laughter

Limitless Loquacious Laughter – It’s Springtime and Hopefully All’s Well with you.

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Laughter Clubs using Facebook Live

Hello Folks. I hope you are managing well and aware of the silver lining in the clouds. At the same time, I send my love and empathise with you for the difficult times and even losses you may have endured, especially of late. Many things can be a shock to our system, especially when we do not see them coming. My recommendation is to feel as you feel and do not supress feelings or let any should or ought govern you. This I share from personal experience and a recent event, finding that grief can be felt as a physical pain in the body. All we can do is our best and work through it to the best of our ability and maintain hope, releasing self-judgment and continue, richer for our experiences, no matter what they may be.

On to the good news, sharing how the Ferntree Gully Laughter Club is thriving with people who have managed to master using Zoom. The restrictions and lockdown have opened new vistas, as people who know about the value of laughter yoga around the world join us for a session. Despite the Zoom time lag, it is a blessing to continue to come together in a positive minded group and the bonus of being able to connect in real time.

Where do you get your laughter from? Or perhaps you became serious over the years without realising it? Other than laughing in a facilitated laughter session, people generally find it easiest to laugh when choosing to watch online a funny video, comedy show or movie.  My Lynette Mitchell YouTube Channel has laughter club videos, as does laughter leaders. Here is the link to it, click here.

Are you aware of your laughter quotient? I am writing to jog your awareness, if you need it to be jogged, that is, and if you aren’t satisfied with it, maybe feeling the pressures a bit, you can fix it. There are families who habitually laugh and crack jokes and there are families who are less flamboyant, serious and everything in between. We tend to take on habits from our families.

After John became involved in the laughter club, our days became filled with light heartedness. Our living together contains simple childlike humour, which is a playful way to live together. I directly attribute this to our joint involvement leading laughter clubs. It is a choice too, for us and you as well. We are of more advanced ages and at times may physically not feel up to it, but once we get going and do the session, we feel uplifted, recharged, and invigorated. It was not always that way and if you resonate with this, feeling you would like to laugh more, you can! It may be as simple as a decision to change your habits which includes some daily or at least, regular laughter.

At the risk of being repetitive, here is a frequent message, that laughter is particularly good for you on many levels. It holds many physical benefits, it is good for tuning up your emotional body, while your mental body becomes acuter. Relationships are enhanced and you will feel more connected within to your spirit and the spirit of all that is, whatever you may call that. It helps to open you up to life, new opportunities, greater creativity, and inspiration. There is always a silver lining in the cloud and though things have been tough this year, there has been a chance to re-evaluate our thinking and to grow in unforeseen ways. Let us not lose what we may have benefited from being forced to slow down, take stock, spend time with family and cease the outer distractions and busyness that like for most of us becomes.

Take heart and come, join us in laughter, please do, and feel free to contact me for a chat and suggestions how to add laughter to your life. You will be glad that you did add more laughter to your present situation. I am here, available. Phone 0425 799 258 or email me.

I feel it is so important to love our body, which works harder when we do not value and nurture it. When we take care of our body with regular exercise, a good diet, which includes a good diet for the physical body, also our mind and spirit, we can thrive and grow, as we are akin to nature. I love Desiderata, especially the passage, “You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars”.

If you have read my blog to here, thanks and full credit to you! Until next time, laughter and love wishes to you and yours. Do contact me to find out more about or join the free Zoom sessions. That is the Community Laughter Club and the Self Mastery class.

I look forward to hearing from some people and hope you are doing as well as possible, despite all the COVID-19 restrictions, which have been dragging on and now, some signs of relief are finally in sight. If you would like to receive my email newsletter, you can either sign up on my web page or request me to do it for you. Cheerio for now and remember to never, ever give up!

Lots of Love and Laughter, Lynette Mitchell.

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.

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

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/

Belonging, Community Spirit & Australia Day in Melbourne 2012

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Laughter yoga blog

Australia Day – Woo Woo – Thursday 26th January

Who lives near Melbourne or in Victoria? Then you will know about heaps of activities that go on in and around the city on Australia Day.

Please spread the word, I felt to share this on my blog because some readers may live overseas, yet have friends in Melbourne. In which case, the more the merrier to join us at 10am near the corner on Bourke and Swanston Streets.

We are group number 58 and you won’t be able to miss our purple and yellow Laughter Clubs Vic t shirts. If you have one please wear it and if not we may have one you can borrow. The march starts with the raising of the flag at 10.30am and lasts about 30 minutes but we need to be there for marshalling at 10am. After the march we will be meeting for community laughter sessions in the park at the Melbourne People’s Day Festival.

After the March at 2.10 pm Laughter Clubs Victoria Inc will be leading a laughter session and there is more information on the Australia Day 2012 page at Laughter Clubs Victoria’s website. It is on the grassed area and note, not on the main stage.

If you would like more information about what’s on in Melbourne. Then Google What’s On In Melbourne! I just did and saw that The Roulettes will be flying overhead at 2pm. The Roulettes are from the Royal Australian Air Force and they will be putting on quite a display. And there are fireworks at night, at midday at The Shrine, an Australia Day 21 Gun Salute, movie marathon at ACMA showing our nation’s rich heritag, Government House is open, even a 5km swim at Middle Brighton Pier, plus you could start the day with breakfast. Everything is covered on this very special day, between breakfast, lunch and right up to the fireworks.

It is wonderful to be part of a nation and community. I recall when I went to see my beautiful daughter Georgina in Vancouver a few years back, we were driving through the mountains to Calgary and happened on a small community which was having its celebrations. There was a march and one person jumped out at me, he was posing for my photo and was a really small, finely built elderly gentleman who loved to dress up as a clown and share fun, love and laughter with his small community.

Isn’t that what life is about? We all make so many contributions, albeit unconsciously to come together and share ourselves with others, sharing the joys, the sorrows, the ups and the downs. Where would we be without family and friends and I believe that all of us, or truthfully, the majority at least, have that sense of belonging.

That belonging can be to ourselves, to immediate family, larger family group, our work and it extends out and out until in reality, we are all connected upon earth. I love that there is so much awareness happening these days with the animal kingdom, the environment and with many overlapping areas, people are growing and evolving, becoming interested and desiring to make a difference as they can.

Regardless of feeling of hopelessness and what is the point of it all that is shoved down our throats and programmed through the predominantly negative media, there is hope, there is a purpose to it all and it starts with one thought, word and deed. It is never too late to start a new beginning. Each day is a new day and with it comes a new start. What was that saying about changing the things that you can and accepting what you cannot. We can change our attitude and how we react to things. We can make a difference in our lives and help uplift the planet, holding in our mind’s eye the ideal, rather than heaping more judgment on what we see and hear. To hold in our heart the ideal of what can be and say ‘Mother Father God, they will not my will be done’  helps us to work with the universe into programming love not fear.

I did not know this was going to happen, felt to write about Australia Day and obviously it touched something in me wanting to be expressed. It is wonderful to be part of something, Laughter Yoga, that sense of believing in a movement that is positive. cherished and world wide. As I said, it is great to belong on many levels and with all that develops a deeper purpose which can help to fill the void and connect us with our heart and soul.

Thanks for listening. Love and Laughter Blessings to You and Yours. xxx

Laughter Yoga in a Melbourne Girls’ Grammar School

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My husband and I had more fun last week when we presented a Laughter Yoga session at a private girls’ grammar school in Melbourne, than we could have possibly imagined. The Laughter Yoga session was held in a huge basketball auditorium and was very noisy, as the laughter sounds pealed out loudly, like lovely church bells happily being played by joyful year 12 girls.

There were 45 girls present and two teachers and I was invited to facilitate a laughter yoga session as part of an initiative by the students, an activity organised by their fun club. The girls have been attending school for many years and will be finishing their secondary education and then heading to university in 2012.

What a perfect way to complete their fun activities with a laughter yoga session. The girls were very, very loud and if it were not for the Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha clapping, would have gone on and on with each laugh, as they threw themselves into the activity.

It was a joy to be there and partake in their youthful exuberance. So often as adults we lose that and simply do not have the energy to spare to act like that!

This reminds me of how we can get away from our spirit nature and get bogged down with duty. We can learn to please people to fit into life and forget to please ourselves. To please ourself surely must come first, to please ourselves in a gentle, loving ethical way where we are connected at our core with our wholeness, our essence.

Here is a favourite quote of mine: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain.

This one is a gem also, a Raymond Hull quote on the cost of not being yourself: “He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.” ~ Raymond Hull.

If you feel to, take some moments to sit quietly and reflect upon where you are in your life right now. Is it where you want and choose to be? Could it be that you need to lighten up a bit and this could be done, right here, right now, using laughter and breathing.

So I urge you to sit and reflect, perhaps to write and connect through pen and paper and then do deep breathing for a few minutes and let go with some hearty laughter. See then how you feel and check if this could be a useful exercise to do on a regular basis, throughout the day, laughing all the while consciously, with great awareness.

Blessing to you.

Knox Community Health Service

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The Knox Community Health Service was established in 1996 to provide a high quality of community care & health education programs to Knox consumers. Knox Community Health Service delivers a range of services that improve the physical, mental and social well-being of individuals, families and communities in the City of Knox.

I had the pleasure of facilitating a laughter yoga session this week for the volunteers, preceding their special lunch and joined them for lunch also. The KCHS as it is generally known relies quite heavily on volunteers and from what I could see spending time with these people, a wonderful way to be of service in the community.

I understand that there are a few positions available for those wanting to get involved, either in a small way or a larger time investment.

The laughter yoga session was a lot of fun and it did my heart good to share laughter with these lovely, giving people, many of whom have been volunteers for decades. The favourite laugh of the day was the Kookaburra laugh, followed by the High Five laugh.

Thank you KCHS for inviting me to be part of your community again, as last time it was for the ACE (active chair based exercise) class. That had quite a different flavour and was for a fairly short time as time was behind. I look forward to returning at some stage to introduce the laughter yoga exercises and breathing to the staff.

Day of Joy and Discovery Workshop on 30 October

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Carmen, Diana, Kay and myself facilitated our workshop day on Saturday, which went really well. This was our third one this year, the next one will be in February or March. Some participants shared:

  • “I liked the beautiful safe container provided by the lovely ladies.”
  • “I liked feeling accepted by the group, having relaxing activities. The meditations were relaxing.”
  • ‘I liked everything about the day.”

The activities included a lovely ray meditation by Kay and several other meditations, some being short ones before the next activity. Diana’s presentation was around our hands, as we use them on a daily basis and can take them for granted. We did some artwork around them which was so interesting, as each of the participants artwork during the day was so radically different from each other person.

Carmen introduced us to some very sound techniques around how to and the importance of grounding, aligning and centering our bodies, using the Energetic Hygiene process.  If you would like to receive this process, email me for your free copy.

What I did was a mandala hour which was an introduction to mandalas. Please ask me for articles on the fundamentals of the mandala if you want to get started on them in your life.  Later on I led a short laughter yoga session. Here are some photos, the first one is when we were drawing mandalas. The next one during the laughter session, which was stacks of fun. Laughter really uplifts and connects us and ourselves on many levels.