APRIL FOOL'S DAY LAUGHTER YOGA LEADER RETREAT

March 30—April 1, 2012 • Ferryville, Wisconsin • Now Enrolling!

Earn lifetime certification as a Laughter Yoga Leader by enrolling in this upcoming April Fool's Day retreat to be held at a wilderness camp in the rolling hills of southwest Wisconsin. 

Most certified Laughter Yoga Leader courses are offered as a two-day seminar. While this format works, I have found that teaching it over a slightly longer period of time in a retreat setting works even better. Students have been wildly enthusiastic about learning laughter yoga in this way. So, by popular demand, I am offering a spring retreat at Sugar Creek Bible Camp in Ferryville, Wisconsin. The facility is accredited by the American Camp Association. Here, you can get away from your everyday stresses and relax in a beautiful environment.

The retreat begins Friday, March 30 at 6:00 p.m. We’ll gather in the octagonal meeting cabin for opening session. Then we’ll laugh, tell stories and roast marshmallows around a campfire in the evening. After that, the camp’s wood burning sauna will be fired up and ready for us.

On Saturday, we'll spend the entire day laughing, learning, bonding, and eating delicious food. As part of the experience, we’ll laugh our way through the camp’s labyrinth and deepen our spiritual joy.  You’ll be given some free time in the afternoon so you can explore the camp’s trails, visit with your laughter friends or curl up in your cabin for a nap. That evening, we’ll have a full-blown costume party, complete with games, gibberish singing and dancing.

Sunday—April Fool's Day—the fun continues with more practice, brunch, and the crafting of our laughing life plans. The retreat concludes with a rollicking graduation ceremony in which you’ll laugh "Pomp and Circumstance," take the laughter pledge and be zealously awarded your laughing degree-he-he. Believe me, you’ve never had such fun at graduation ceremony. We’ll then take our class pictures and be finished and ready to hit the road by 2:00 p.m. that afternoon.

This is a rare and exciting opportunity to study laughter yoga at a  retreat. The tuition is $295 (the international standard for this course, set by Laughter Yoga International) and includes all instruction to certify you as a Laughter Yoga Leader, my original manual, The Little Book of Big Laughs, a Be Laughter CD, two posters and a full color diploma professionally printed with your name.

Accommodation at the camp is in the modern Log Cabin Village. These upscale retreat lodgings are shared with up to seven persons per cabin.  Each cabin has a covered porch, a small sitting area with a fireplace and bathroom and shower facilities. 

The camp chef will pamper us with healthy, home-cooked meals. Vegetarian options will be provided. And in between those meals, there will be ample snacks and beverages for you. The hospitality can't be beat!

Cost for the two nights and all food is just $80, bringing the grand total for the weekend experience to $375. This is much more affordable than staying at a hotel and dining out. 

Below are testimonials from two laughing graduates who took the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga certified Laughter Yoga Leader retreat at Sugar Creek.

Space is limited at this highly-sought retreat so enroll as soon as possible. To do so, click the convenient Paypal button below to make your $200 deposit or call 563-880-2699 to make payment by credit card.  To enroll by mail, please fill out the application form and send a check payable to Laughing Laura to: P.O. Box 11, Marquette, IA 52158. The balance is to be paid at the start of the retreat. Register with a friend and you’ll each receive $35 off your tuition plus a free CD or DVD.

Visit The Iowa School of Laughter Yoga to learn more.

LAUGHTER MAY BE GOOD FOR WHAT AILS YOU

The following article is from the Charlotte Observer. I'm reposting it here because Jody Ross is a graduate of the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga and I'm just so proud of her. She's also a certified laughter yoga teacher now. She studied with Dr. Kataria in Chicago in April—so I got to share the learning experience with her. Go, Jody!

Jody Ross' story starts like many others.

For 15 years, she suffered from chronic health problems - pain, fibromyalgia, insomnia and bipolar disorder. She had searched in vain for a doctor or a treatment that could provide relief.

Two years ago, she found an unexpected resolution.

She was visiting the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. And as she left, still feeling desperate and hopeless, she passed a sign for a "Spirituality of Laughter" workshop. It was for employees only, but she ducked inside uninvited.

There she heard a Lutheran minister, Laura Gentry, discussing the medical benefits of laughter and leading the group in something called Laughter Yoga.

An hour later, Ross left the clinic feeling refreshed.

"What I noticed, aside from the fact that it was absolutely hilarious, was the connection with these people that I didn't even know," Ross said. "There's a sense of connection when you're laughing and looking into each other's eyes and having a shared experience. I felt great for hours afterward."

Ross became a certified Laughter Yoga leader and started the first Laughter Yoga Club in the Twin Cities.

Next month, she will visit Rock Hill to lead a class and a weekend workshop for anyone who wants to learn and teach this unusual exercise that got its start in India.

The exercise is appropriate for anyone, Ross said. She teaches people from age 5 to 80.

Classes incorporate light stretching and yoga breathing, but no difficult poses. No downward-facing dog. No bridge. No tree.

She starts by having people introduce themselves and laugh.

"I'm Jody. Ha. Ha. Ha."

At first, the laughter is fake, but "very quickly it becomes the real thing," she said.

Research shows that a fake laugh offers the same benefit as a spontaneous belly laugh, she added. And the benefits she lists are many - reduced stress, improved heart health, improved sleep and pain management, strengthened immune system and deeper breathing to improve bronchitis, hay fever and asthma.

"It's an incredible aerobic workout," she added.

After introductions, Ross said the class might create a "laughter car wash," with some participants moving their hands as if they're washing a car and others walking through the line, pummeled by laughter instead of water. Another exercise might involve talking in gibberish in a particular situation, such as persuading a police officer not to write a traffic ticket.

As you might guess, Laughter Yoga is not for everyone.

But Ross said even the skeptical find themselves joining in.

"In Minnesota, of course, people can be quite stoic," she said. "But it's so contagious, very quickly you lose that inhibition, and they're just in the moment. Even the ones that are really shy, they're the ones who end up laughing the most."

When she leads her Laughter Yoga Club in an outdoor park in the summer, Ross said she often sees people walking their dogs who pass by multiple times. "By the third or fourth or fifth time, they're walking by laughing with us."

Dr. Madan Katarian, the Indian physician who created Laughter Yoga in 1995, advises every Laughter Yoga professor to practice laughing daily, Ross said. She laughs alone or with her husband and 6-year-old daughter. "We laugh in the car, we laugh at the dinner table, for no reason."

"When we use laughter as a practice, we begin to find laughter throughout our day. Things we wouldn't have found very funny all of a sudden become amusing when we're in the habit of laughing as an exercise."

Before she started Laughter Yoga, Ross was in pain all the time. Today, at 40, her pain is 99 percent gone.

"I cannot tell you what a relief that is," she said. "I'm able to do so much more than I've been able to do before. I never would have thought that I would actually be able to be free of those things that plagued me for 15 years....It's very powerful stuff."

LAUGHTER MOVEMENT CELEBRATES 15 YEARS

Tomorrow, the global laughter movement will celebrate its 15th anniversary. For it was on March 13th in 1995 that Dr. Madan Kataria and his wife, Madhuri, went to Lokhandwala Park in Mumbai, India and convinced three passersby to join them in their experimental concept of a "laughter club." This group, pictured to the left, had a wonderful meeting that day but had no idea where this group laughing thing was going.

For the anniversary celebration on Saturday, they will gather at the very same spot the club first met. They'll have cake, laugh and reminisce about the humble beginnings of this now international movement of laughter and peace.

About this occasion, Dr. Kataria says: "A number of people have said kind things about me. While I am grateful to them, I must mention that all along it has been a combined effort of laughter club members, especially the leaders and teachers, from all over the world. It will be not incorrect to say that each one has contributed in some way or the other to the growth of laughter clubs while my role has been that of a mere facilitator. Please accept my heartiest congratulations and best wishes for you and your family and may everyone around you be happy, healthy and joyful."

As a teacher of laughter yoga whose life has been swept up in this laughter movement, I must stop and reflect up this anniversary as well. It is incredible to me—almost unbelievable—that 5 people telling jokes in a park could change the world in this epic way. But they did! And they did so without any advertising campaign. In the 15 years since it began, laughter yoga has spread to all corners of the globe primarily by word of mouth. It is a grassroots movement of joy involving hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic laughers, many of whom lead laughter clubs on a volunteer basis.

It is easy to look at the woes of the world and feel helpless. We can get down and say to ourselves: I'm just one person, I can't change the world. Yet the Katarias and their fellow laughers tell us that yes, one person CAN change the world. And this sparks such hope in me that I am overwhelmed.

On Saturday, I invite you to say a prayer of thanksgiving for the global laughter movement. Then throw your arms into the air, let out a great big belly laugh for peace and smile knowing that YOU a part of this movement—this family—and the positive changes have only just begun.

LAUGHTER YOGA GAINS POPULARITY IN THE TWIN CITIES

This article by Nancy Ngo of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press was picked up by the AP and ran all over the country in October. Since Jody Ross, the leader of the laughter club mentioned in the article, is my student I wanted to bring this great bit of press to your attention. Congratulations, Jody!

Yoga is hilarious.

Seriously.

With the growing popularity of various forms of yoga, it was only a matter of time before a practice called laughter yoga made its way to the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

From Roseville to Burnsville, groups are gathering to laugh to their heart's content.

Laughter yoga has been spreading across the globe since a doctor in India created it in the mid-'90s as a way to relieve stress and anxiety in his patients.

The exercise is believed to have health benefits that include strengthening the immune system, minimizing upper respiratory infections and decreasing sleep deprivation.

"It's been clinically proven that when you laugh, you feel happier," said Mary Margaret Anderson, a laughter yoga instructor who teaches at Fairview Community Center in Roseville, Minn.

"People are coming because they realize they can do something about their health and state of being."

Anderson, who has taught several forms of yoga for 15 years, started offering laughter yoga three years ago because she liked how it concentrated on releasing endorphins in the brain associated with happiness.

She believed the practice was a natural complement of other forms of yoga.

The practice is similar to other yoga classes in the sense that it is about focusing on the moment, finding inner peace and improving one's health.

Yet there are no downward facing dogs or other poses. Rather, a session focuses on laughing and breathing exercises.

"You don't necessarily have to be athletic," Anderson said. Still, participants end up strengthening their abdominal muscles and burning calories in the process.

Jody Ross has offered a free outdoor laughter yoga class at Lake Harriet every Monday night since May. The get-together has attracted all types -- kids and seniors, working professionals and retired people.

"I think folks are looking for ways to lighten up. Especially with the economy, there are so many things that can stress us out or give us anxiety," she said. "Laughter yoga is different from hearing a joke or watching a film. It's a type of laughter that affects your body differently."

At Ross' class this week, participants came as they were, including in jeans and a sweatshirt.

The class involved impersonations and role-playing, and participants found themselves needing to be social, lively and interactive.

Ross even brought a bag of props including wigs, hats and feather boas to get participants in a mischievous mood.

Ross drew out forced laughter by having participants impersonate how a girl laughs -- drawing high pitches -- and how a man laughs -- drawing low pitches.

Participants also pretended to ride in a rodeo and to blow out candles on a cake. Breathing exercises were also part of the mix.

After suffering a heart attack a year ago, Erv Chorn of Edina, Minn., started attending laughter yoga classes regularly to improve his health.

"I wouldn't have kept coming back if I didn't feel like it was helping me," said Chorn, who's in his mid-70s. "No matter how hard my day has been, how tired I am, I come here and feel relaxed and re-energized by the end of the class."

Renee Taylor, 40, of Maple Grove, Minn., tried laughter yoga the first week of October for the first time. "I showed up with my yoga mat, but I guess I didn't even need it," she said.

Taylor found the exercises contrived at first. As she warmed up, she found herself laughing naturally -- especially when a fellow participant couldn't stop laughing, which she found contagious.

"I liked that it was one of the few times you get to be spontaneous and be in the moment," she said. "By the end, it was the real thing."

* If you are a subscriber to this blog and haven't yet received your 100 free laughter yoga exercises, simply respond to this email and write "FREE" in the heading and I'll send your exercises right away.

LAUGHING IN TEXAS

On Friday, June 26, five new laughter yoga leaders graduated from the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga, as pictured above. A typical occurrence, right? It would have been an ordinary laughter seminar, except for the fact that it was happening in...TEXAS! That's right, the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga is moving beyond the borders of Iowa.

This seminar was held at the beautiful Park Cities Yoga studio in downtown Dallas. The connection was made by Julie Hanson (pictured below with me). We were college friends who recently reconnected on Facebook. She suggested I come to Dallas and put me in touch with Jeff Farrell and his wife, Donna, who run the yoga studio.

It was a wonderful seminar with amazing, laughing women.  

Below are some laughter session shots of us frolicking in the lovely studio.

And the laughter conga line!

In this shot, we are giving Rosenda a laughter blessing.

Then we laughter blessed Jeff.

Here's a shot from the laughter graduation ceremony as the laughers take the "Laughter Pledge" and vow to be life-long laughers.

Debbie excitedly gets her laughter diploma!

And here's the group of happy grads from left to right: Rosenda Cephus, LaTasha Derrick, B.J. Ellis, Julie Hanson, Laughing Laura and Debbie Segerstrom. Congratulations, certified laughter yoga leaders! I'm so proud of them.

Testimonials from this seminar:

"I just wanted to say i truly enjoyed your presence and all the wonderful new things you taught us. You have a gift to share and a you've opened a door for me that cannot be closed. I feel free and less self conscious of what others think of me. I feel that I can share my personality and laugh with everyone. At work everyone keeps asking me if I'm still laughing and I get the giggles. I'm smiling ten times more than before and I smile all the time. I feel more like myself everyday and I am enjoying this voyage of discovery. On Saturday I taught my 1st session at the studio. And they loved it. They were having a blast at the end of the session and could not believe I'd just learned this liberating celebration. Thank you, Thank you so very very much! I don't think I can thank you enough for coming."

—LaTasha Derrick

" Just a note to say how much I absolutely, positively LOVED your laughter workshop! So much fun and as you predicted, I know it already has and will change my life for the better. My life is infinitely better for meeting and getting to know you. Keep up the good work! HA HA HA HA!"

 —BJ Ellis

"A BIG thank you for the totally enjoyable seminar!"

—Rosenda Cephus

"I had a great time while sharing laughs with you!" —Debbie Segerstrom "We are SO enthusiastic!" —Julie Hanson

This is only the beginning. I'll be offering laughter yoga leader seminars all around the country. Would you like a seminar in your area? Let's make it happen. Contact me at laughterlaura@yahoo.com or call 563-880-2699. We can laugh world happiness into being!

The Park Cities Yoga Studio plans to have another laughter seminar in the fall. Stay tuned for more details.