Dagnammit! I’m getting behind on myself. I still haven’t told you about MuTate Britain’s One Foot in the Grove, that’s just extended its run for a few more days. Nor have I got round to the laughter yoga sesh I went to on Sunday. Both were awesome, so I’ll try to get something out about them in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, you can busy yourself with burning jealousy I felt when I saw this: Coca-Cola are sending these grinning swine round the world for a year to find out ‘what makes people happy’. I’ll tell you what would make me happy, Coke executives: a free sodding holiday! How about you bankroll me for a year instead, you sugar-peddling so-and-sos? Watching these cheery buggers only fills me with covetous resentment.

On a sunnier note, I came across the Wooster Collective site while googling MuTate Britain. It’s taglined ‘a celebration of street art’ and looks right up my strasse. I’ll add it to the links section and keep you updated if they cover any London stuff.

Don’t you just love those two words!  Makes you giggle just to say them.  Our upcoming Flourish event is all about being “tickled pink”, “in the pink” and all things pink & girlie – pampering, playing, indulging, shopping, eating, drinking, girlfriends, chatting, and laughing.  We’ve got it all put together into one fabulously fun afternoon in Portland’s South Waterfront at the beautiful Rilassi Coffee House.    Tickled Pink is for women of all ages who are ready to carve out a little bit of me time and get their PINK on.   Hope you can join us!

Here’s an invitation with more details or go to the Flourish website and sign up.

What is Laughter Yoga?

Laughter yoga was started by Dr Madan Kataria, a Mumbai-based doctor, 15 years ago, and has since gained great popularity across the world, because of its amazing healing properties. Laughter yoga combines laughter with traditional yogic breathing. Initially, the laughter is simulated and starts without humor, but as the group loosens up, it begins to flow naturally.

What can I expect from a session of laughter yoga?

Laughter yoga is usually performed in a group and preferably in the open air. Parks and gardens are the preferred places.

• Laughter yoga exercises include a few gentle yoga exercises, some stretching and breathing techniques, followed by rhythmic clapping and chanting of laughter sounds like “ho-ho, ha-ha”.
• The group is encouraged to walk around performing various activities in sequence – they may walk around squawking like hens or talking gibberish. They may stand with their arms swaying in the air; they may flap their arms and squeal like seagulls.
• You are then encouraged to walk around with your palms pressed together, greeting each other, either with a handshake or a Namaste, accompanied by a laugh. You must make sure to look into each other’s eyes when you do this.
• You are also encouraged to hold each other’s hands, or hug and laugh.
• A session usually lasts for half an hour.

Benefits: The healing power of laughter is well known, and when laughter and yoga are combined, it is even more beneficial.

• It has a psychological effect because laughing loudly helps uplift spirits, lighten moods and creates an optimistic frame of mind.
• Laughter yoga helps to reduce stress and encourage the release of endorphins, which are feel good hormones in our body.
• Laughter helps to banish anger, irritability and resentment.
• It also encourages more intake of oxygen and improves blood circulation. Increased blood circulation leads to greater release of toxins and thus better wellness.
• Laughter yoga boosts our immune system.
• The diaphragmatic breathing during laughter yoga also strengthens the muscles of the diaphragm.
• Because of these properties laughter yoga helps to alleviate various ailments like: asthma, skin allergies, high blood pressure, depression and diabetes.
• Laughter tones and exercises the facial muscles, nourishing your skin and giving it a healthy glow. Thus, it is anti-aging.
• Laughing loudly burns calories, so it helps weight loss in a joyful way.
• Laughing loudly clears the breathing passages and fills the lungs with more oxygen.
• Laughter also stimulates vital internal organs thus improving digestion.

There are numerous reasons why I love and hate to come home from university. Although I miss the independance and freedom that the student life gives to me, I look forward to eating some decent healthy meals cooked and prepared especially for me by my mum, there is simply nothing like your mum’s homecooking. 

Being a vegetarian, so the food menu has already been cut in half, and a very impatient person by nature I tend to stick to the range of microwave meals avaliable at asda or live on pasta (my favourite dish) and pizza…which does tend to get rather tedious. So when I come home my mum uses the opportunity to as she puts it ‘feed me up’. Add this to the selection of snacks my mum buys as treats, like my guilty pleasure thortons mini choc brownies and caramel shortbreads (I can get through a whole packet in a day) which I refuse to buy at uni, not only to stay in shape, but because my student budget doesn’t allow me to treat myself (well i’de rather spend the money on that new top in topshop or an extra drink in tiger). It doesn’t exactly help either when the summer holiday boredom kicks in…and hours of facebook posting turns your head into a mush. With a lack of anything productive to do you look for that sugar fix as a highlight of your day.  It is therefore easy to understand why I have just signed up again as a member at my local gym.

Since it is holiday season I feel that many of you will feel the same, we all want to look hot in that bikini or pull in that dream dress, so here is a feature I wrote about alternative fitness therapies that you might find interesting…because nobody really enjoys the pain and sweat of the gym.

Laughter yoga is no joke…

Every year brings a new fitness fad, another strange diet, and one more unusual menu. 

From the maple syrup diet which involves drinking a concoction of lemon juice and obviously maple syrup up to 12 times a day to the baked beans diet, where you live on baked beans, three meals a day, eaten cold or hot.

If it was just some toning you were looking for, there is more than a hundred new fitness DVD’s weighing down the stands. It is no wonder we are being left in a spin, not knowing which one works best for our body, fits in with our lifestyle and does not cost a credit busting amount. But what if we could stay fit and healthy without busting a sweat, and what’s more have fun, feel sexy and enjoy working out. Two alternative fitness therapies are said to tighten those abs, get rid of those bingo wings and stretch out your pins.   

Laughter Yoga is part traditional yoga and part just plain silliness. Invented in a park in Mumbai India by Dr. Madan Kataria it uses unconditional laughter with yoga techniques. “We don’t need any reason to laugh. Life is serious, there is a lot of seriousness around the world, so the time has come when we should take laughter seriously” Dr. Kataria says. “Laughter yoga is safe, scientifically proven, and lots of fun” he adds.

A 45 minute class involves walking or dancing while waving your hands in the air and laughing hysterically, followed by improvised games which aim to connect you to your inner child. The classes then end with cool down techniques like murmuring gibberish and chuckling spontaneously as well as a good group stretch.

But Dr. Kataria says you do not have to attend a class to get that same laughing fix, “it can be done at home in groups and you can also learn to laugh all by yourself to combine with yogic breathing exercises”.

According to Doctor William Fry at Stanford University, “10 minutes of laughter is equal to 30 minutes on the rowing machine. It is like an aerobic workout and this is ideal for people who have no time to do exercise. They can just laugh for 10 minutes and they don’t need to sweat out on the jogging tracks” Dr. Kataria quotes. You can even do it in your beds and still get the same benefits of any aerobic exercise.

Laughing releases endorphins relieving physical, emotional and mental stress which strengthens your immune system and leaves you feeling confident with a big smile and a positive outlook.

Gyrotonics and Gyrokinesis is another popular fitness therapy that is being used by the likes of Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin.

“It is a system that has application to all walks of life. People who have a very limited range of movement and are in considerable pain experience great relief and an increase in freedom in their bodies and those that are super fit can increase the strength and integrity of the way that their body moves to improve overall performance in whatever sport or endeavour they undertake” says Melissa Cosby, trainer in Gyrotonics at Kinesis studios.

The equipment may seem daunting to use at first, bearing similarities to some nineteenth century torture machines. However once strapped in the weights and pulleys work in spirals in accordance with the organic movements of the body, lengthening, strengthening and toning muscles, also focusing on the flexibility of joints. Mixed with simple breathing techniques taken from Yoga and Pilates, it promises a relaxing and laid back approach to fitness. 

“Specific breathing patterns underpin the entire repertoire and the whole body is working the whole time as compared to isolated muscle work in the gym” Melissa adds.

For more information please visit www.laughteryoga.org and www.kinesis-studios.com

Fx

Wednesday night found my wife and I on our way to Mt. Irenaeus for an Evening of Re-Creation. Diane doesn’t usually accompany me and so having her along was special for a number of reason. We were a bit late getting there in time for the Mass that began Wednesday’s evening. As we walked from the parking lot near Holy Peace Chapel we passed by the labyrinth. I pulled my Blackberry out, snapped a picture and shared it on Facebook with my friends. We enjoyed our evening very much. When I returned home and logged into Facebook I could see that two of my friends had commented on the picture of the labyrinth. One expressed delight and the other mentioned that Daniel Pink mentions labyrinths in his book, “A Whole New Mind.” I respect both of my friends a great deal and so a conversation is begun about the labyrinth and Dan Pink.

I did some googling and became interested in purchasing “A Whole New Mind.” At work the next day another of my friends had seen the picture and discussion too and she volunteers some insights which further pique my interest in both labyrinths and Pink’s book. Rick offered to bring the book to work the next day, but when I get home on Thursday, curiosity gets the best of me and I decided to purchase the book from iTunes and so that’s what happens. I began listening to the book immediately and in short it’s been great to listen to. In fact much of my experience with the collaborative nature of this story is very right brained. I’m amazed too that my own experience at Mt. Irenaeus and my spiritual journey have left me advantaged once again. In the past almost ten years I’ve become increasingly aware that I’m a contemplative and a mystic, so Dan Pink’s book resonated very much with what I’ve experienced at the Mountain and elsewhere.

The very first labyrinth I ever experienced was at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, AZ.  A year or so later the friars built the labyrinth at Mt. Irenaeus. In that time I’ve found myself walking both of them at different times and each time I found the experience grounding. Pink’s primary premise is that success today comes from a right brained paradigm. Labyrinths promote or facilitate right brained thinking which may hold the keys to success in today’s marketplace and society.

I highly recommend “A Whole New Mind,” it’s a very interesting book with  great insights.  Pink’s book has led me to topics like Laughter Yoga and more reading on labyrinths and how they are being used in hospitals and schools. Here is a great link to a virtual labyrinth at Grace Cathedral.  I’ve lalso learned of Martin Seligman’s Authentic Happiness site.

How did all of this happen? It was a smartphone photo sent to Facebook which invited a collaborative response or responses. These technologies didn’t exist five or ten years ago and like Dan Pink’s book they make possible changes in the way we work and learn. Maybe we should change schools and teaching in general to a more right brained paradigm.

http://www.laughteryoga.org/

When was the last time you had a big belly laugh? You know the kind that gets you practically crying and aching in your belly, cheeks, etc. Ahhh, those are fun.

(from Flickr – by Yanming)

Well, if you haven’t had one in a while, no worries, there’s help! No I’m not about to tell a joke – instead, I want to share a link to a fabulous person who can make you laugh.

A friend of mine – Wendy Woods of Watershed Training Solutions — is  a Laughter Yoga specialist (amongst other training talents). She is so good, she was recently profiled on Entertainment Tonight – you can see the video on her site.

If your team, company or any group of people can use a chuckle, give her a call.  Get her to come in on a Monday morning….now that will bolster the TGIM spirit!!

Give it a try. It’s good for you!

BACK TO TGIMWORKLIFE HOME PAGE

I wanted to put up a post today, but couldn’t think of anything earth shaking to write about .  I spent some time searching the Net and did find three things that I thought were interesting:

1) Laughter Yoga.  I can’t think of a better way to burn off some calories, and putting your self in a good mood, than to combine yoga and laughing.  I do think the guy who decided to market the idea did so to make a buck.  I don’t think we really need to cough up $195 for the DVD to learn any of these “special” exercise.  Watching me try to do yoga should be enough to get you started.

http://www.laughteryoga.org/

Have you ever tried yoga?

2) A very beautiful video of part of a “modern” ballet performed by Marianela Nunez and Ed Watson, of the Wayne McGregor Royal Ballet Company.

 ”Infra”

Do you enjoy watching dancing performances, in any genre from ballet to clog dancing?

3) An interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor, by G. Jeffery MacDonald, about  church groups that now hold their services at the homes of their members, and even in cafes.

“Churches without Church”

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0604/p02s08-ussc.html

From the article:

“When Barry Diamond first told fellow ministers that his Las Vegas church was preparing to leave its 12,000-square-foot rental space in April and worship instead in members’ homes, they warned him he was “committing ministry suicide.”

But Pastor Diamond and The Village, as his nondenominational church is known, have survived. Fifteen homes now hold intimate services twice a month. On other Sundays, they dip into funds previously earmarked for rent and use them for special events and outreach, such as a May block party for local African refugees. Now other church leaders want to know how they might follow suit.

“I don’t know if we uncovered a model that people are longing for or what,” Diamond says. “But I have six appointments over the next three or four weeks with [church leaders] who are flying into Las Vegas just to meet and talk about it.”

Leaving a building with no plans for a new one used to be a hallmark of a failed congregation. In this recession, however, a growing number of hard-hit churches are struggling to pay rents and mortgages. That has some thinking about the formerly unthinkable: being a church without a building – and they are getting encouragement from building-free congregations who wouldn’t have it any other way.

Since the economic downturn began, six financially stressed churches in various states have sought advice from

The Well in California’s Orange County. It’s a 57-year-old Southern Baptist congregation that quit its $5,000-per-month lease in 2005 and formed what has become a network of five house churches. Sensing a need among financially strapped churches, Pastor Ken Eastburn in April launched a website – leavethe buildingblog.com – to assure struggling churches there’s spiritual life after bricks and mortar.”

If you belong to a church, that was having financial problems, would you consider moving from a permanent buillding to renting space somewhere, or even hold services at home?

How is that for three diverse topics. 

I know times are tough. As an accountant I deal with money, or lack there of, on a daily basis. I understand what it means to split the pie in a million possible peaces. Therefore, I understand how, in these tough times, people will look to save a penny anywhere they can, and that sometimes can take a weird shape and form. One of the weirdest I have come across are the Laughter Clubs that the Skepchick reported on at her Bostonist column. What is a Laughter Club? Glad you asked.

The clubs have formed in Arlington, Wakefield, and Somerville, and the “laughter leaders” who direct them say dedicated bouts of chuckling can provide a trove of mental and physical benefits.

According to Laughter Yoga International, an extended session of laughing provides a solid diaphragm and abdominal workout; it’s also said to diminish stress, depression, blood pressure, arthritis, and asthma, and boost the lungs and immune system.

I gotta tell you, whenever someone claims to “boost the immune system” my bullshit detector goes crazy. I can see how it may help with stress and depression, which have a big psychological factor to them, but arthritis? Asthma? Immune System? That’s pure and simple horse shit!

Club participants range from doctors and psychologists to Little Leaguers accompanying their moms. To stimulate snickers, members partake in various quirky miming exercises (anything from pretending to dunk a basketball, to simulating a trolley ride). Similarly, they’re encouraged to practice on their own – some giggle at their plants, others in the shower, many more bray in the car.

Oh, I see, so it is basically a bunch of grown ups acting like clowns, like 2 year olds. Why wouldn’t that help with your immune system?

In the beginning, it can be a little awkward.

No shit, Watson! (A rip off “elementary Watson”. Has nothing to do with the Skepchick)

But once people move beyond the initial oddity of it all, they build a “laugh connection,” Hobbs noted. “We are all just here in that moment.”

***Skepdude double checks the web address! Nope it’s not the Onion!***

Facilitating these sessions of hilarity takes more training than you might imagine; it’s essentially organized and disciplined laughter, based on what’s known as Hasya, or laughter, yoga. Leaders must be certified; many have done so directly with workshops led by the “Guru of Giggling” himself, Madan Kataria, an Indian doctor who founded the laughter mission.

Ah there we go. Laughter Yoga and an Indian Guru. Need I say more? And he offers research. Research! Surely this cannot be the kind of vague, inconclusive studies we’re used to see from people of this ilk. The offer two studies for us to consider, the Bangalore study and the US study.

BANGALORE STUDY

In December 2006, Laughter Yoga International commissioned a scientific research project involving 200 IT professionals in Bangalore, India, to study the effects of Laughter Yoga on their stress levels. Seven Laughter Yoga sessions were administered to half the group over an 18 day period, with physiological, immunological and psychological tests performed on each person before and after the Laughter Yoga sessions.

The study was undertaken by one of India’s leading scientific research organizations.

The results of the Bangalore study were extremely positive. In the Laughter Yoga group there was a significant drop in heart rate, blood pressure dropped significantly, cortisol levels were significantly reduced, positive emotions increased by 17% and negative emotions dropped by 27%, perceived stress dropped significantly, and Alexithymia dropped by almost 9%, indicating a significant improvement in emotional intelligence.

Here is a brief summary of the Bangalore Study results:

US STUDY (BECKMAN, REGIER & YOUNG)
Another important 2007 study in the United States looked at the effects of Laughter Yoga on personal efficacy in the workplace.

Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to organize and carry out courses of action necessary to achieve a goal or manage a situation (Bandura, 1986). This personal belief influences the choices people make, the effort they put forth into working toward a goal, how long they persist when confronted with obstacles, and how they feel during the process of working toward goals. Self-efficacy beliefs affect performance in the workplace.

Personal efficacy testing was done the week before, the week after, and 60-90 days after the series of daily Laughter Yoga sessions. Laughter Yoga was administered for 15 minutes a day for 14 days.

The results show significant improvements of the Laughter Yoga group in all areas, with positive changes of 100% occurring in a number of areas. It is particularly interesting to note the long-lasting effects of the laughter interventions.

Here is a brief summary of the BRY Study results:

Ok, so let’s start the Red Flag observations:

They do not provide links to said studies, neither to the full study or an abstract, which strongly implies that said studies were never published anywhere. So we must take it on faith that these studies do in fact exist.

They even fail to provide the “brief summaries” they promise at the end of each study’s description. Again, we must take it on faith that these studies do in fact exist.

The Bangalore study was commissioned by themselves, and the second one seems likely to be the same, even though they do not specify. That fact alone does not disqualify the results but when coupled with the other red flags it adds to the question marks. Since it appears the studies were not published, let alone replicated, again we must take it on faith that they properly controlled the obvious bias and conflict of interest.

Neither of these two studies seems to support their claim that their laughter yoga can help with diabetes, asthma, lungs or the immune system. So either they are misguiding their followers or the followers are misunderstanding the limits of this “technique”.

It seems we have to take to much on faith here. Sounds like a quack to me! Folks, if you want to laugh go ahead and laugh your heart out. But stop pretending it’s something it is not. Dont’ we have enough stupid claims out there already? Do you have to go and ruin laughing for us as well with stuff like this: “‘Laughter is the best medicine’ has scientifically proven to be the most powerful prescription for wellness.” No it hasn’t. Stop making shit like this up. Laughter is not medicine and the fact that some idiots want to cash in on one of the most basic bodily functions, laughter, is despicable. What will they try to charge us for next, breathing?

World Laughter Day is coming up on May 3rd.  As the toll of the economy and unemployment continue to mount, this will be  a welcome distraction and hopefully the beginning of a new habit.  I have learned more and more about laughter yoga lately and am the facilitator for the Happiness Club here in Omaha.  I absolutely believe that surrounding yourself with support and supportive family and friends is essential to all of our well-being and overall health.

Please reach out and share your needs.  None of us are in this alone and truly believe that together, we really can live the life we want.  Hope to hearing you laughing!