year? Are you embarking on new things? Will you be joining us at either the Knoxfield or Ferntree Gully Laughter Clubs? They are on at 10.30am on Saturdays and Sundays. Links to information on the website pages are: Knoxfield – Ferntree Gully.

Are you okay? If you have been meaning to join one of our two local laughter clubs, either Ferntree Gully or Knoxfield, I encourage you to be like the Nike motto. ‘JUST DO IT!’. Furthermore, it’s FREE. The company is GREAT. And you will be welcomed into the laughter ‘family’.

New Year’s Resolutions.

Are they chosen in a spontaneous moment, or, in part influenced by others as something you ‘should’ do. Most of us have been conditioned that we ‘should’ make New Year’s Resolutions. This implies that we are not okay, inadequate and need to pick up our game. Depending on our underlying motive, they could alternatively be used for positive growth.

We often experience guilt when we don’t succeed and there is a natural tendency for humans to be resistant to change. We like to know what is going to happen and feel insecure not knowing for certain how our future will play out.

Resolutions can be good at any time and especially if our motive is coming from love and congruent with our goals.

There are plenty of opportunities for self-improvement and besides using laughter to support us, we may have been considering slowing down our activities agenda by adding some quiet time. Or not, it may be something completely the opposite! Have you been meaning to learn or get better at the art of meditation? There is so much that we are able to try out and see if it works for us, to give pleasure or lower the everyday stress. I am now booking students for a Monday evening personal growth class, which may be a lightbulb moment on reading this piece of information?

Self-Acceptance and a Nightly review

This feels like a regular topic related to self-esteem and sharing about the nightly review process. If you do wish to work on bringing more love and self-acceptance to your day, it is worth creating this good habit. At the end of each day I ask myself “Did I bring more love to what I was involved in today? Was I kinder and more self-accepting, both to myself and others? Was I without criticism and judgment?”.

You must work on YOU first, because if you are not okay with yourself, you will be unable to help, support and share the love with others you encounter.

Back to basics, remember that when we laugh wholeheartedly and allow ourselves to be doing child-like playful activities, it is one of the very, very best things we can do for our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. The laughter clubs run in all weather, hail, rain or shine. Sometimes we may even begin feeling a tad flat and this quickly changes. We start laughing and deep breathing, making us feel invigorated, uplifted and happy. This method of joining together brings belonging, comradeship, and a new way of living one’s life. We take the spirit of laughter with us. Do come and give it a go. It truly is transformative and life changing.

This photo was taken during a session at the Federation Square Laughter Club. I recently returned to being a Committee member of Laughter Clubs Victoria Inc. (LCVI) that puts these laughter sessions on. They are on the 1st and 3rd Sunday at 11am and are free. Read more here.

May 2019 be beneficially memorable for you. Keep on keeping on! And remember, to never, ever, ever give up!!!

Cheerio for now. Lynette.

Disclaimer: Information shared is intended to support you and is from my personal understanding, experience and is generalised. I am not responsible for how you take it on board.

Stress, Suggestions and Using Laughter Yoga

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What does the word stress bring up for you? Very likely it will be negative because the media influences us that stress is ‘bad’ and we are directed to find relief from it with buying, eating, drinking, holidaying etc. Many people are so accustomed to living in a stressful manner and may not realise that there are ways to combat it. It can be that when we our time is restricted, it is beneficial to feel under pressure and we can achieve that without sending our bodies into a stressed mode. In fact it can be uplifting and energising, rather like self-testing or facing a challenge. Laughter and other things like mindfulness and meditation can help a lot, here’s my take on incorporating Laughter Yoga into your daily routine – Read More

John Mitchell & Vicki at Ferntree Gully Laughter Club
I have this much limitation laugh (which is very little) and this much potential (which is huge), at Ferntree Gully Laughter Club.

John Mitchell and Vicki sharing a favorite laugh, a tiny space between thumb
and finger indicating that little limitation
and next the arms go wide showing how much potential.

Laughter is the Best Medicine – Getting Back to Basics

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I  Googled these words ‘laughter is the best medicine’ and was pleasantly surprised that two full pages of images came up, with all sorts of interesting quotes. At times I forget that some of the general public are relatively unfamiliar with the concept of community laughter clubs and how we get together and have fun, laughing, singing, dancing about. We feel very connected with ourselves and each other also physically, emotionally and mentally uplifted following a laughter session. It is lots of fun and I am thankful to be involved with the laughter movement which started ‘by accident’ by an Indian Physician, Dr Madan Kataria twenty years ago in March 1995. Read all about it and the basics of why we get together and ‘laugh for no reason’ on my Blogger.

Laughter Member’s Take on Humour, Jokes & Laughter.

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Ross Normand is our ‘elder’ laughter club member, who was 80 on the 22nd August 2014. Ross wrote this essay on humour sometime ago and since joining the Ferntree Gully Laughter Club, his appreciation of humour, jokes and laughter has become enhanced. Consequently he made some changes to the essay and felt to share it with me and has granted permission to share it with you. Thank you Ross. We appreciate your written contribution and yourself for being a valuable, regular member to our Ferntree Gully Laughter Club.

HUMOUR, JOKES AND LAUGHTER
by Ross Normand

“A serious and good philosophic work could be written entirely of jokes.” Ludwig Wittgenstein, (1889-1951 A.D.) Austrian-British philosopher. Humour is an amusing and creative activity that makes its presence felt in many situations. When used in an enlightening or playful way humour can be wonderfully uplifting, but it can also be quite destructive, particularly if employed in a vulgar way or used in such a manner as to embarrass and/or ridicule people. Most people of all ages and cultures respond favourably to good humour; its spiritual nature makes us laugh and expands our philosophic outlook on Life.
Humour takes many forms such as wit, satire, sarcasm, slapstick, cartoons, mimicry, etc. Here is a trilogy of jokes which may, or may not, appeal to your own particular sense of humour —
George Bernard Shaw, the famous playwright, once invited Winston Churchill to the opening night of one of his plays and ended the note by saying, “Bring a friend, if you have one.” Churchill replied, expressing regret that he could not attend on the first night but said he would come on another night. “If there is one!”.
Ben Jonson, a colleague of William Shakespeare, was once asked to explain the pun, a form of wit. Ben replied, “Pun, what subject?” The friend laughed at this pun, but said, “Oh, the King.” Ben then said, “But the King is not a subject. He is the King”.
Mulla Nasrudin was born in Eskishehr, Turkey, in the l3t Century A.D. Sufi mystics still recount many of his quaint stories; here is one of them. – Nasrudin entered a teahouse one day and declaimed, “The moon is more useful than the sun.” Someone asked him why. “Because at night we need the light more,” said Nasrudin.
Laughter Yoga is a world-wide practice that originated in India; it helps man to better integrate the workings of his mind, body and soul. Nobody knows exactly why we laugh or why anything causes us to make a strange noise, but it happens from an early age. Babies smile, then coo, and finally chuckle when they are amused. Jokes often occur when an ordinary idea is twisted by somebody in an unusual, but pleasingly unexpected way. Here’s an example —
A man speaks to his doctor after an operation. He says, “Doc, now that the surgery is done, will I be able to play the piano?” The doctor replies, “Of course!”  The man then says, “Good, because I couldn’t before!”.
Humorous events were often brought to my notice when, as a small boy, I lived near the Mont Albert Railway Station. Standing at our front gate one day, I noticed an Army Officer, who must have been coming home on leave from the Second World War, for he wildly embraced a girl coming to meet him in the opposite direction and swept her off her feet. Not only did I witness this stirling deed, but so too did a couple of teenage girls who stood on the footpath near me. One of them said to the other, “I wish that was me !“ I smiled and had a bit of a laugh, because I was quite sure the Army Officer and the girls involved in this little episode were completely oblivious of me — one small boy playing nearby on his three-wheeled trike.
Humour, according to some experts, cannot or should not be explained. But the vast majority of people who do theorise about it conclude that humour is a very healthy activity, or that it is a gift from God, or that it is an unexplainable event very much akin to a mystical experience. Humour seems to give us, above all, a great opportunity to have a good laugh about happenings in Life!

HUMOUR, JOKES & LAUGHTER
by Ross Normand

Bibliography

The World Book Encyclopaedia, U.S.A. 1974 Edition
– Volume 9 Article on Humour

Wikipedia Encyclopaedia, Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. U.S.A.
– Article on Humour

R.M.I.T. University Lecture on “Humour” (2009)
– at The Melbourne Theosophical Society Ltd.

The Melbourne “Herald” Newspaper, 1965.
– Article “Churchill Said It”.

The Sufis by Idries Shah.
– Doubleday Anchor Book, U.S.A.

Laughter Yoga With School Children – Live For Live

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Live4Life is a project run by the Macedon Ranges Council, promoting rural students’ mental health. As part of this project Laughter Clubs Victoria Inc was approached, because of the importance for school children to be given the opportunity to experience laughter yoga. In March, Merv Neal presented a laughter session for Live4Life.

Here is an except from the Live4Life e-newsletter:
“What an awesome day to kick off the Live4Life program for 2014! Over 550 young people from across the Macedon Ranges Shire gathered at host school Sacred Heart College in Kyneton to Launch the program, and enjoyed enterainment from Issac & Jimmy, Flaxxon and Mumblr, as well as a Laughter Yoga Session with Merv Neal.”

And the YouTube video of excerpts from that session.

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And for those of you who want to know more about the program, here is some information from the Live4Life home page, which says it all!
“Live4Life is a youth mental health primary prevention initiative targeting young people in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria, Australia
The Live4Life initiative is a community-wide response to a reported increase in 2009 from schools, police, community health and medical services to depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide in the Macedon Ranges Shire, particularly at Year 8 level (13-14years). The Youth Development Unit of the Macedon Ranges Shire Council, along with schools and community leaders, identified a need for a coordinated, collaborative response with a focus on seeking solutions prior to the need for crisis intervention Live4Life is an innovative, evidence-based, local community driven response to youth mental illness. The initiative aims to provide a local solution to a global problem by adopting a whole of community approach to increase knowledge, reduce stigma and improve mental health service pathways that are appropriate for young people.”

How wonderful to hear about such amazing work being done with school children and I welcome any comments or sharing of other programs which help look after the mental health of our future citizens, who will lead the way forward into all of our futures. They need all the help they can get.

Doom and Gloom – Breathing Exercise Helps Rid Negative Feelings.

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Let’s talk about doom and gloom, then move to talk about positivity and hope and what you can do on an individual level!

There is so much doom and gloom in the world, locally, nationally and internationally and I think you will agree that there is a lack of good news stories. How uplifting it is to watch, read or hear about news of a positive nature. Someone’s great achievement, overcoming odds, people banding together, donating time and money for a cause they believe in.

It is so true, that bad news travels fast and the media thrives on bad news. I wonder what that is all about? Could there be something there within us also, that thrives on drama, this thing  somehow relates better to negative things which actually increases our stress levels. Maybe on a deeper level of consciousness, it makes our lives more bearable, our crosses lighter to bear.

Let’s turn this around to focusing on and holding the intention of improvement and hope. Begin by bringing things back to ourselves and when we read, see, or hear bad news, choose to release our feelings of judgment. We can choose to imagine and understand that the universe does work in mysterious ways. Let us hold the vision of an ideal of ‘it’ being for a reason and that there is growth in it for the ones involved. To take away suffering can deny ones the ability and opportunity to be self determining and learn through trauma.

On a personal note, are we focusing outside ourselves to distract from self-effort? Or are we putting responsibility and blame outside ourselves onto others? Usually we are in situations of our own making (I believe this to be 100% true). This leads to a realisation that if we are unhappy about what we have created, we can also seek help outside of ourself with a person, mentor, counsellor or other person we may think of who is a few steps ahead of us on the path.

Bringing it down to small managable steps, what about baby steps? Instead of trying to solve all of our problems in a day, what is one thing that we can do to take ourself forward today?

Oftentimes we take one step and do something, which creates movement; unseen forces then work with us and support us moving forward. Rather like that beautiful poem ‘Footsteps in the Sand’ by Mary Stevenson.

I will share how easily you can change your state with some laughter and simple breathing and this way, you can just ‘fall into doing it’. Take note of how your body is feeling right now and then go ahead as follows.

Laughter is the best medicine and now, take a deep breath and as you are breathing out, quietly or loudly, laugh, hahahahaha. Now breathe in again and as you laugh out again, do so more deeply. And again, do it three times.

If you prefer, it can be quieter laughter with the mouth closed. If you feel to open your mouth and laugh wholeheartedly, please do. It is your exercise and experience.

Now how do you feel? A little or lot lighter? Your perspective has probably changed for the better.

Here is another little thing that you can try. Standing is preferable for this exercise; we will do a little deeper breathing, using our arms and hands. Try this two ways, first with one long deep breath and then two short, deep breaths.

It goes like this. Standing if you will, arms stretched out straight from the shoulders, on the in-breath, bring your hands in to chest then stretch them back out in front on the out breath saying ‘ha’. Rest a little being conscious of your body limits then repeat with two or three breaths in, breathing through the nose. This can be described as sniffing breaths. Then a long breath out through the nose. The hands can be left to do their own thing, naturally you will bring them in on the in-breath as fists or open hands on the chest.

My suggestion is to do this exercise in the morning to get your energy flowing and at night, even as well in the middle of the day and monitor the difference it makes to you. Once you have mastered it, it can be done at any time, even without the outstretched hands and arm movements. If you hold the intention of it assisting your body, however you need it, your subconscious mind will work with you and make it automatic and success is assured in helping you to be freer from stress, conscious, in the moment and grounded.

As I am a Laughter Yoga coach, I enjoy combining Laughter Yoga and coaching, believing there is a lot that we can do to help ourselves lead a happier, less stressful life. This can be done as outlined, in baby steps, to simply decide to do small, regular practices to experiment and if they work, incorporate these helpful things into our everyday lives. When we are happier, less stressed and becoming more joyful, finding fun in little simple things, the world around us changes and our upliftment helps those around us and ultimately, is a positive effect on the planet and those upon it. I invite you to email me about this sharing if you wish to or need clarification about the breathing exercise.

Love and laughter blessings.
Lynette Mitchell xxx ooo

Inhibitions, Stress and Bringing Laughter Yoga to VCE Psychology Students.

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Who likes to get out of their comfort zone? It can be a rewarding experience to stretch yourself and the more that it becomes ‘normal’ the more comfortable you will be with unexpected things. The only constant thing in this world is change and every day is like a new day in your life, with things around you constantly changing. At times it is hard to get comfortable with your life situation and keep that familiarity. Do you agree with me?

Recently I was given the opportunity to provide three laughter yoga sessions for Beaconhills Secondary College at Berwick, which was from what I gathered, a top notch school. Specifically I was brought to share about laughter yoga and the benefits of it, Year 12 Psychology students.

These students are presently under enormous pressure, reaching the final lap of their school life. Just think, ten or eleven counting preps, compounding into these last few weeks, studying hard, feverishly catching up on all this year’s work before exam time?

It was interesting and important for the psychology students to learn about other ways of dealing with stress and how to recognise it. Two of the groups were better prepared by their teacher in class, having learnt about the body’s responses to stress, encompassing breathing and relaxation techniques and biofeedback.

What was in it for me also was observing in the first two groups, how completely different they were because of the peer group dynamics, the first group having a strong leader, which was not the case in the second group. The teacher also observed this, commenting that she had expected one particular boy to step up and take that role.

The next week when I returned to do one more laughter yoga session, that group were also very well prepared by their teacher and I shared with her that I felt to stretch them and go a little deeper. I felt to encourage them to drastically get out of their comfort zone, if that was the case as is quite usual when we do something for the first time. Especially ‘laughing for no reason’ as laughter yoga is called and a lot of people get out of the habit of laughing and find it difficult to do without someone else telling a joke or funny story.

The teacher agreed and explained that she had been with some of them all their school lives, trusted her and would do what she asked of them. Interesting indeed because I asked them to observe their feelings at the start, might check half way through their session and at the end. This was different for me, as the kids were old enough to approach this laughter yoga session in a way that could enhance their learnings, being given opportunities to witness their feelings as never before. In particular I shared how the one group with the strong leader looked to him and the next one felt disempowered, not entirely joining in wholeheartedly. I suggested participating fully, choosing to as an exercise, even if it did feel strange and uncomfortable, not to say that it would, but most likely would start like that at least a little bit.

Well they were fantastic and when their attention lagged at one stage, I brought them back, reminded them of their agreement to participate as fully as they were able to and they then re-engaged with the exercises.

Towards the end another great example of how easy it is to lose focus, something that I am personally forever working on, staying focused with the intention to stick with things and not get distracted.

In came a student who was having a birthday. We sang happy birthday using ‘ha ha ha, instead of the words and in the next exercise, they didn’t get into it at all. I stopped them, pointed out how the energy dropped, asked if they felt it, which they did and said ‘let’s do it again and this time fully participate’. Well it was a complete turn around and proved a point or two.

After we finished the laughter meditation, which is lying or sitting relaxed with free laughter, we had time for a relaxation. This went down very well too, which surprised me as sometimes children/people can even get uncomfortable with being still, quiet ‘doing nothing’ and start to giggle, distracting those who really want to simply relax their body, mind and emotions.

Love to hear of any other schools who would be interested in bringing some laughter too. It is tailor made, according to the school’s requirements, whether it be sharing laughter with relaxation, meditation, affirmations, games etc. I personally feel the world would be a better place for children to keep up the habit of laughter. Also learning the benefits to be had and holding on to this most precious and natural gift, as it sure is easy to lose it as we get older and so much harder to bring something back once it is gone. Many of you will be nodding your heads in agreement with me right there.

Thanks for reading, sharing and I am sending out lots of love, light and laughter blessings.

Lynette Mitchell xxx ooo

Feel the Community Spirit in Melbourne!

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AUSTRALIA DAY MARCH 2013

Community spirit injection. Well, our dozen or so band of laughers joined in the March again and it was a beautiful day for it, neither hot nor cold, which meant that we could completely focus on walking and ho, ho-ing all the way to the Domain Gardens, where there were heaps of activities.

I feel the more that we nurture ourselves with the spirit of community and coming together in love, enjoying fun activities, the greater our roots are grounded into the earth.

Hats off to the laughter club members who marched and I feel that I can speak for all of us, it was a completely and utterly uplifting experience. The public of Melbourne were several deep lining the route and some of us high-fived them. Bronwyn counted and got up to 125, what an extraordinary number indeed.

After a little while I got right into the spirit of it and it was doubly joyful to do that. I put my hand or both hands up to give people a ‘high five’ and with that found our eyes connecting and could feel our hearts joining together. People’s faces lit up with that extra close interaction, instead of watching us walk and make noises as we passed.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to be on the inside out looking at so many people and feeling that I made a difference, together with my buddies, demonstrating laughter and light heartedness, bringing it to the awareness of the public that we happily exist in their home town.

The Australia Day People’s March was reported to have over 2000 representatives from community groups including multicultural, sporting and special interest clubs and 4000 public lining the streets watching the March. That is huge, is it not? I feel that there is so much fear and negativity in the world and on this day people take the opportunity to connect in body mind and spirit.

Mahes Karuppiah led the laughter session in the afternoon, here are some pictures that my husband John, my greatest supporter took of us laughing together. I noticed that the crowd of onlookers was far greater than others years and that they joined in with the laughter and breathing exercises without restraint. It was a fantastic session and one can only hope that the positive experience will indeed help to spread the laughter word around the halls of Melbourne and wider.

I would also like to acknowledge the consistent and long time service given by Phillipa Challis, the Founder of Laughter Clubs Victoria Inc. Each Australia Day, Phillipa arrives early at the Domain Gardens, bringing banners and information and staying all day manning the marquis in order to talk with the hoards of people wanting to find out about laughter clubs in Victoria. Thank you Pip.

For those locals who feel that they may be keen to come in next year or any other year after that, let me tell you that there are many and varied activities around the gardens after the March. Especially for young children, there was a marquis of people called ‘Outrageous Workshops’, where the littlies were busy sticking things onto CDs to thread and hang around the necks or to decorate a shade visor for their head.

There were hundreds of old and collectable cars and my husband even made a newspaper pot and potted an Australian native seedling. Wait there’s more, a sheep dog herding sheep, little ponies to pat, ducks, goats and sheep to hand feed.

I loved seeing the Roulettes fly over in formation again at 2pm. There were six of these special planes and OMG they looked as if they came so close that it took my breath away.

James Morrison was playing his trumpet, opera singers were singing, the Ukulele club were Ukuleleying. All in all it was a fabulous, community spirited and fun filled day.

We wearily walked to the railway station and took a train home, being really glad for making the effort to go and do it and I will be back next year, rain, hail or shine.

Come and join me! Please!

Love and Laughter Blessings once again.

xxxx oooo

Keeping a Promise

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KEEPING A PROMISE

Sometime ago I made a promise that I am about to keep to a group of people who have come to live in Australia and decided to take up a Certificate course in English. This is a regular accredited course run through my local library, the Boronia Library, which is part of Eastern Regional Libraries, east of Melbourne.

The group was made up of very good hearted people who have a very dedicated teacher, Myrella Desfosses, who shares with the class the basics of learning how to speak, understand and write English.

I cannot imagine what that must be like for people introduced to this country, who have come here to make a new start in life without perhaps any understanding of the English language or Australian culture.

What a wonderful choice, that is what I say, to come and live in the most livable city in the world. Check out this link: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/melbourne-named-worlds-most-livable-city/story-e6frg6nf-1226450134842. Adelaide was equal 5th to Calgary and Sydney 7th. How wonderful is that? Australia has 3 out of 10 most livable cities in the world.

Myrella, the tutor asked me to come along and talk about Laughter Yoga, focusing on the advantages of laughter in one’s life, followed by a laughter session and then further discussion. For me it was a very positive experience, as they were all so keen to learn and after I left and the following week or two, they used the subject of laughter to feel into and write a short piece on. My promise was to include it in a blog with Laughter Yoga International, which I am about to come through on.

I loved the way the students were encouraged to express themselves in their own unique style, which from my viewpoint allowed them to write freely, without fear of having to be a stereotype of their teacher.

And now here are two expressions from the eyes and hearts of Shirley White and Paola Penagos.

The advantages of laughter yoga – By Shirley White

Everyone has different experiences in life.  I think that laughter yoga has some advantages .  And I am going to write a list of them to give you some ideas.

There are many benefits in doing laughter yoga.  The most important reason is it will help to relieve stress.  Another reason is you will gain friends because laughing is contagious.  Aside from being relaxed, it is also a good exercise.  When you laugh, your body system uses energy that will help in your blood flow which is also helpful.  A further positive is, laughter yoga is free.  Furthermore, there are many social groups who conduct laughter yoga and some maybe in your local area.

In conclusion, I think laughter yoga has more advantages and you just need to try it to know the difference.  As what they always say “laughter is the best medicine”.  In summing up, it is good for your health and well-being, therefore I encourage you to do laughter yoga.

Advantages and disadvantages of laughter – By Paola Penagos

Laughter is not only the action of laugh but a benefit for our health, for many reasons laughter does not have many disadvantages.

It is really hard to count the benefits of laughter as there are lots. It can help at any age, especially kids for their development and social interaction. Laughter can be used as an ice-breaker for people who struggle with their shy personality.

People say that laughter is excellent not only to improve the mood, feel younger but give positive energy to our body/spirit and it is easy to contaminate other people. Laughter has health benefits like improve blood pressure, breathing even heart problems. Laughter is free and can be done indoors or outdoors, it is also independent.

In the end laughter makes a big difference in our lives, and we can enjoy no matter what time or situation. Therefore people should not forget that all happiness depends on us, just let it fly and laugh.

Thank You.

Thank you once again for inviting me to speak, laugh and share about laughter in my life, which was a very useful experience to again share my story and the benefits of laughter in our lives. I appreciate the fact that laughter helps me personally to express myself and to go out and meet wonderful people through such a simple thing as being able to laugh. I would love to add at this point that I love to write and spent so many years learning to speak and then write in the English language, which is rich and full of meaning. My mother was a great influence and encouraged good grammar and my husband John is equally fascinated with words and prides himself on being a good speller.

Adaptability

I believe that for people born and bred in a country, they take many things for granted and in particular the basic things, how to get around from one place to another and the simplest of things, communication. I take my hat off to all the people in the world who have shifted from their place of birth, either by choice or through force or pressure, needing to learn a new language and of course, the customs of that country and city.

I am choosing to finish up with a wish and a prayer for all of us reading these words to breathe and take a moment to inwardly express gratitude for words and the ability to speak them or simply ponder for a moment what it means to us. Many people cannot express themselves through words either through misfortune or some physical or psychological reason and it is because of this it is time to appreciate something we have maybe never contemplated before.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to everybody, yourself the reader, Myrella the English teacher, Paola and Shirley who wrote the summaries, participants in the class, my mother for giving me the love of words, my husband John for helping me to continue this on and for our grandson Kenji, whom we share much of our love of the English language, with all it entails and to Melbourne and Australia for giving us so many sayings indigenous to the area that visitors start to muster. Such as ‘Come on Aussie, Come on’ and ‘She’ll be right mate’. There truly is so much fun stuff that can help bring more joy to one’s life by becoming involved in written words.

It would be fit and appropriate to express my thanks, appreciation and honour to all the great teachers in the world who dedicate themselves to the teaching profession. It is quite amazing how things flow on and everything is so inter-connected. Writing this makes me realise that most of us are teachers in our own way, in life, with our children, family, work and community. Please give yourself a pat on the back now and acknowledge yourself with a positive remark. Did you know that your body accepts the acknowledgement as written in stone, as the subconscious mind cannot differentiate whether it is you or another person?

Love, Laughter Hugs and Blessings

Lynette Mitchell xx oo

Feel the Fear and Stretch Yourself

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I love to stretch myself and move beyond fear and have two awesome mentors who assist me to do that. In order to grow, we all could benefit and move to far greater heights with a mentor or role model and I honour Caren Hendrie, my business mentor who suggested I begin with the following paragraph, instead of finishing with it, as you are the ones who will find that approach more interesting. Thanks Caz!

Yay! It’s great to feel the fear, get comfortable with change, learn and practice new things. Learn some more. Make time for family and friends. Love oneself. There is so much that we can do in our bodies both for ourselves and to help and inspire other people.

I am over saving people. How many people and I feel, in particular women, like to save people, to put themselves down, others first, want to help and in fact often when we do that, we are actually being arrogant and we disempower those people whom we are trying so hard to help. Teach a man how to fish, that is what I say. And that is from a recovering control freak.

I love the Mind Body Spirit Festival. Each year I have the opportunity to share laughter with the Melbourne public and each time it is different. It is held in a big exhibition building lovingly called ‘Jeff’s Shed’ after the Premier of Victoria who was behind it being built. It is a huge building. Here is the link to it: http://www.mbsfestival.com.au/index.htm.

What I love about presenting laughter is it gives me an opportunity to relate with people and practice being myself, being unique and authentic. I started to lead a laughter club seven years ago after doing the leader training with Phillipa Challis, who was the founder of laughter clubs in Victoria. Phillipa is a great ambassador for the laughter movement and has not missed being present at her laughter club in Geelong, which is west of Melbourne, an hour away by car, since she started it, which I believe is about 10 years ago. Phillipa has been a great personal support for me also, encouraging me to keep on in the early days when I felt discouraged. Thank you Pip.

Back to the MBS as it is called. My husband John and I went in together and led the laughter on the main stage on both Friday and Sunday. Frankly it was a bit early at 11.30am and other laughter leaders could not make it in time after leading their own community laughter clubs. I tip my hat to all the community laughter club leaders of Melbourne and beyond, who do the service of bringing laughter into the community with such open and loving hearts.

On Friday a most unfortunate thing happened, we were 20 minutes late, due to train delays. Apparently a train before us had run off the track and we were shuffled off on to buses in between stations. Nevertheless, it was an excellent laughter session, we were given extra time and although it was only a 15 minute session, people in the audience all joined in and we had lots of fun doing it too. John’s favourites which he usually leads are the Archer and the Milkshake laugh. He is gorgeous as you can see in the photos, laughter has been good to him also and I have found that people involved in laughter yoga are more connected with their hearts and certainly do, as I heard the good doctor say on TV, ‘carry the spirit of laughter with them’.

Sunday we drove the car in and I was a little nervous after being held up on the Friday, in case something happened on the road, as sometimes happens. Well, I need not have worried, we were early and off we went at the appropriate time again.

I decided to read out the blurb that the wonderful Sebastien Gendry has shared about laughter, which we use on the Laughter Clubs Victoria Inc website and with a couple of slight changes, I use on my Ferntree Gully Laughter Club flyer as follows: ‘Laughter Yoga is a powerful healing modality that is simple, fun and filled with laughter that works simultaneously on the body, mind and spirit. No particular equipment is required. All can practice and benefit. It’s a form of exercise where we choose to laugh, because we can and this is done without jokes or comedy. The benefits of laughter are scientifically documented. It’s a practice that follows a systematic activity approach that guarantees fun and success to all, every time.’

I have not read something out like that before and felt inspired to do so, which may give the audience a different take on it rather than watching and joining in alone. After inviting people to come up on stage, we were pleasantly surprised that six people came up, three young boys, a couple of teenage girls and a lady. I was personally quite thrilled how most of the audience, which was only about twenty strong, joined in with the exercises. Some stood up, moving around and at times I caught the eyes and attention of people walking past and they also responded. A little trick that I find works too is that if we have the intention of being connected, we are. In fact, our energy is connected, as our hearts link. That is a very nice experience. Some people were sitting alone and I got their attention and did for instance, a High 5 in the air towards them, as they did back to me. All we needed was eye contact and a little loving smile.

I love too that practicing laughter more over the years makes me quite un-self conscious. That has been a big one and I am not completely there yet, originally I was afraid of public speaking and felt motivated to – as Susan Jeffers says ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’. I am always preaching to people about how much we are benefited by getting out of our comfort zone and stretching ourselves. Otherwise, how can we grow? We stagnate, stay the same or perhaps even, if we are standing still, go backwards. I trust that you have enjoyed the sharing and will choose to do something different today, tomorrow, this week. Believe in yourself and that it is worth the effort, as it is said, ‘there is no gain without pain’.

That is enough from me.

Lots of love, blessings and laughter hugs.

Lynette Mitchell xxx ooo

Husband John sharing a laugh with the people of Melbourne.
Me doing the Archer laugh.
Me doing the Archer laugh.

Seniors Week – City of Greater Dandenong 9 October 2012

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Last week for the third annual time I did a Laughter Yoga session for Seniors Week for the City of Greater Dandenong. It was a very successful one, however not what we might have expected. The two previous years we had about twenty people attend and it went down very well, they obviously felt uplifted and enjoyed the laughter session, ending with some meditation.

However this time was different, as their bookings were low. In fact only three people turned up. Perhaps some got lost, as it was difficult to find the place and correct building. But wait there is more! I did say it was successful. We asked the Dutch people in the next room if they would like to join in and we went in to their space and did the session. It was a bit different to the other times, as we included a great discussion about laughter, fun and that led into a discussion of stress and ways to reduce it with breathing and meditation.

Even though it was not what had been anticipated, the hour was valuable for us all. A couple of noteworthy sharings to make here, were that a 92 year old (or should I say young?) lady shared how she spent half an hour each morning in the bathroom doing her exercises. Talk about walking the talk, keeping up and never giving up.

And a gentleman shared how he is inclined to feel anxiety and he chooses to laugh every day as an exercise. If he misses doing it regularly, he goes right back to being filled with apprehension and anxiety. So glad he came along. It was worth it, even with smaller numbers. I hope they put it on again next year because to even touch one person’s life positively is a great worth.

I  invite you to share your positive experiences from your everyday life regarding laughter helping you, or perhaps like the 92year old lady, a regular routine that enables you to get more out of life. Thank you. xx

Here is a link received today from Natural Therapy Pages regarding the psychology of laughter.

http://blog.naturaltherapyforall.com/2012/10/15/the-psychology-of-laughter—why-do-people-laugh/