Laughter Yoga

Today at work we had a "trends" workshop for rec programmers. It was pretty interesting - presentations by Brian Johnston from PERC (Professional Environmental Recreation Consultants) and Suzanne Strutt of BCRPA (BC Recreation and Parks Association) and results of a customer preferences and participation survey. Okay, it was interesting but it was loooonnnnngggg. By 12:15 I was wiggling and yawning and I had already taken a couple of mental vacations to more interesting places. Then my friend Rhonda Jackson from Bonsor got up to do a presentation about hot new fitness activities. We heard about "nordic walking" (vigourous trailwalking with ski poles - aka dork-fit - I added that last part). We also tried drumming fitness aka Taiko-Fit, but that's copyrighted. We banged on giant rubber balls with drum sticks. That was fun and it make my arms and shoulders nice and warm. The best was laughter yoga. Rhonda got us to try a bit of it. She said we had to "fake it until we make it," or make ourselves laugh until we really started laughing. So we had to walk around the room and bow Asian-style to each person we met, maintain eye contact and bring up a belly laugh. Wow. That was easy. I was killing myself laughing from the first encounter. That made everything feel warm and good. Rhonda reminded us that children laugh 300 times a day and adults laugh 15 times a day. She said that adults often laugh little tiny chest laughs when belly laughs are the beneficial kind. She told us how it lowers stress and blood pressure and improves overall physical and mental health. Also, one hour of laughing burns 500 calories. Huhhh? Wow, I'd better keep laughing or I'm going to blimp out for sure. I told my friends, "See that's why I'm so skiiiinnnnnyyy." They laughed.

question: how often do you laugh each day?

mompoet - I don't need lessons but I enjoy practising anytime