Teresa's Laugh

Smile Awhile

2012-02-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

"Smile awhile for when you smile another smiles and soon there’s miles and miles of smiles because you smiled."

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Ravi Shankar Quote

2012-01-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

To date, this is the best quote I have found about laughter. I begin all my programs with it:

"Laughter comes from the center of our being,

from the core of our heart.

Our belly is so full of laughter

that the laughter permeates every cell in our body.

True laughter is true prayer.

When you laugh, the whole of nature laughs with you.

It echoes and resounds and makes life worthwhile.

When things go all right, everybody can laugh.

But when things fall apart and yet you laugh,

This is evolution and growth.

Nothing in your life is more worthy than your laughter."

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Photo: Wikimedia

Laughter Yoga Feedback

2012-01-21T19:36:00.000-08:00

Some of my new laughter club members left some great feedback on Laughter Yoga recently:

“What an astounding experience! Our room full of strangers was expertly guided through an extensive laughter workout. Everyone's unique laughter personality emerged in this safe, encouraging hour and there were no more strangers at the end!”

“Great experience. The leader is very friendly and welcoming. It was great 'exercise' and the happiness lasted well into the next day. I plan on taking the lesson into my everyday life.”

“I loved the class and the entire laughing experience! I did 2 minutes of laughing this morning and it felt great!”

“Like a barrel full of monkeys”

Thanks everyone!!!

Comedians for President

2012-01-16T06:24:00.000-08:00

I’ll admit it – I’ve been around long enough to remember Pat Paulsen’s ’68 run for President. Though I wasn’t old enough to understand the issues, I was old enough to find Paulsen hysterically funny.

As it often is for me, it was his body language that did it. His total dry delivery. He did it better than anyone. It didn’t matter what he said, he had me in stitches. From The Smothers Brothers Show, he is an indelible image from my childhood. As well as my first remembrance of anyone running for President. He would have won my vote hands down had they given children the right to vote.

His infamous campaign slogan: “I’ve upped my standards, now up yours.”

On immigration: “All the problems we face in the US today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian.”

“If either the left wing or the right wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.”

Now it’s Stephen Colbert. He hands his Super PAC over to Jon Stewart in a funny little skit and heads to South Carolina to test the ground. I doubt Colbert will ever come close to being what Paulsen was for me in the 60’s, but I applaud him for trying.

I love when comedians run for President because if any arena needs humor, it’s the political one. As I’ve said many times, humor = truth, or else it wouldn’t be funny. And we all need to hear more truth.

Photo: Pat Paulsen/Wikimedia

Never Get Old

2012-01-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

“You don’t stop laughing when you get old. You get old when you stop laughing.”

Photo: Dr. Kataria and a laughing friend/Laughter Yoga International

Tita's Powerful Story

2012-01-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

My friend and fellow Certified Laughter Leader Tita Begashaw shares her powerful story on KPLU’s radio show The State We’re In. Check it out. Tita is from Ethiopia and is an inspiration to many of us.

Also know that there is more to Laughter Yoga than “just laughing”. This interview is a bit deceiving. We warm up those laughter muscles first with stretching, yoga-type breathing and chanting.

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/laughter-therapy-helps-healing-process

Joy

2012-01-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

Happiness is fleeting. Joy is forever.

Joy is deep inside us. It’s who we are and it’s what we touch when we laugh. It’s unconditional. It’s always there no matter what. For all it takes is a laugh to find it.

Happiness is conditional. When things are going well, we’re happy. Finances are in order. We have someone to love. We like our job. etc. etc. etc. But the moment things go awry, happiness flies out the window, and unhappiness settles in for awhile. Till things go well again. Till something else goes awry……….

Joy is not so fickle. It’s always available. The trick is to find it. Laughter is the best trick.

Alan Cohen said “Find your Source. Live from it.”

Laughter as Prayer

2011-12-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

“What is the best way to worship?”

A spiritual teacher was recently asked this question and his answer was “any way that connects you to your higher self”.

Spending time in nature, singing, chanting with others, meditating and laughing were the things that first came to my mind. Nature first. Laughter 2^nd.

I’ve often thought of my laughter club as a church and my role as laughter leader like that of a minister. For laughter connects us to our best self – most beautiful, forgiving, loving, open. Laughter reaches down to our core and pulls us up out of any muck we might be floundering in. It magnifies our essence.

Some say “Start your day with God and end your day with God”. Whatever that means to you, I think it’s good advice. Connect to your higher self first and last thing each day. For me, that ritual includes my morning laughter routine. It activates my joy and makes me a better person.

Anne Lamott said “Laughter is carbonated holiness.”

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Solstice

2011-12-21T12:09:00.000-08:00

We enter the darkest time of year. The Winter Solstice. After that it gets lighter three minutes each day!

Whatever this season means to you, I wish you more laughter, the kind of laughter that brings in the Light – to yourself, to your life, and to the world.

You can see it in the eyes of someone who laughs often. The Light of the Soul. It enters through the eyes.

May your life be filled with the light of joy and laughter - this season and always!

Photo: Stock.xchnge

All Writing needs Humor

2011-12-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

Humor is a cornerstone of good writing. Even in stories that are neither light nor humorous.

Humor is an integral part of life. At least it should be. It’s better when it is.

Good writing needs humor. Just like good speeches. A sprinkling of humor, and the subsequent laughter, represent the stuff of life. We can’t do without it.

I’m reading a Barbara Kingsolver book. One of her older ones called Pigs in Heaven. And I’ve been surprised at how often I laugh out loud.

She gives her main character a very funny boyfriend, a built-in venue for humor. But he’s not only funny, he’s astute. His humor speaks volumes about life.

“School is out for Easter break. They thought they’d go have a religious experience with sedimentary rock.” (The Grand Canyon)

The protagonist and her mother are both very witty. Alice, the mother, says of her husband, “His idea of marriage is to spray WD-40 on anything that squeaks.”

Taylor, the protagonist, says of Seattle, “This isn’t a city. It’s a carwash.”

Kingsolver’s humor is making this read very enjoyable. Like life ought to be. Plenty of challenges but plenty of humor and laughter along the way.

Osho

2011-12-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

“When you have a heartfelt belly laugh, all parts of your being – the physiological, the psychological, the spiritual – they all vibrate in one single tune. They all vibrate in harmony.”

Osho Rajneesh

Photo: Stock.xchnge

St. Teresa of Avila

2011-12-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

What do St. Teresa of Avila and D.H. Lawrence have in common? A lack of respect for over-seriousness.

“From our sour-faced saints, good Lord deliver us.” St. Teresa

“So long as there’s a bit of laughter going, things are all right. As soon as this infernal seriousness begins, everything is lost.” D.H. Lawrence

Photo: St. Teresa of Avila by Francois Gerard/Wikimedia

Sensitive

2011-12-01T08:45:00.000-08:00

Comedians are generally very sensitive people. To pick up the nuances of life astutely enough to formulate a joke, usually at lightning speed, and which always has to cut to the core of a truth to be funny, they have to be sensitive. And they have to feel enough of the pain of life to need to make a joke in the first place. Charlie Chaplin said, “To truly laugh you must take your pain and play with it.”

Case in Point: Harpo Marx. Definitely the sensitive one. My favorite Marx Brother.

Harpo would dramatically shift from goofy clown to sensitive musician in a flash – and just as suddenly alternate back to clown the moment his hand left his harp. Harpo never spoke but they say he had a rich resonant voice. Never underestimate the power of the sensitive one.

Just like Steven Colbert on The Colbert Report spontaneously breaking into an acapello Banana Boat song with Harry Belafonte. Nothing short of sweet.

Down and out with a sprained ankle, I needed some laughs recently and dragged out my copy of Night at the Opera. My favorite Marx Brothers movie. Totally goofy, corny and just hilarious! The one and only Margaret Dumont, the overcrowded train compartment, the on-stage antics during Il Trovatore, the expessions on Harpo’s face and on and on...

Photo: Harpo Marx/Wikimedia

Laughter Flows with People you Like

2011-11-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

I adore my reflexologist.

A gentle and highly effective practitioner from Japan, who speaks in delightful broken English, this woman is a joy to be with. She’s a unique combination of very sweet and highly skilled. Just my kind of person. We completely hit it off.

Therefore we spend our entire session laughing. Or at least the beginning and the end, with a silent intensive healing treatment in the middle.

I can’t tell you what we ever laugh about, only that the sound of it echoes throughout the salon. We emerge from our session like we’ve just attended a comedy club. Renewed. Refreshed. Exhilarated.

In the normal course of life people rarely laugh in response to a joke, and often not in response to any kind of intended humor. But rather most people laugh just being with people they like and having a good time.

Laughter is a social activity. It’s about people being together. Most of the time it doesn’t really matter what anyone is saying, just that people are with those they enjoy. That in itself stimulates laughter.

Surround yourself with people you like and the laughter flows freely.

Photo: Yukari and Me

A Smile is a Curve...

2011-11-16T19:17:00.000-08:00

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.”

Phyllis Diller

Indeed it does. When you’re feeling down, if you manage a smile, a ray of hope is so evident, as a flicker of light returns to the eyes, and one day so does the laughter.

Phyllis Diller, though she was not my style of humor, was a pioneer comedian in a world dominated by males. She held her own – so often with self-depreciation, but nevertheless....

At 94, she proves that “those who laugh, last”.

Photo: Wikimedia

Nervous Laughter

2011-11-10T07:45:00.000-08:00

Someone recently told me that he always started laughing when he was in an argument with his wife, which unfortunately only made her more angry. I explained to him that this was nervous laughter and was an intelligent thing to do. It was his body’s innate wisdom getting him to relax by laughing. Hopefully by relaxing he could then deal with the issues at hand more effectively. I used to do the same when my partner confronted me. It felt a bit bizarre, but it was often my first spontaneous reaction.

There used to be someone in my life that I got very nervous around and I found myself making constant jokes around him. Again it felt a bit bizarre to instantly turn into an incessant comedian, but I realized I did it unconsciously to relax myself.

My dentist’s assistant is a great laugher. I told him it’s a very helpful way for me to relax in the dreaded dentist chair. All dental assistants should laugh.

Laughter is the body’s instinctive response to stress. The higher the stress, the more the need for laughter. It’s why comedians often have challenging life histories, especially when they were children. Hence they develop the skill to laugh and make us laugh along with them.

If someone is laughing in an odd situation, know that they are only trying to relax themselves, by breathing deeper, relaxing muscles, relaxing spirits, in an effort to function better in the current situation.

When in doubt, laugh.

Photo: stock.xchnge

Niebuhr Quote

2011-11-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

“Humor is a prelude to Faith; Laughter is the beginning of Prayer.”

Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr

Photo: stock.xchnge

Anti-Freeze

2011-10-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

I maintain my gaze for a prolonged time in complete disbelief that someone who lives within 12 feet of my apartment door would be so unwilling to even say hello. After one year I did succeed in getting my next door neighbor to exude the briefest of hellos. But no smile. Never a smile.

In church, a very liberal church I sometimes frequent, it can be equally as hard to make eye contact. For to speak to someone first you’ve got to make eye contact.

Walking down the street, I long ago accepted the fact that everyone looks down, or away, or at their smart phone.

There’s a name for it now: The Seattle Freeze. There are articles written about it. It’s helped. I’m not alone in finding this behavior very odd. The Seattle Anti-Freeze Meet-Up has over 1000 members.

Community is intrinsic to my nature. It’s the first thing I set about to create wherever I go. For me community is part of being human. Apparently not so for everyone.

It makes sense that I am in the business of laughter yoga. In laughter we connect.

It makes no difference if we’ve only seen each other for the first time mere moments ago or if we’ve known each other for years. We connect on a deep level. On an ecstatic level. Joy is the name of our game.

I’d like to drag all my apartment neighbors there and see how they fare. In fact, they would probably do okay. I’ve been doing this for 10 years now and the truth is that once I begin a laughter session, demonstrating each laughter exercise with my own abundant laugh, most everyone is off and running. And we’ve got a laughter session going.

I learned very early on that almost anyone will laugh. Not everyone, but almost everyone. It’s the joy that seduces them, the mirror neurons in their brains that can’t resist, and the group energy that carries them along. And perhaps experiencing the very human act of connecting with other humans.

I propose Laughter Yoga as the healing antidote to the dreaded Seattle Freeze.

Photo: Laughter Yoga International

Quote

2011-10-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

“Laughter is like a whole bunch of bubbles that tickle you from inside.”

Three-year old child

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Laughter sets you Free

2011-10-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to be free.”

Sometimes I feel like the Statue of Liberty. As a Laughter Yoga Leader, I say a prayer before every laughter session and sometimes it sounds just like that. “Let them come. Whoever needs to be here, whoever needs more laughter in their life right now.”

And I have had all kinds of people come.

A laughter club member once told me he laughs to relieve sadness. It’s true. And I’ve seen it with those who’ve been through the worst in life. They can laugh the best. They need the healing. Instinctively they know that laughter can bring them back.

I recall one young woman who came with her mother. If I had to give her a label, it might be autistic. But I hate labels because we are all so much more than that.

This woman paced the empty corners of the room before we began. She never made eye contact with me or anyone else. She never spoke and seemed very uncomfortable in general. Yet she appeared to be there of her own choice.

And laugh she did. Not overly boisterous by any means, but she laughed. It seemed like an unused muscle. I noticed some people looking at her making mental note of her uniqueness.

But when we did The Wave Laugh (we pass a laugh around a circle like “the wave”), she emerged out of her shell. She got more and more playful, spontaneous and adventurous. Far more than the rest of us. I loved it!

I love when the laughter club can include everyone. The diversity of humanity all bonding together.

Photo: Wikimedia

iSteve

2011-10-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Though I am not a techie, I love all things MAC and I have a great respect for the genius that was Steve Jobs. Like many, I am saddened by his passing.

In tribute here are some bits of his humor:

He founded his company on April 1^st.

He called himself the iCEO.

He crooned: “ITunes on Windows is like giving a glass of icewater to someone in hell.”

As a blanket response to any media inquiry about his health, he simply offered his blood pressure reading 110/70.

Also concerning his health, he quoted Twain “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

A flurry of comedy has surfaced since Jobs passing. The cover of the New Yorker has him getting checked in at the pearly gates with an iPad…….... Keep us laughing.

Thank you Steve Jobs for all you gave us.

Photo: Wikimedia

Quote

2011-10-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

“The head thinks, the hands labor, but it’s the heart that laughs.”

Liz Curtis Higgs

Photo: Laughter Yoga International

Laughter reduces Pain

2011-10-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

Laughter reduces pain. I lecture about it all the time. Then one day it happened to me.

I was doubled over in pain. Accidentally I ate something I was allergic to. In response, my intestines twisted and cramped to a high level of pain. All I could do was go to bed and wait it out for the next 12 – 24 hours.

As I lay there comatose, my roommate appeared in the doorway, spouting off something in a dry comedic wit that sent me into a spin of laughter. I laid on the bed laughing and laughing only to realize that, in the process, my pain completely disappeared. “Well, there it is, what I always tell people.”

Unfortunately the pain immediately returned as soon as I stopped laughing. Yet I know that the longer you laugh, the more relief you get.

Norman Cousins, author of Anatomy of an Illness, found that ten minutes of solid laughter yielded him two hours free of pain. He had been suffering under the debilitating disease, anklosing spondilitis, which left his entire body racked in pain.

When we laugh the brain triggers the release of endorphins. Those happy hormones also act like morphine on the body. They’re powerful pain killers.

I’ve received numerous testimonials of this nature from participants in my ongoing laughter programs, yet this was the first time I experienced it myself. Someone suffering from Scleroderma once told me she liked to come to the laughter club when she was in pain because she could get relief from it with all the laughing.

Laughter heals in so many ways.

Photo: Wikimedia/Norman Cousins

Victor Borge

2011-09-26T18:48:00.001-07:00

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”

Victor Borge

Victor Borge was a piano virtuoso, who had in fact been a child prodigy, but he used his incredible talent for comedy.

His piano routines were priceless. Priceless and so benign compared with the comedy of today.

Victor Borge was before my time, but what I know of him, I adore.

He built a career creating comedy, poking fun at the seriousness and pomposity of classical music.

One of his pieces of creative genius was to play a strange sounding piece of music, look totally confused, nonverbally express “aha”, turn it right side up and play it correctly. But in fact he had initially been playing it upside down.

He would routinely mock-scold the audience for all kinds of reasons.

And he had a female operatic sidekick that he ridiculed to no end, eventually ending their routine with a beautiful duet.

Danish born, he was known as the Clown Prince of Denmark.

Photo: Wikimedia/Victor Borge

Evil Laughter

2011-09-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

Evil Laughter. It’s a perversion of the real thing.

I attended a recent production of Porgy and Bess and was struck by how often I heard evil laughter. Over and over again, someone laughing at someone else’s pain. Even the honorable Porgy laughed when he killed a man, amazed at his own success eliminating a piece of evil in the world. Though perhaps that was a bit of nervous laughter.

Sportin’ Life, the pimp and lowest of the low, laughed the most. Crown too, the 2^nd most evil character in this community of African Americans in the South in the early 1900’s. They did it every time they succeeded in overpowering another.

It was fitting that the pimp, the one with a twisted association with sex, would also have a twisted association with joy and laughter.

Laughter can swing both ways. When someone is lost, their laughter and subsequently their joy, comes from hurting another. Beware when you hear it for this is a very disconnected human being.

Dark humor is just another form of evil laughter. We see it in comedy all the time. But that doesn’t make it any less alarming.

Laughter is an expression of love. If you are laughing at something dark, you’ve gotten it twisted.

Sometimes it might come out when there’s pent-up rage. Evil laughter is a passive aggressive way to express anger. “It’s just a joke.” Hidden cruelty.

The ridicule usually comes from unresolved pain. No doubt from someone having been ridiculed in their past. How can he pass it on to you? He can try to do it with evil, misplaced laughter.

Laughter belongs in a place of wholeness for it is a connection to our deepest selves.

Evil laughter is a pitiful expression of a lost human being.

In entertainment, it’s always the villain who laughs the evil laugh.

Photo: Wikimedia: Porgy & Bess

Laughing Through Divorce

2011-09-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

My relationship of many years ended recently. It’s been very hard. Lots of crying, not nearly enough laughing.

I tried joining a divorce support group. Big mistake. Though the support was wonderful, the pain in listening to other people’s pain was overwhelming. So much focus on the one they lost. No room for even a few chuckles, though I tried to bring them in.

I once had a group of widows coming to the laughter club. They drove down from Marysville to Seattle, initially telling me, “We’ve done enough crying, we’re ready to laugh.” I thought it was beautiful.

Though it hasn’t been that long for me, I feel the same. I’m sure no one in any of my laughter programs would know how much pain my heart is in, for they are right, when I lead a laughter yoga session, it’s all joy and there is no pain. “You can’t hold a negative thought in your head and laugh at the same time.” And when it’s over and the sadness returns, I’m fortified with all that laughter.

Laughter heals. Slowly. It always does.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Fred Allen

2011-09-08T21:23:00.001-07:00

“It’s bad to suppress your laughter because if you do, it goes down and spreads your hips.”

Fred Allen, early radio and television comedian

Photo: Wikimedia: Fred Allen

Universal Spirituality

2011-09-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

I love laughter because it’s a universal spirituality. It has no beliefs, no dogma, no right and wrong, no ministers, no membership dues, no church….

Yet it uplifts us unlike anything else. In an instant it raises our vibration. It heals us and makes us better people. We don’t even have to have any thoughts attached to it. Nor a theory. It just happens. And we evolve. Without even trying we become better people.

It’s something we can all agree on – atheist and fundamentalist and everyone in between. Everyone loves to laugh. It brings us together on a higher level.

A universal spirituality for sure.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Thich Nhat Hanh

2011-08-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile. But sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Good News

2011-08-19T19:41:00.001-07:00

Ode Magazine reports the good news of the world. Good news is not exactly laughter. Yet to immerse yourself in the positive side of life, enhances the flow of laughter. It’s a laughter inducing way to live.

Though our mainstream media would never let you know, there is an abundance of good happening in our world. In the current issue I have read about a local Seattle woman who grows her own dinners; A compact collapsible solar panel created by a young man who trekked to the Himalayas and found the locals spending half a day gathering firewood in order to cook dinner. Inspired to find a solution he created a solar device that resembles an upside-down open umbrella and generates enough energy for varied uses; Or five wind turbines in a small town in Germany that provide low-cost electricity to the residents; Or the surprising economic growth in Africa; etc. etc. etc.

Recently they birthed Odewire, an iphone/ipad app that reports the good news on a continual basis.

There’s lots of be happy about in the world if we only looked in that direction; if we only knew about it all.

Ode is dedicated to “intelligent optimists”.

Laughter is like...

2011-08-06T16:53:00.001-07:00

“Laughter is like the human body wagging its tail.”

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Mother and Daughter

2011-07-29T18:07:00.001-07:00

A lovely woman named Mary told me she used to laugh every day during her daily phone calls to her mother. Now she laughs in the same way with her daughter – every day as they visit on the phone. How beautiful! To laugh with the person you love on a daily basis. Yet most of us don’t have this built-in laughter. Even if we did, more is better.

In comes Laughter Yoga with its built-in laughter, built into the schedule of however often your local laughter club meets.

A young woman in one of my laughter classes had a challenging time wrapping her brain around the concept of Laughter Yoga – laughing for no reason. “It’s not natural” she told me. “It’s not normal” I heard between the lines. Normal laughter for her is laughing with her friends, with people she’s close to, people she knows well, not total strangers. Who wouldn’t agree that’s the best kind of laughter? Like my friend and her daughter.

Yet because she signed up for this class, she gave it a try and lo and behold she’s been having fun laughing in class. I know she’s been laughing more because I’ve seen it. And my guess is she’s laughing more with those she knows and loves and maybe even a few others too.

Laughter Yoga warms up your laughter muscles, expands your experiences of laughter. It simply gives you more laughter.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Children and Chimps

2011-07-20T18:40:00.000-07:00

Children don’t walk around telling each other jokes in order to laugh. Children play – and laugh.

When chimpanzees roll and tumble together, they make a sound that is considered chimpanzee laughter. They play!

If you need more laughter in your life, be sure you play enough. It’s as important as work. It keeps you in balance and it keeps you laughing.

Photo: stock.xchnge

Laughing and Crying

2011-07-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

When I’m having a really hard time and try to do Laughter Yoga in my home, I immediately crumble into a mass of tears. So if I’m not ready to feel the pain, I just smile and it helps. It’s safe. I save laughing for later.

If you see a person who never laughs, I guarantee it’s also a person who never cries. Laughter is a huge emotion, the emotion of joy magnified. To feel such a thing we need to be open, open to allow our emotions to flow. This is why sometimes when we laugh, we then start to cry. The river of feelings has begun to flow and it can’t be stopped. You’ve got to be open to laugh. You’ve got to be willing to feel all the feelings inside.

It’s one reason why grown-ups stop laughing so much. Children let it all out – sadness, joy, jealousy, anger, pain, whatever. They don’t hold back. As we grow we start to put on a façade, to play a role. Sometimes only with our loved ones do we allow our full feelings to show. Sometimes not even then. How can laughter arise, when we’ve blocked the flow?

There’s a close connection between laughing and crying. If you can’t laugh, you are probably depressed and not feeling anything. Start slow to open up – to all of it. If you can’t feel the sadness, you’ll never be able to feel the joy again either.

Let it flow.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

2011-07-05T19:24:00.001-07:00

“Peace begins with a smile.”

Mother Teresa

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Solstice Fun

2011-06-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

When you hear the crowd roar, they’ve arrived. Coming and going in an endless stream of bicycles, back and forth they strut their stuff – usually covered in paint using their bodies as a canvas for their creative muse. It’s living art. Some hardly seem nude. My favorites were the black and white symbiotic sisters, one with white dots over black, the other with black dots over white. Then the parade follows with all sorts of craziness. The giant octopus made me smile the widest.

Fremont was made for the Solstice Parade

Everyone in Seattle knows the Fremont neighborhood is whacky fun. Its most famous elements are the 18 ft troll that lives under the Aurora bridge, the 16 ft statue of Lenin someone personally imported after the fall of the USSR, the Interurban statue of people dressed up by whoever in whatever, the Brontosaurus and her baby dinosaur sculptured by some bushes down by the canal, or the building I can see from my porch that has a pinwheel on its roof. It’s all whimsical fun.

Then there are the constant stream of happenings – some planned annually, some newly formed, some spontaneously created. Such as the time last December on my walk to the market, I encountered throngs of Santa’s, seeming to be a cross between a pub-crawl and a flash mob. They took over Fremont.

The zombie parade has now had two annual events here.

Every summer we have an outdoor cinema using the blank white wall of one building, flanked by oversized portraits of Bogie and Bergman.

But the madness culminates every June with the Solstice Parade. All of Seattle comes to revel, participate, play, go wild, whatever. The highlight being the mass of nude bicyclists who now number in the hundreds.

I moved here for very different reasons: the large old growth trees that line my street coupled with a spectacular vista of the Olympic Mountains.

But it can’t be denied I’ve had plenty of laughs while living in Fremont, the self-proclaimed Center of the Universe.

The brochure says “It’s a place to let your inner spite out to play”.

The truth is I never know what I’m going to encounter when I head out my door. Keep me laughing Fremont!

Photo: Wikimedia

Friends make you Laugh

2011-06-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

Dr. Robert Provine cites friendship as the number one source of laughter.

In his book, Laughter A Scientific Investigation, he explains that after spending hours and hours observing how and why and when people laugh, he found that laughter most often occurs just being with the people we like and having a good time, i.e. being with our friends.

Several years ago Time Magazine dedicated an entire issue to the subject of Happiness. They also reported friends as the #1 source of happiness.

Keep friendships alive in your life. They’re a major source of laughter.

Photo: My friend Cathy

The Big Man

2011-06-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

I adored Clarence Clemons.

The Big Man with the Big Presence and the Big Smile!

Bruce Springsteen’s longtime saxophone player and treasured friend passed away yesterday. Springsteen called it an “overwhelming loss”.

In a 2003 Associated Press interview Clemons stated “I have no agenda – just to be loved”. How beautiful. I believe he was very loved.

I couldn’t find a copyright free photo with his huge smile, which is crazy because to me that was his signature look. If you peruse his photos online, he’s either smiling huge or he’s got a sax in his mouth.

By those who knew him, Clemons was called “a sweet spirit” and “ an enormous presence”. He was someone whose mere name “brought a smile to our face”.

AP reports today that “Unlike many musicians Springsteen and Clemons were more interested in the heart and substance rather than the glamour of the music”.* I couldn’t agree more.

Blessings on your journey home Big Man Clarence!

*N. Moody

Photo: Wikimedia

Laughing Statues

2011-06-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

Giant laughing men are taking over Vancouver, B.C.

They are huge, cast-bronze statues depicting the artist himself (Chinese artist Yue-Minjun) in various poses of hysterical laughter. Some are doubled over. Some are making silly gestures with hands. Some are interacting to incite laughter. They are truly over the top.

I recently discovered this interactive outdoor art exhibit. I encourage anyone who is going to Vancouver to seek them out. They are in Morton Park in English Bay and the exhibit is called “A-maze-ing Laughter”. They should be there until the summer. (Yikes, that’s almost now!) If you can’t visit them, find them on the Internet. They are truly unique and worth the laugh.

One writer refers to them as “laughing madmen”.

The Magic Flute

2011-06-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

“Enlightenment is useless without a sense of humor.”

So says Phil Kelsey, who plays the magic bells in the orchestra at Seattle Opera’s recent performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute.

It’s a playful magical opera deeply lain with Masonic undertones. It’s an opera about the healing power of music as well as an homage to silliness. Seriousness and playfulness are two themes continually juxtaposed throughout this masterpiece. The initiation rites of one princely prince and his soon-to-be princess are coupled with the antics of one goofy birdman, called Pappageno, who cares only about women, wine and the fun easy things of life.

It is said that in this opera Mozart identified the most with Pappageno.

Pappageno is the silliest character in all of opera. He makes this opera fun and light. He brings silliness and joy and laughter. He wears feathers. He jumps and spins when he’s excited. At times he can hardly contain himself. He shakes wildly with ecstasy when he finally meets his Pappagena. And they go on to procreate little green-haired babies.

Pappageno would be great fun at my laughter club. He’d embrace silliness as the best part of life. He shows what we all might feel from time to time but are too inhibited to act it out.

Photo: Seattle Opera/Rosarii Lynch

Humor vs Laughter

2011-06-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

“What did one earthquake say to the other? It’s not your fault.”

“What’s the difference between a Rottweiler and a Jewish mother? Eventually the Rottweiler lets go.”

One joke is harmless; the other offensive? Possibly. For me, they both made me laugh. But with humor, you’ve got to be careful not to offend. Humor is a tricky game. It’s one reason why we stick only with laughter in Laughter Yoga. It offends no one. It goes straight to the desired result – laughter.

Photo: Laughter Yoga International

Throw 'em off with Laughter

2011-05-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

She asked me to find homes for her newborn kittens. I laughed so hard, it not only threw her completely off base, she never again asked me inappropriate requests.

It was the “challenging” wife of my boss, who mistakenly thought she was “the boss”.

Fortunately for me, my laughter was hearty and genuine for I have a vast sense of humor. I wasn’t trying to insult her, it was just extremely funny to me, to be asked such a ludicrous thing. It was only in retrospect that I realized what a great tool I have for disarming people.

I once gave a lecture to a group of seniors with a disruptive curmudgeon in the audience who took on the role of harassing me. Luckily again all I could do was laugh. It shut him up immediately.

Obama is currently doing the same in response to the Birthers. I applaud him. If you donate $25 to his reelection campaign, you’ll receive a T-shirt (or a mug) with his birth certificate printed on one side and his photo on the other, titled “Made in USA”. It’s a great example of turning a ludicrous attack into a joke. It’s a great use of comedy. Turn it around and make it silly. Laugh them off.

My Friend Austin is So Funny

2011-05-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Austin is the funniest man I know. I have laughed much because of him. He has significantly increased my “total life-laughter ”.

His humorous dry wit was delivered in perfect timing when we had a neighborhood fire at the house of one especially irritating, chronically–barking dog. The animal in question was temporarily asphyxiated by the fire, only to be revived by the firemen to the tune of his ever-ready and overly-familiar bark. It was comic relief we all needed.

Austin also recalls the tenacious tanning efforts of his youth, trying to emulate his Italian buddies in the ethnic neighborhood of New York where he grew up. Ignoring his “flimsy white Irish skin”, he basked in the rays with his Mediterranean blood brothers “oozing melanin”. Unfortunately it has now gained him a few unwanted cancer cells on his skin. But only Austin can make cancer funny.

In his writing he is especially comical, calling assisted living centers “old age warehouses” and refusing his own “storage there”. He references Ulysses, who in his later years “sailed beyond the sunset” in his quest “to shine in use”. Austin is very literary.

Like many funny people, Austin is a sensitive soul. His feelings, his thoughts, his perceptions and insights run deep. It’s how he can cut to the core in a single hilarious statement.

Comedians have to reach deep inside to pull out the funny stuff. For humor has to touch the truth for it to be funny. Otherwise we wouldn’t laugh. The truth has tremendous power. There’s little strength in lies.

The ability to be funny is a rarified skill. You’re got to cut to the chase in an instant. Austin does it naturally, with a rapid beat and that effervescent positive spirit that I adore in him.

Everyone needs an Austin in their life.

Keep me laughing Austin. You make my life more joyful.

Photo: Austin not quite laughing, but if you look closely you might detect the funny lines forming in his brain

Laughter Yoga in Prison

2011-05-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

Prisoners in India doing Laughter Yoga!

Photo: Laughter Yoga International

Homeless Women

2011-05-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

I’ve had the pleasure of leading a laughter yoga session, for a small group of women who temporarily reside at a women’s homeless shelter in downtown Seattle, a number of times. And it has always been a special thing.

Despite incredible life challenges, these women laugh. In fact they laugh and laugh and laugh almost uncontrollably. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else. They start laughing as I begin the laughter exercises and are truly unable to stop. Each laughter exercise has, or at least is meant to have, a definite beginning and a definite ending; with a much needed respite in between the hearty aerobic workout of laughter. Yet for these women there is hardly any pause.

There is a real intensity to it – an intensity of release, of joy, of losing oneself completely. It clearly shows how the higher the stress, the greater the need to laugh. Our bodies know this instinctively. Once we feel the release of stress through laughter, it’s sometimes hard to stop. It also clearly shows that intense life challenges need not kill off a joyful inner spirit.

Bravo to these special women!

Photo: stock.xchnge

Gorgeous Man

2011-04-28T20:25:00.000-07:00

I was told he was gorgeous. It was a man I was about to do business with. My new lawyer. The vision of a Ken doll flashed through my mind. Uninterested in classic good looks, I was already unimpressed. It’s the spirit that defines beauty to me.

Yet upon meeting “the gorgeous man”, I had to agree. Yes he was tall, yes he was dark, but he was really only somewhat handsome. What made him really shine was his beautiful smile and easy laugh and all the positive, engaging energy that goes along with it. He was glowing, a truly gorgeous human being.

It is said by some that laughter is the #1 most romantic trait. That doesn’t mean boring your date with telling jokes, often meant to impress rather than to connect. It means true laughter reflecting a passion for life, a genuineness of being, a positive attitude, a fun-loving nature. Who doesn’t want to be around someone who laughs? Laughter is magnetic. It draws people in. The laughter of one person can light up an entire roomful of people. That willing smile and easy laugh is all it takes for anyone to be truly beautiful.

I enjoyed doing business with the gorgeous man.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Olympia Laughter Yoga Club

2011-04-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

Two young, energetic and vivacious people formed Olympia Laughter Yoga Club last year (along with two other laughter leaders). And it looks like it’s thriving!

Miss Kate came to my laughter club several years ago when she was a student at Evergreen College. Driving up from Olympia on a cold dark rainy Thursday evening (90 miles round trip), with three other students, they were an energetic and enthusiastic addition to my group that night. And I’ve always remembered them for driving the distance for laughter.

Now Kate’s a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader herself. Along with her friend Lightbear, another beautiful laugher and CLYL, they frequent my club from time to time, bringing all their great energy with them.

Check out their club if you live down near Olympia. It meets weekly on Sunday at 12:30 at the Unitarian Church in Olympia. They’re also on facebook: Olympia Laughter Yoga Club.

Photo: Miss Kate

Il Professore

2011-04-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

My Italian teacher is so funny. But not that funny. Just the right amount of funny.

I’m fulfilling a lifelong dream to learn Italian. As we crawl along in Italian I, our engaging, playful and often humorous Professore makes learning fun. Laughter in the classroom is a good thing and an effective way to teach.

If he proceeded as a perpetual stand-up comedian, it would be too distracting. It would pull us too far off the subject, like when someone goes on and on trying to be funny. It can get old really fast.

But with regular and intermittent shots of humor, he causes us regular and intermittent shots of laughter. It continually wakes up our brain and prevents us from getting too tense about this humbling process of learning to confidently speak a foreign language.

He stressed how important it is to pronounce double consonants with double strength. For example penne paste spoken with only one lazy n comes out sounding like pene, which means….well, I’ll let you guess. It’s definitely not on the menu.

When discussing how friendly Italians in Italy are, he mentioned Rome as a great city. I countered with the reputation Rome has for robbing tourists; to which he retorted “but they’re friendly when they do it”.

He showed us an adorable animated video of Italian stereotypes, which was hilarious because of course stereotypes have to hold a portion of the truth to be so funny. The traffic clip sent me over the edge.

We read Snoppy cartoons in Italian, one portraying Snoppy dog having nightmares of cats, cats, and more cats: “Un gatto, un gatto, un gatto, mi fa impazzire.” (“It’s making me crazy.”)

He teaches us slang to make it less boring. “Che una frittata!” “What a mess!” And other more colorful sayings unsuitable for a blog about laughter.

When I handed him a check, he exclaimed “fagoli!” which means beans, i.e. food on his table.

When Jill declared I was not riccio, he began a running humorous dialogue about riccio the hedgehog, of which there are many in his native Ukraine. I will forever remember that riccio does not = rich.

He makes this language fun and makes the culture come alive with his humor.

As a bottom line he conducts the class with a perpetual smile and a relaxed manner. That in itself relaxes all of us. We only learn better if we’re relaxed. Our brains wake up more every time we laugh. And a fun class motivates us to stick with it and learn.

As Dr. Seuss said, “I like nonsense – it wakes up the brain.”

Photo: Stock.xchng

It's been 10 Years!

2011-04-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

It’s been 10 years! Kevin Wilhelmson at Harborview Hospital and myself at Phinney Neighborhood Center and elsewhere. Along with a few others, we are the pioneers of Laughter Yoga in Seattle and Washington State. More than that we have achieved staying power in birthing and maintaining steady laughter clubs in the area. Bravo! I’m proud of us.

For me, laughter is as much as part of me as breathing. I couldn’t live without it. As I’ve always considered it my best trait, I knew this was my calling the moment I heard of it. Then because laughter yoga was instrumental in my own healing, I made it my life’s work.

In October of 2001, I created my first public laughter club, a timing that I consider relevant. When much of the world was in shock, I knew it was time to bring more laughter into our public consciousness and into the world.

Initially we met weekly in the Red Room at Phinney Neighborhood Center. Then I took time away to build a business leading laughter programs for “anyone who’ll pay me”. Many of them in retirement communities. Missing the spontaneity of a public club, I created one again at Roaring Mouse Studio, which eventually moved back to Phinney Neighborhood Center (now in the Blue Room). I’ve come full circle.

At Phinney Laughter Club I never know who’s coming; or how many, what ages, genders or degree of rustiness in their laughter muscles. It’s a spontaneous surprise every meeting and I love it that way.

Long live Laughter Yoga!!!

Photo: Kevin in his hat doing his thing!

Smile

2011-04-01T16:45:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of seeing Cuban Jazz great Arturo Sandoval recently. A real joyful spirit. I love watching jazz musicians perform because they always have such a good time doing what they do. Arturo’s expertise is on the trumpet.

Included in his repertoire that evening, he sang the old Charlie Chaplin song “Smile” (music by Chaplin, words added later, and initially and famously covered by Nat King Cole).

Smile

Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though it’s breaking.

When there are clouds in the sky

You’ll get by.

If you smile through your pain and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You’ll see the sun come shining through

For you.

Light up your face with gladness,

Hide every trace of sadness.

Although a tear may be ever so near

That’s the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what’s the use of crying.

You’ll find that life is still worthwhile –

If you just smile.

Photo: Wikimedia: Charlie Chaplin

Groucho

2011-03-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

I almost never post jokes on my laughter blog - but why not? Here’s Groucho at his best:

“Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”

Photo: Wikimedia

The Earth Laughs in Flowers

2011-03-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

I bought myself flowers at the farmer’s market today. As I soak up the beauty they exude, I think of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote: “The Earth Laughs in Flowers.”

Whenever I’ve tried to put the beauty of a flower into words, my words fall so far short, I leave it alone and don’t even try. Today feels that way. This bouquet of stunning oranges, golds and reds is a visual essence I could never relay to you. But as I think of Emerson’s quote – I think of how beautiful we are when we laugh. Is a roomful of people laughing really like a bouquet of flowers in full bloom? One of my laughter club members told a reporter as much once. She said, “Everyone here looks so beautiful laughing.” It is the most precious comment I’ve heard about my laughter club.

Laughing brings up the joyful essence of who we are. Laughing people are like flowers in bloom. And like those flowers I can’t really convey it in words. You’ve got to experience it for yourself. May you enjoy a laughing day today.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

The Paralegal Ghetto

2011-03-14T16:53:00.000-07:00

I once worked for a major law firm. Just having arrived in a new city, I was grateful to land this job, basic as it was. I did the grunt work for the paralegals with one other “grunt-worker” in an area we dubbed “The Paralegal Ghetto”.

To survive the boring mindless labor of poring over endless documents, I laughed. In fact I laughed and laughed and laughed.

My laughing cellmate was another intelligent woman caught in one of life’s interludes that lands you in an intelligently ludicrous situation; i.e. she was massively bored also. Often all it took was one look at each other, to set us off.

Myself I could get into a dangerous roll and not be able to stop. I tried headphones (ions before ipods) but it seems I would be humming under my breath, which would send us again into endless streams of laughter.

I now know the value of laughter at work. Back then I had those judgmental thoughts running through my head: “I’m going to get into trouble for laughing.” “I’m not supposed to laugh at work.” “It’s unproductive.” Now I lecture that just the opposite is true. For I did get my work done and there wasn’t any other way I could have survived it.

More than that, we played an important role in this somewhat stuffy law firm. There were those who knew that they could come to the paralegal ghetto and get some good laughs. After a substantial “laughter break”, they returned to work refreshed, energized, minds more alert.

Like recess for kids, it was a much-needed break from the intense seriousness of prolonged concentration.

Our paralegal ghetto was never officially recognized for the role we played in providing comic relief, yet I knew this was ultimately why I was there.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Happy Birthday Laughter Yoga

2011-03-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

My birthday coincides with Laughter Yoga’s birthday – we have a symbiotic relationship.

I say it every year: Laughter Yoga was born on March 13^th, 1995 in India because Dr. Kataria felt people needed a way to bring more laughter into their lives.

Though I’ve often had a lot of laughter in my life, it seems just as often I haven’t had nearly enough. Either that best laughter buddy moved away or got lost in a traumatic relationship or got a girlfriend who got jealous etc. etc. My laughter muscles cried and I moved on.

Or perhaps I got lost in my own challenges and my Laughter Quotient (laughter time to non laughter time) significantly decreased.

So when Dr. Kataria invented Laughter Yoga, I knew immediately it was for me; as well as a great gift to the world.

It’s no coincidence Laughter Yoga was born in India – one of the most crowded, polluted, noisy and stressful places to live. The higher the stress, the greater the need for laughter.

Dr. Kataria himself admits he wasn’t someone prone to laughter. He needed it as much as those who began to follow him. His laughter muscles had gone rusty, and really weren’t well developed to begin with. This is the man now referred to as the Guru of Giggling. It’s a testament to the power of intentional laughter.

Laughter Yoga is the lifelong intent to bring more laughter into your life and the immediate intent to laugh in the moment. The now of laughter.

Photo: Stock.chnge

Don't Let Others Stop Your Laughter

2011-03-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

In my life there have been times when people have tried to stop my laughter.

Was my laughter a threat? Did it spark their insecurity? Were they jealous? Was it too painful to see others in such joy when they were in such misery?

I don’t know.

At such times I was young and vulnerable to the reaction of others and I let it lessen my laughter.

Living on an island community, I regularly got in a roll of laughter with the clerk at the market on my daily shops. We laughed and laughed until one day I got a visit from his jealous wife who misunderstood all the laughing. I stopped laughing there altogether.

When I was in my twenties I worked at a restaurant where some of my peers tried to stifle my boisterous laughter. They never cut loose to that extent themselves and they didn’t want to hear it. It hurt and I somewhat muffled myself.

Even my own brother violently attacked me when I was a teenager who used to get into fits of giggling with my mother. That definitely stopped my laughter for a while.

Over the years I have watched some laughter club members experience cathartic liberations from years of stifled laughter; some being told as children to “stop all that laughing”.

Have compassion for those around you who have no laughter in their lives. But simultaneously don’t let anyone stop your laughter.

Nelson Mandela said, “…Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you….As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same…”

Photo: Wikimedia

Age Well with Laughter

2011-02-18T16:37:00.000-08:00

An old college friend used to make me laugh non –stop. Joke after joke, witty comments, clever bantering, jovial teasing. It seemed he lived to make us all laugh. Like many guys, it flowed out of him effortlessly, as a natural way of being, like an infinite fountain of humor.

Yet when I looked for this long lost friend online, I found an aged white- haired man, though he’s only in his mid-fifties. As I already knew, he holds a distinguished position at a prestigious university back East. Who knows how much he now laughs. I suspect he’s become quite serious. It shows.

I have another friend who is the most delightful woman I know. She’s kind, gentle, loving, intelligent, cultured, positive-minded and just shy of 90 years. She’s one of those beings with a constant sparkle in her eyes and a youthful spirit to match, no matter what her chronological age has become. A friend recently remarked that her skin is so smooth, with hardly a wrinkle in it.

As I reflect on these two friendships, I am reminded that, to stay young in body, you need to stay young in spirit.

Photo: My friend Mina

Laugh for Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

Associated Press reports: Michelle Obama cites laughter as the number one most important factor to a successful marriage. She says, “I think in our house we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and laughter is the best form of unity in a marriage.”

Laughter is the glue that binds. And it’s like amnesia – helping us forget our partners imperfections, or that latest argument, or even that overwhelming obstacle that can loom in a relationship. It’s a reminder of all that is good between two people. If nothing else, laugh often with the one you love.

At least one study of successful married couples (by definition: couples that have been married for 15 years or more) found that the three most important factors to a great marriage include laughing often together. The other two are mutual respect and friendship.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

The Wild and Wonderful Women of Phinney Laughter Club

2011-02-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

The monthly meeting of Phinney Laughter Club was especially wild last night!

We were thirteen women and one lucky guy.

A delightful seventeen-year old sought me out and brought her mom. I first assumed it was the opposite but her mother corrected me. Hooray for teenagers who come to laugh.

Rose battled rush hour traffic all the way from LaConner exclaiming “Girl, I’ve been looking for you for two years!” Sandy brought her wonderful self down from Edmonds. Eileen from Shoreline. Susan from Mukilteo, and as usual brought others to share in the experience. Thank you Susan - you help us grow. I love you women – you’re my regulars and the backbone of our club. I laugh as soon as you walk in the door.

Jean was taking notes for a Toastmaster’s speech about Laughter Yoga. My mouth was sore from all the laughing and at one point I was so far gone I had to instruct them to proceed without me. I think it was Eileen –she’s soooooooo funny.

No inhibitions anywhere. Pure fun. Non stop laughter. Laughter yoga at its absolute best. The name-and-pose laugh brought out the beauty queen in all of us. It’s the morning after and I’m laughing still.

Abe Lincoln said, “People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be”. We definitely made up our minds to laugh and be happy last night.

Portholes of Fun

2011-02-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

It's too much fun! Today Google has their logo comprised of a series of portholes with the ocean and its full array of sealife visible. As the waves rise and fall we catch a view of a long-nosed dolphin, sea turtle, seahorse, flying fish jumping out of the water and on and on.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – when Google starts my day laughing, it’s a good thing.

Daniel Pink, in his book The Whole New Mind, postulates that success now depends on that added extra bit of creativity, design, laughter, whatever. That the MFA has become more important than the MBA. That as abundant and sophisticated consumers, we crave that extra something that feeds our spirit.

I recall a bottle of wine a friend brought for dinner years ago. It was called Ecstatic Women Dancing with a wild photo of barefoot women in jumping joy pose and corresponding story on the label. It was years ago but I still smile about it.

Fun in the workplace is a great thing for all of us!

Photo: Google

Belly Laugh Day

2011-02-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

Imagine a laugh so bountiful it comes straight from the belly!

Belly Laugh Day is a creation of fellow Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Elaine Helle and is celebrated annually on January 24^th. It’s a variation on Dr. Kataria’s World Laughter Day that occurs every first Sunday in May. It’s another great opportunity to add more laughter to your day and to your life; and to bring added awareness to the healing power of laughter.

For an extra jolt Elaine suggests all participants laugh simultaneously at 1:24 pm your local time.

My own Belly Laugh Day went fairly uneventfully except for my usual morning laughter ritual, to which I gave an extra boost. But if you check the website for BLD, there are some fun and inspiring stories from participants around the world.

The most compelling one comes from the tree-planting group in Tanzania leading a large group of volunteers in a ritual belly laugh.

Belly Laugh Day is even legitimized by its listing in Chase’s Calendar of Events published by McGraw Hill.

The BLD website declares: We celebrate the laughs and smiles that transform our moments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 7 continents.

Elaine tells us that she practices Laughter Yoga everyday in her home.

She quotes Jean Houston: “At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities”.

Ultimately Belly Laugh Day is a time to celebrate the great gift of laughter.

Photo: San Diego Laughers

Just before Dawn

2011-01-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

When darkness settles in and laughter feels so far away you can’t even imagine it. Or worse yet, the heaviness of depression creeps in and laughter actually feels painful, for it strikes up against your wounds like a cruel joke.

These are some of the things I do:

Take a walk. Fresh air and exercise always help a little.

Write a poem and share it with a friend. If there are no friends around, just write it out anyway. Someone’s listening in the ethers around you. I’m sure of it.

Remember the times you have laughed. Just remembering will help.

Be Creative. It’s one of the best ways to connect with your Divinity.

Help a friend, or a stranger. Altruism fosters happiness.

Play. You may laugh yet.

Feed your passion. It will help bring you back.

Thump your thymus and activate your inner light. Darkness is just the absence of Light.

Forgive someone. See their inner light.

Smile. It will help relieve the stress.

Know that: This too shall pass. The darkest hour is just before dawn.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Barber of Seville

2011-01-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

The opera house isn’t the first place that comes to mind when looking for a place to get some laughs. But here in Seattle for one more week, in fact it is.

I had the joy of attending Seattle Opera’s Barber of Seville last night and laughed my way through this delightful Rossini comedy. It was nonstop laughs as Rossini meant it to be. A stellar performance.

Figaro was his true charming self. Completely full of himself, he bounded his way through the show, initially springing onto the stage from a seat in the audience, cajoling the crowd along the way and never letting up for the entire two and a half hours. They say Rossini gave the baritone the best music. It can’t be denied that Figaro is the highlight of this great opera.

Some of my favorite bits:

The great running joke comprised of just two words, buona sera, as the wanna-be young lovers attempt to rid themselves of the lecherous old fart.

The Lucille Ball and Harpo Marx inspired comedy routine of Almaviva and Basilio, mirroring each other’s movements as they suspiciously eye one another.

Almaviva’s wild hair flying to the precisely correct musical accompaniment from the orchestra.

Bartolo’s falsetto mimicking of others when he's irritated.

And all those Rossini crescendos – music starting slow and quiet then building faster and louder until it explodes like a canon, the classic Rossini simile. Fast faster fastest. At many points in the show the musicians sang so fast it reminded me of the gibberish Laughter Yoga students learn. Speaking so fast and nonsensical that it becomes nothing but pure silliness.

It’s a great show. An opera full of Rossini’s infectiously upbeat spirit. Catch it if you can.

Photo: Lawrence Brownlee and Jose Carbo by Rozarii Lynch

Clown Nose

2011-01-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

When I was certified as a laughter leader back in April of 2002, I was given a clown nose as part of a gift package of laughter goodies.

But I quickly learned that it wasn’t my style. I’ve always known that I’m not the clown type, but I thought I could at least manage to don a clown nose.

So I tried it only once at one of my first ongoing laughter clubs at a retirement community. One of many such clubs I would lead over the years.

Sure a senior or two chuckled when they saw me. “Great” I thought “This brings more laughter.”

But as soon as I started the laughter session, I felt hidden behind it. Even though it was just a clown nose. But it was big and bright and red and to a certain extent hid my true spirit. No I was right. It wasn’t my style.

Laughter bonds. Laughter connects people. Laughter is contagious. Laughter is magnetic. Laughter is so huge and powerful, a clown nose pales in comparison. Most importantly I understood that I was teaching people to laugh as an expression of joy, an expression of our truest selves. The clown nose simply detracted from all that. I wanted people to laugh with me, not at the prop on my face. Instead of laughing at my goofiness, laugh with my joyfulness. Catch the true spirit of laughter.

That’s my stand on clown noses.

Photo: Wikimedia

Laughter Yoga in Prisons

2011-01-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

There are those rare and special laughter leaders who bring their programs to prisons. The above photo says it all.

Photo: Laughter Yoga with prisoners in India (LYI)

E Pluribus Unum

2011-01-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

This familiar phrase appears in the wisdom of the final pages of Dan Brown’s latest book The Lost Symbol. Out of many, one.

In discussing Noetic Science, the fictional character Katherine Soloman explains: “What I’m saying is two heads are better than one, and yet two heads are not twice better, they are many many times better. Multiple minds working in unison magnify a thought’s effect exponentially. This is the inherent power of prayer groups, healing circles, singing in unison…The idea of universal consciousness is no ethereal New Age concept. It’s a hard-core scientific reality and harnessing it has the potential to transform our world.”

When I read this, I immediately flashed on Laughter Yoga and the amazing power generated in a roomful of people laughing together simultaneously. No matter how many participants come together to laugh, it’s a powerful thing. Yet it can’t be denied that the larger the group, the more amazing the energy. Sometimes I feel we’ll blow the roof off with our combined laughing. Other times I feel the joy we generate must be felt in all corners of the universe.

E Pluribus Unum. From the many, comes one powerful expression of joy!

Photo: Laughter Yoga International

Rumi

2011-01-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

“Let yourself be drawn by the silent pull of what you really love.” Rumi

This is where the laughter resides.

Pub Laughter

2010-12-27T14:47:00.000-08:00

I don’t drink alcohol. I haven’t for years. Now my partner doesn’t either. Doctor’s orders.

Yet we’re regulars at Third Place Pub. We go for the laughs and for the community. Which of course go hand in hand. And we go for the burgers.

If we can catch a seat at the bar, we’ll do it. I sheepishly ask Joey if it’s okay to order a bottle of Pelligrino between us, sharing it like a bottle of wine. “Is that gauche?” I ask. “It’s adorable” he quips back.

Third Place Books is dedicated to the idea that everyone should have a third place to go. One being home. The other being work. And the third being a place of community.

Their main store is in Lake Forest Park. Their second store is in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle. It used to share space with Honeybear Bakery, now replaced by Vios, a neighborhood Greek restaurant. The newest edition to the trio is the pub downstairs. There’s no hard alcohol, just beer and wine.

Frank is your quintessential bartender. He’s a native New Yorker, loves the Yankees, is very friendly, can talk sports as easily as he can pour you an interesting Northwest beer, and makes it a point to know your name. We love Frank.

Caleb and Jake are the young guys behind the bar. They’re poets. That breed of interesting and creative young, working in the food and beverage industry while honing their craft on the side. It slipped out one night that Caleb has a Master’s degree in Poetry from the elite Bennington College in Vermont. Amazing.

And then there’s Joey. Joey’s so New York. But he’s at home in the Beautiful Northwest too, a regular yoga practitioner, a relaxed and jovial kind of guy. He once told me my food was “full of deliciousness”. Joey’s pure fun.

We love the pub for its community. Where there’s community there’s laughter.

The Boxer Shorts

2010-12-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

I was once a nanny.

Burnt out on teaching preschool, having 24 adorable energetic creative enthusiastic active four year olds under my charge, leading their young minds to a higher place, working ten- hour shifts, I needed a short break. So I became a nanny for three delightful children for roughly a year.

Though the children were a pure joy, the dad was a bit of a trial at times. We had our moments of tension.

But at Christmastime I found the perfect gift. I’m very intuitive when I shop. My radar leads me directly to the perfect thing. Almost every time.

This time was no different. I found myself in front of boxer shorts – fun ones. White shorts with black ants. Colorful shorts with martinis. Immediately I knew they were for the dad. But then my rational mind opposed: “Isn’t this a bit too personal for someone who is essentially my boss?” Unsure, I went with my intuition.

Well the shorts were a big hit. Not only at Christmas, but as a joke forever after. Causing us to laugh about it over and over. The year I bought him the ants in the pants and the martinis straight up.

I had no idea this would happen. But the humor eased the tensions that sometimes existed between us.

If you have anyone in your life that you have a bit of a strained relationship with, I highly recommend buying him or her a joke gift. Or at least something that will make you both laugh. Even if you’re not one to purchase material items during this shopping-crazed season. Your boss. Your co-worker. Your mother-in-law. Your estranged friend. The humor and the laughter are healing. They always are. And it’s something you can return to again and again when the going gets rough. “Remember the time you bought me such and such.” Ha-Ha-Ha.

If you’re guided to boxer shorts too, here’s a website: www.funnyboxers.com.

Marilyn Rocks!

2010-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

My friend and fellow Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Marilyn Fogelquist made the front page of the Redmond Reporter featuring her laughter club at Emerald Heights. Her club is going on 5 years now, with a second club just beginning at the Redmond Senior Center. Marilyn, a youthful 83 years old, most certainly rocks with laughter.

Go Marilyn!

Phinney Laughter Club

2010-12-06T08:08:00.000-08:00

Check out this video of our laughter club. We’re doing the toss the scarf laugh.

A Laughter Club is an organized group of people who come together to “laugh for no reason”. Our method is called Laughter Yoga and was developed by a medical doctor in India named Madan Kataria. This body/mind/spirit practice combines gentle stretching, yoga-type breathing, and playful laughter exercises.

Drop in anytime you need more laughter. Or become a regular member and watch the laughter grow in your life.

We meet the 2^nd Tues of the month at Phinney Neighborhood Center in Seattle, downstairs in the Blue Room at 7:00 p.m. $5.

A Friend's Passing

2010-11-29T20:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Oceana passed away last Sunday surrounded by love.

I’ve been crying. And determined to use this as an inspiration to live life more fully.

Oceana was a very special person and I was honored to know her.

She attended our laughter club only once, but she was fully supportive of it, posting its existence on her website, and reminding me at times about my laughter. Such as the time I was referred to as a “professional laugher” by our writing teacher, a very comical title to all of us. When I laughed at someone else’s humorous writing, the writer in question was told that didn’t count, because I laugh at everything. We all laughed at that.

Next week is the celebration of Oceana’s life. I hope to be able to laugh as much as cry.

George Bernard Shaw said, “Life does not cease to be funny when people die, any more than life ceases to be serious when people laugh.”

Half-Full Half-Empty

2010-11-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

Don’t wait until Thanksgiving to be grateful.

Once I made my gratitude ritual a daily practice, my attitude towards myself and my life, became so much more positive.

It’s amazing how much there is in one day to be grateful for. Immediately your life appears full and you feel yourself rich.

We all know that we can look at the positive or we can look at the negative. When looking at the positive brings so many more benefits, it’s clear which way to go. It just takes some conscious effort sometimes.

I know people who complain regularly. I know it’s a habit. And I can see how they make themselves miserable. We all need to process life’s challenges. But processing and processing and processing leaves you stranded in the dark.

And the dark is not a place where laughter resides.

Celebrate Life! It will bring you more laughter. Laughter will flow naturally, effortlessly. It’s all in the attitude. It’s not in life’s circumstances.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

The Joy of Socks

2010-11-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

In my exploration of the subject, laughter in education, I came across a book titled “If They’re Laughing, They Just Might be Listening” by Elaine Lundberg and Cheryl Miller Thurston.

One of their suggestions for teachers is to develop a personal trademark – an item to consistently employ as a method of engaging students, and bringing more fun and laughter into the classroom. Because I often lead programs on laughter to seniors in retirement communities, I thought I’d give it a try with silly socks.

I found a website called, The Joy of Socks, and ordered 3 pairs – piano socks, planet socks and of course bright yellow smiley socks. What was supposed to bring some lightness into the lives of others, quickly became a source of play and laughter in my own life.

I now start my day deciding which pair of silly socks I’m going to wear. My partner laughs when he sees them. Walking down the street people smile. Others laugh at my feet. After working at only one nursing home, since developing this sock trademark, it already became a routine geared toward my own enjoyment.

I now own socks with dragonflies, monkeys, chili peppers, socks with rainbow stars and stripes, socks that mimic ballet shoes. Even designer socks by Laurel Birch with giraffes on them. I bought my partner his own DaVinci socks, socks with palm trees, tropical fish and saxophones. It lights up his day and adds more fun to both our lives.

It truly is the little things in life. When I’m feeling stressed, all I have to do is look down at my feet and smile.

Photo: Rex in his jazz socks

Iphigenia, Play and Laughter

2010-11-11T14:45:00.000-08:00

Ben Hur, Iphigenia and Mimi Moonshadow. They are the neighborhood cars.

We’ve had more fun and laughter over the naming of our cars, though none of us knew it at the time.

Ben Hur is the ’63 Dodge Wagon next door owned by my great neighbor Helen. Her son named him so because of his protruding chariot-like diamond-shaped hubcaps.

Iphigenia is our brand new Indigo Blue Scion XD. She needed a majestic name. She’s going to bring us faithfully wherever we need to go.

Mimi Moonshadow is her sister across the street, the Light Gray Scion XB. Mimi’s got an energetic fun-loving owner. It’s perfect.

People often ask me how to bring more laughter into their lives, and one response I give, is to play more. Create an environment where laughter naturally flows – a laugh-ready environment. Use humor with the everyday things of life. Opportunities for play and laughter are everywhere. As Plato said, “Life must be lived as play”.

I only wonder what Ben Hur and Iphigenia do together at night while we’re all sleeping. (They’re parked side by side in adjacent driveways.) Helen assures me they’re having deep philosophical conversations.

Comedians Keep Us Sane

2010-11-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

Comedians don’t hold back. They’ll say anything. They know they can. Comedians tell it like it is. Politicians are laid bare, a difficult place to sit. We love it.

Funny woman Joy Behar reveals that Joe Biden once confessed to her, that he is far more afraid of going on Jon Stewart’s show than on Meet the Press. (from Marlo Thomas’s book Growing Up Laughing)

Jon Stewart hails this week from Washington DC, ending his week of taping The Daily Show, with a Rally to Restore Sanity. There were estimated to be more than 200,000 there. Wow!

Coupled with Stephen Colbert, the rally morphed into the Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear, as they bantered back and forth about said subject.

They offered a bus ride to DC, to a politically diverse group of people, and then made a parody of the fact that they could discuss their political differences without shouting.

The rally opened with a benediction from Father Guido Sarducci in a black and white zebra striped suit, offering such reasonable statements as “Muslums and Jews both don’t eat pork. Let’s build on that.” Sam Waterson recited Stephen Colbert’s goofy fear poem. The former Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf, sang his old classic “Peace Train”, only to be interrupted by Ozzy Osbourne’s discordant strains of “music”. Back and forth they went interrupting each other, eventually leaving the stage arm in arm.

Sanity awards were given out, one to the Venezuelan baseball player who graciously accepted an umpire’s call, that otherwise would have put him in baseball historical fame for pitching a no-hitter.

Fear awards were given out, one to the major television networks who wouldn’t come and cover the rally.

Jon’s keynote speech morphed into a debate between Jon’s sanity talk vs. Stephen’s fear mongering with such statements as “Reason is how mankind has advanced” vs. “If Eve had had a reality fear of snakes, I could go naked everywhere now”. Jon introduced a new thing to fear “corpomyte”, something he borrowed from Star Trek. R2D2 made an appearance as a representative of a sane, not-scary, robot. “There’s a blender who has its eye on you backstage”.

Jon gave a sincere thank you to all at the end, reminding us that we work together all the time to get things done. “People do impossible things together everyday through little reasonable compromises.”

Comedy for Political Sanity. I like it.

Is it Madness to Laugh?

2010-10-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

In the midst of, what surely must be the most amazing mad scene in all of Lucia history, Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, as the title role Lucia, lets out a laugh.

It causes me to wonder, is it madness to laugh?

Perhaps.

To laugh in the face of adversity, can surely be considered madness. A good kind of madness. To blow off the stress of a difficult situation, to stare adversity in the face and defiantly choose to laugh. Yes indeed, laughter is a good kind of madness.

Like insanity, laughter separates us from reality, if only for a brief moment. It pulls us out of real time, into our own explosion of joy

Nervous laughter is that strange phenomenon, that demonstrates how we unconsciously use laughter as a coping mechanism. When we’re a bit on edge about something, we instinctively laugh. It’s the body’s wisdom to release stress in this way.

Yes Lucia, laugh. Laugh for it’s all gone so terribly wrong for you. Laugh and get at least a moment’s reprieve from the tragedy of it all.

For those of you who don’t know Donizetti’s famous opera Lucia de Lammermoor, the story goes: Lucia has been forced to marry a man she’s never met by her evil brother Enrico, who convinces Lucia her beloved Edgardo has been unfaithful, at which point she murders her new husband and understandably goes mad. Pure opera drama.

For those of you who might be even mildly interested in opera, this current performance at Seattle Opera is not to be missed. It’s a Lucia like you’ve never seen before. It’s got all the drama, the beautiful music, the fantastic staging and rousing chorus, and most importantly extraordinary dramatic acting matching exquisite musical ability. It’s a night at the opera you’ll never forget.

And there's that laugh in the midst of it all.

Photo: Rosarii Lynch/Seattle Opera

Music and Laughter

2010-10-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is pure joy! If music could laugh, this would be it.

I woke up this morning in a joyful mood. So I put on Vivaldi to match my spirit.

Sometimes when I need an emotional boost, I play a CD called “Mozart for a Merry Christmas”, and let that joyful music that Mozart created, shift my energy and change my mood for the better. It’s uplifting. There’s no denying it.

A new study from Mexico found that listening to Mozart and Bach significantly helped to improve the psychological mood of depressed patients, as opposed to engaging in talk therapy. (Chavez, University of Oaxaca).

Dr. Kimata, an allergist in Japan, conducted a series of studies using the Charlie Chaplin movie Modern Times. Using the film to get subjects to laugh, he tested them before and after, for allergic reactions. He found those reactions to be significantly less after laughing. In one study he altered his approach and used the music of Mozart. Again he found a positive response (though interestingly not with the music of Beethoven).

Music raises our vibration, same as laughter, especially when we sing, raising our voices in song.

I sometimes think that if we only opened our mouths to sing or laugh or kiss, what a beautiful world this would be. Perhaps we could simply sing, laugh and kiss more.

A friend of mine has a theory that, the Italians in Italy don’t snack and overeat, like so many Americans, because they’re always kissing. Hmmmmm.

But I stray from the subject at hand.

Laugh, sing, listen to Vivaldi or Mozart or whatever else lifts your spirit, and allow your joy to rise.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Smiling is a Gift

2010-10-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

Smile at someone. It’s a gift.

It’s possible to lift someone’s whole day with this simple act. Lift yourself in the process.

It’s easy to smile at children. It’s slightly harder to smile at that old person sitting alone on the park bench. It’s not common in our culture to smile at people we don’t know. It’s much harder to smile at someone we don’t like.

Yet it’s a simple act. It takes only a second or two. And its impact is lasting. Consider taking the time to do it more often.

An anonymous person said, “Smile awhile, for when you smile another smiles, and soon there’s miles and miles of smiles because you smiled.”

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Natalie Goldberg says Practice

2010-10-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Natalie Goldberg, famed author on the art of writing, says there’s no such thing as writer’s block. Just put pen to paper and go. Don’t worry about what comes out. War and Peace won’t come out on the first try. Practice.

She makes a football analogy. Players on the field have practiced many times over. I’ll make an ice skating analogy. When we watch Olympic champion Yuna Kim perform a flawless routine, as Peggy Fleming says, she’s done it so many times it’s engrained into her body.

How is laughter any different?

Laughter Yoga is the same for some people. Laughing a lot, laughing in a sustained way, laughing for no reason and laughing on my command, may not come out perfect the first few times. Practice. And your laughter evoles.

Many people just don’t laugh enough. Many have very rusty laughter muscles.

Practice is what we do in the Laughter Club. We practice laughing. The more we practice, the better we get.

Then one day we’re laughing experts. We’ve had lots of practice at the Laughter Club. We find more reasons in life to laugh. We create a treasury of laughter.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

The Pumpkin is Back!

2010-10-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

It’s October in Fremont and the pumpkin is back!

It’s huge, orange, ghoulish, smiling, and sits atop a spike on one of the buildings down by the canal. As I open my shades in the morning, it’s still glowing in the dark. And it gets my morning laughter rolling.

Get your daily dose of laughter in whatever way you can. One half hour is a good formula. Several studies have been done using this dose.

One study was conducted at the Institute of California. It was found that one half hour of comedy daily lowered the risk of heart attacks.

In this study, they gathered participants who had already had one heart attack. One group (the lucky ones) was instructed to watch one half hour of comedy daily. The control group (the unlucky ones) did not.

Forty-two percent of those unlucky participants (the ones with no half-hour of daily comedy) had a second heart attack. Only eight percent of the lucky ones (those with one-half- hour of daily comedy) had a second heart attack.

Laugh daily. It’s important.

May this Halloween season help you along.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Peace

2010-09-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

Israel and Palestine are at the table again. Obama’s assisting. We can only hope.

But what does laughter have to do with it? Laughter has a lot to do with it. For me anyway.

At both Laughter Yoga International and World Laughter Tour (the two organizations that I am a member of), our mission includes world peace. A lofty goal you say? Not if you consider the nature of laughter.

A reporter once asked me why I do what I do. “To bring more laughter into the world” was the obvious answer. “To facilitate more joy.”

But I found myself saying: “Peace.” “Peace in the Middle East.” It’s the hot spot on our planet. Peace in the Middle East = peace on Earth.

I further told her that I hold a vision of Jews, Arabs, and Christians all laughing together. Laughing at a Laughter Club. Laughing for no reason.

Soon thereafter I saw a photo of just that. Someone who had a laughter club, or led a laughter yoga session, somewhere in that part of the world, pictured Arab participants laughing with Jewish participants. Immediately my vision was confirmed.

As a lawyer in California once told me: he uses laughter during the contentious work of mediation. If he succeeds in making everyone laugh, this is always the point at which solutions start to be found.

Laughter is bonding. We remember we are all part of the same human family.

As Alan Alda once said: “When we’re laughing, we’re generally not killing each other.”

I send this vision to the peace process.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

She who Laughs, Lasts

2010-09-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

It’s posted on her door and it’s a motto she has lived well. My friend Marilyn is 80-something, laughs much and often, has embraced the world of laughter yoga with gusto and is in tremendous physical and emotional shape. I am inspired.

Marilyn became a clown in 1990 with the clear intelligence that humor helps us cope. She uses it to deal with any of life’s challenges and most recently the death of her son.

I watch Marilyn chase after her grandson and I know that’s the way to stay young forever. Stay active. Run with the kids. Laugh as much as possible.

Marilyn became a Certified Laughter Leader in 2005, started a laughter club in her retirement community soon thereafter. Her laughter club is now in it’s sixth year and is going strong.

She has attended two Laughter Yoga Conferences, the Teacher Training with Laughter Yoga Founder Dr. Kataria, the Humor Project Conference with Joel Goodman, among other laughter programs; as well as leading her own workshops on humor.

Marilyn is most definitely laughing and lasting.

Smile and Cool your Brain

2010-09-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Smiling is like a cool mountain stream running through your brain.

I went to a friend’s photographic blog the other day and was overjoyed to find a picture of a mother duck and her six ducklings contentedly sitting on a log, down at the houseboat community where my friends live.

It’s a scene that immediately made me smile.

Smiling cools the blood to the brain and instantly relaxes you.

Conversely, think of the expression “hot-headed”. We use it when someone is screaming at the top of their lungs, extremely angry, with veins popping out of their throat. Not a pretty sight and not a good situation for the body.

When this happens the blood to the brain becomes very warm. The opposite happens when we smile. A very pretty sight and a nice situation for our body and our spirit.

My friend’s blog is called More Pictures, Less Words and is dedicated to the idea that when we are immersed all day in the world of words, it’s very relaxing to go to the world of pictures.

Surround yourself with images that make you smile.

Check out Franklin’s blog at www.morepictureslesswords.tumblr.com.

Photo: Lake Crescent

Giggles with Google

2010-09-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

A spinning thing came into being right before my eyes and I quickly learned I could manipulate it with my curser, making it spin in different directions, fast or slow. “Wheeeeeee this is fun!”

Sometimes I’ve resented that techies have taken over the world, but when those techies bring me more laughter, I say “good deal”.

When I open my computer in the morning, it goes straight to the Google home page. Sometimes I start my day laughing right then and there. As I write this post, they currently have blots of color spewing out at you, that eventually coalesce into the word google; only to explode into more balls of color when you pass the curser over them, causing me to explode with laughter.

Maybe they’re meant to be balloons, maybe bubbles. Who cares really. If I keep moving my curser they just keep going all over the page. If I enter from the side, they kick off from there. “I’ve got to stop this playing around and get to work.”

I’m so glad I switched my email from Yahoo to Google, leaving behind all that gossip, disaster and negativity that hit me first thing each morning.

Now I’ve had such treats as The Wizard of Oz, Frida Kahlo, or some green earthy stuff for Earth Day, spelling out the word google. They even changed their name on April Fool’s Day. Who else would have the guts to potentially confuse people for the sake of fun?

We all know their logo looks like preschool art and how could a company name be sillier than the word google.

Google is fun and that’s a good thing for the world. Keep me laughing Google!

I read something once about Google having ping pong tables at their offices. Perhaps they understand the benefit of play at work; how play nurtures creativity; how play at work makes happy employees; how happy employees are productive employees; how laughter at work is beneficial to the bottom line. Perhaps. With a net profit in the billions, most likely.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Laughter Yoga in The New Yorker

2010-09-06T09:43:00.001-07:00

We made it in the New Yorker this week!!! Check out the Aug 30 issue, article entitled "The Laughing Guru", all about Dr. Madan Kataria, Laughter Yoga and Laughter Clubs.

It's a great article, a nice overview and contains some gems too. For instance, I learned of Dr. K's dream of an oceanliner named Shanti (the Sanskrit word for peace) "perpetually circumnavigating the globe, spreading laughter from continent to continent". Wow!

My Favorite Comedic Moments

2010-08-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

The overcrowded train compartment in the Marx Brothers’ Night at the Opera
The candy factory with Ethel and Lucy
Harpo and Lucy (Lucille Ball of course) mirroring each other in perfect mime
Ellen DeGeneres singing with Jennifer Hudson in the shower
Carol Burnett wearing Scarlet O’Hara’s curtains
Phil Silvers with his monkey recruit
Jane Curtin giving birth in The Coneheads
Harvey Korman loosing it in the middle of a scene
Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin
The man “driving” his defective truck up and down the hill in The Gods Must be Crazy
Robin Williams doing Sarah Palin
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau saying the word “phone”
John Cleese saying anything
Ellen DeGeneres trying to make Betty White laugh with mouth props
Glenn Close as Cruella DeVille
Kevin Kline smelling his armpits and rattling off in Italian in A Fish Called Wanda
Beyonce’s dance number with the guys on Saturday Night Live
Chris Rock’s facial expressions
Pheonix twirling like Teresa in my laughter club

What's your favorite comedy scene!

Photo: Wikimedia

Laughter and Song

2010-08-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

UUU – it was half of a license plate on the car in front of us. “UUU …interesting” I mumble half to myself. Within seconds Rex has broken into song – “You you you, I’m in love with you, you, you”. In less than a second I’ve broken into peals of laughter. On he goes. On I go, until I shout, “Rex, pay attention!!!” As a car pulls out in front of us, sparking another old time tune, “A man is a worrisome thing…”. More strains of laughter. On and on.

Rex breaking into song is one of the highlights of my life. Every phrase I utter seems to have a song attached. Rex grew up on radio listening to old songs that are completely foreign to me. His repertoire is endless.

I’ll say “Our primroses are blooming.” He breaks into “Life’s a holiday on primrose lane…” I mention debt. He launches into “…loading 16 tons and what’d ya get, another year older and deeper in debt.” While on a walk I mention, “Let’s cross over to the sunny side of the street.” Out comes, “Just plant your feet on the sunny side of the street…” I declare one evening that flexibility’s my middle name. Feigning a mean southern baritone drawl, he launches into “Fightin’ and trouble’s my middle name. One fist of iron, the other steel. If the right one don’t getcha, the left one we’el.” I say something about “this evening…”. He’s broken into “…the evening breeze, caress the trees, tenderly…”

You get the idea. It’s endless laughter. I rework the humor for days after “singing” my own improvised version, causing myself to laugh at myself, over and over.

Steve Allen said the best humor comes from the reality of everyday life. How true.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Flatulence

2010-08-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

One of my most precious memories of my mother came towards the very end of her life. It makes me laugh to this day, thinking of how she would crumble into a mass of giggles at her inability to control the flow of air through her intestines; even in public, much to my embarrassment.

Another story shared by a college student in my Laughter in Life class, made all of us erupt into peals of laughter. The homework assignment was to bring a story about how laughter helped with a challenging situation. This student relayed how a friend was very depressed after being laid up in the hospital following a bad accident. During one of his visits, his friend’s young daughter walked by his hospital bed and suddenly let out a significant unabashed fart. In an instant it broke his friend’s dark mood causing him to burst into laughter, enabling him to lighten up about his physical pain and his difficult situation.

Farts are a good thing because they bring more laughter into the world.

Consider that the iFart application, a digital whoopee cushion for Apple’s iphone, has been purchased more than 350,000 times, making it one of the most popular add-ons.

My friend Sean is a another great example. He is nine years old, and I suppose for that reason, the topic of farts has brought us endless laughter.

Of course he has a Whoopy Cushion, you place on the chair of an unsuspecting friend.

He shares his Flarp with me, a pretty gross but hilarious toy that consists of a gooey glob of substance in a plastic jar. You stick your hand in the jar of goo and it lets out a surprisingly authentic fart sound. We can’t get enough of it.

One of his favorite books is called Oh Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty by Joy Masoff, a former cub scout leader (who later switched to the girl scouts, only to find they had the same disgusting interests). It discusses such topics as body odor, dandruff, pus, vomit and the all time laugh-getter: farts. One entry is titled: “10 Foods that can make you Airborne.” Sean tortures me by reading aloud passages from this book, much to his delight.

But Sean’s show- stopper is his fart speech by Benjamin Franklin, called “Fart Proudly”. At first I refused to believe him, but it’s all in a book of the same name, edited by Carl Japikse, subtitled “Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School”. Mr. Japikse calls these writings “a testament to the satirical rogue that lived peaceably inside the philosopher and statesman….It is a loving tribute to the ideal of a free press in this country.” Apparently Ben loved to stir things up. He wasn’t just a man who went around saying things like “A penny saved is a penny earned.”

Back to Sean - he is at his finest as he jumps onto the stairs leading into his den to recite by heart Benjamin Franklin’s recitation on farts:

“It is a small gesture, but one that can be very effective – especially in a large crowd. So fart, and if you must, fart often. But always fart without apology. Fart for freedom, fart for liberty – and fart proudly.”

Play leads to Laughter

2010-08-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

In the Laughter Club we play as much as possible during our laughter exercises, because play induces laughter. The proof: watch the children.

Children are the experts on laughing, because children play all day, laughing while they play. Children don’t need a big sophisticated joke to make them laugh. Children just laugh as part of their life, as part of their play.

Robert Provine, psychologist at University of Maryland, wrote a book called Laughter: A Scientific Investigation. Based on hours and hours of research done observing how and why it is that people laugh, Dr. Provine surprisingly found that laughter does not usually follow the telling of a joke, or even necessarily following something humorous. Rather most people laugh being with people they like and having a good time, i.e being playful.

As adults we spend far too much time being serious, working, being responsible, etc. If we don’t balance that with enough play time, we will be out of balance emotionally. So play is good for adults as well as for children. We release stress, learn to think more creatively, learn to be more flexible, lighten up in general, become more positive and cope more easily with the challenges of life.

Where there’s play, there’s laughter. Keep play alive in your life.

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Centenarians Laugh

2010-07-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Two women recently attended one of my programs on Laughter Yoga. They are residents at a retirement community that hired me to bring laughter into their lives. I knew immediately that this community of seniors was special. As they slowly assembled for my program, and as I was lecturing, there was a degree of attentiveness, aliveness and interest, unusual for this age group. They asked questions while I spoke. They smiled. No one fell asleep (rare for any speaker at a senior community). They burst enthusiastically into laughter once the laughter session began. The activity director accurately told me “I’ve got the best seniors.”

Most striking were two women – one age 101, one age 102. The “younger one” needed to be wheeled in and needed some help getting settled. But for the entire program, her face was lit up with a huge smile of unusual brightness. From where I stood as lecturer, she was positively glowing. I have no doubt that this woman has been laughing her entire life and that laughter is a key factor to her health and longevity.

The woman who was 102 blew my socks off! A lovely woman in a pale blue suit, she walked in to the meeting room. I repeat, she walked in. No wheelchair, no walker and not even a cane. She stood and had a pleasant conversation with me before the program began. I had no need to raise my voice to speak to her as she could hear me perfectly well while we were chatting. She had a wonderful positive disposition – friendly, joyful – and like all the others, she came to laugh. She made it clear to me in that initial conversation that laughter was the reason she made it to 102 in such good health.

I’ve had many 90-somethings join my laughter programs over the years, but these were my first centenarians. Please notice that this is not in a blue zone – those areas of our planet where there is a large concentration of centenarians. This is just an area near Seattle. These women inspire me greatly, to stay positive and keep laughing well into an enriching ripe age.

Photo: Stock.xchng

The Joy Challenge

2010-07-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

Are you comfortable with tremendous joy?

Some people aren’t comfortable with the laughter club and laughter yoga, for different reasons. My observation and theory is that, many who aren’t comfortable with it, aren’t comfortable experiencing that much joy, that much exhilaration. It’s not in their comfort zone. It’s not their usual experience. And for whatever reason it’s not their choice.

I think many people are comfortable with the level of joy that is most often present in their lives, and often it’s not that much. Have you ever noticed that often, after experiencing a tremendous emotional high, someone will then instigate drama, and subsequently bringing their emotional level back down? A parent told me that this is often the case with her 10-year old son. After they have an especially great time together, he often initiates an emotional tangle between them. I think we often unconsciously create situations that keep our emotional climate to a place we are accustomed to. Have you ever noticed that some people are addicted to drama? Sadly so.

It is often necessary to force ourselves to be comfortable with tremendous joy. Challenges can be positive as well as negative. I offer any potential laughter club participants out there to come experience joy, joy and more joy, on a sustained level. Call it a joy challenge!

The Parrot Laughs

2010-07-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

The parrot went wild laughing. His owner had been trying to teach him to laugh and was making progress. But when I came to visit, this parrot went wild.

I would typically burst into laughter in the middle of my conversation with my friend. The parrot would follow suit with his own laughter. This in turn would cause me to roar with even more laughter, which would cause him (the parrot) to roar with even more laughter in response. On and on we went until it seemed that we were both almost completely out of control. It was really something – laughing with a parrot.

Was his laughter real? Was it in response to his own feelings of merriment? I have no idea but he certainly seemed to be having the time of his life. I know I was. And he was clearly very upset when we eventually left the room where he was caged.

I’d never bonded with a bird before but I left feeling close to this parrot. Laughter is a powerful social glue creating lasting connections between people; or in this case between woman and bird.

I’ve since learned that one way to have parrots bond with you is to play with them, and as it is with all of us, laughter is an essential ingredient to play. On the ezine Winged Wisdom, Laura Middleton explains “Parrots love to hear us laugh. A parrot that learns to laugh will sometimes call their owners to play with them by laughing.”

Think Globally - Laugh Locally!

2010-07-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Think Globally, Laugh Locally - It’s been the motto of World Laughter Tour for ages, thanks to the humor and wit of its founder Steve Wilson. WLT trains individuals like myself to be Certified Laughter Leaders. We lead Therapeutic Laughter sessions where participants laugh unconditionally through a series of playful laughter exercises. Our mission is to spread laughter for our health and our happiness, as well as for world peace.

We feel that through the spirit of laughter we come to a place of peace inside ourselves and when each of us is able to be at peace within, we see this reflected in the outer world. Peace begins with each individual person.

Milton Berle once said: “Laughter is imperative. It takes away the stress and pressure. It’s better than anything. If we were all laughing, there would be no more war.”

Or as Alan Alda put it, “When people are laughing, they’re generally not killing each other.” It becomes difficult to remain angry at each other when we’re laughing. Laughter can instantly melt away conflict; or at the least facilitate finding peaceful solutions.

A lawyer in California emailed me once, in reference to my laughter work, sharing how he uses laughter successfully in his profession. He does the contentious work of mediation, seeking resolution between two opposing parties. Yet he explained that, if there is a point in negotiations where he is able to interject some humor and get everyone to laugh, this is always the point at which negotiations take a turn for the better and they begin to find a solution.

When people laugh together, hardness softens, differences melt away and we begin to remember that we are all part of the same human family.

Think globally – Laugh locally. It means world peace – one laugh at a time.

Laughing Cow Cheese

2010-07-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

July is Tour de France month and my friend Franklin, a Tour de France groupie, recently introduced me to Laughing Cow Cheese, one of the very first companies (in 1930) to take part in the Tour de France caravan of sponsors. They give out their merchandise while parading ahead of the racers.

Their brand is represented by a picture of a fun-loving cow wearing earrings in the act of exuberant laughter. I’d say this company knows how to incorporate fun and laughter into life. Who would think of making cheese a laughing item?

The name originated from World War I, when trucks carrying meat to the French front lines carried the picture of a cow. The founder of this company adopted the image, transformed it in to a laughing cow, put it on his round boxes of cheese and called it La Vache qui rit.

Some of their blog topics include ideas for laughing ladies nights out and a summer fun fitness playlist – joyful tunes to have fun while you work out.

The best part is their slogan: “Have you Laughed Today?”

Thank you Laughing Cow Cheese for bringing more laughter in the world.

Check out their fun website at www.thelaughingcow.com

Men Love to Make Women Laugh

2010-07-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Statistics show men love to make women laugh. So it was this morning in my home.

My partner Rex and I got into a roll of laughter brushing our teeth. We don’t usually find ourselves in front of the same sink and the same mirror doing this morning ritual at the same time. Yet today we did and it became food for fun and games. To be accurate Rex was goofing around making funny faces and performing silly dances all the while his tooth brush in hand and mouth, and I was getting into more and more hysterics watching him. Which just fed him more. So technically I was the only one laughing while brushing my teeth (not necessarily a pretty sight).

“Is this as good for you as it is for me?” I ask. Knowing full well that it is, yet wanting to hear in his words, why men love to make women laugh.

His response: “A man has fun making a woman laugh. Even though he might not be laughing out loud, he’s laughing on the inside. He’s enjoying it. He’s amused and feeling good about himself that he made a woman laugh. Particularly the woman he loves. Men like to make women happy. When their partner is unhappy it’s very hard for men. Men feel like a failure. So here’s the glory – watching himself make his woman light up.”

“It’s us on our white horses, riding up and making you laugh. We love it. We feel great.”

Photo: Stock.xchnge

Traveling with a Smile

2010-06-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Joyce Majors, author of Smiling at the World, explains how she felt safe as a woman traveling alone and volunteering for numerous organizations around the globe. She accredits her smile. It’s the main reason, she cites, for feeling and remaining safe in her travels. She smiles a lot. Smiling kept her engaged with others especially when there was a language barrier. Smiling, like laughing, is disarming.

As the Dalai Lama said (in his broken English) when he came to Seattle to plant the Seeds of Compassion Conference: “Smiling is a reflection of no kind of barrier.” Smiling creates an immediate connection, a positive connection, even an intimacy between strangers. You feel safe with someone who smiles at you. You can immediately relax.

Authenticity and Laughter

2010-06-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

It takes an authentic person to laugh, really laugh. Laughter is a real emotion, as real as it gets.

I posted something about Barack Obama and his laugh when he was running for President, noting that his laugh was a clear indication that he was a truly authentic person. Unusual in politicians.

I thought about this recently as I mourn the death of a friendship. Someone I knew, and thought I knew fairly well, has mostly been promoting an image, an image of himself as something he is not. It’s been mind-boggling to discover. But as I look back on the course of our friendship, I recall that he seldom laughed. He was always too guarded, too careful, too unwilling to let himself really be himself.

A friend recently asked me what it is that I value most in a friendship, and I found myself answering “authenticity”. It’s the measure of who someone really is - and laughter is one of the best yardsticks of it.

As Dostoyevsky once said: “If you wish to glance inside a human soul and get to know a person, just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he’s a good man.”