CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE ARTICLE

The Cedar Rapids Gazette just ran an article about the laughing work I've been doing in Iowa and beyond. It's reprinted below. The link to it at the Gazette's site is: http://thegazette.com/2012/01/06/“ha-ha-ha-ho-ho-ho”-laughter-is-best-medicine/

“Ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ho,” Laughter is Best Medicine

LANSING — “Ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ho, hee, hee, hee.”

Laughing Laura Gentry greets everybody she meets in the same way.

“Hahaha” reads the license plate on her little blue Mini-Cooper S.

“Ha, ha, ha,” she begins every weekly session of the Lansing Laughter Club at Our Savior Lutheran Church where, at 41, she’s been pastor for ten years.

The laughter for Laura began in 2006. She has since spread it around the world, laughing on five continents with her laughter yoga program.

In fact, Laura was in Durbin, South Africa, last month for the COP17 convention where attendees wrung their hands over the potential disastrous fallout of global warming. They obviously needed a little laughter.

“By some estimates,” Laura says, “we should be laughing 20 minutes a day. Most people laugh 15 times a day but for only 1.2 seconds each time.”

Laura was one of those.

“I was feeling particularly stressed in my profession,” she says. “It has a high burnout rate.”

Caring for a congregation is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from birth to death. You know the burdens other people carry and share in their concerns.

Laura’s husband, William Gentry II, also experienced the stress, although on another level. He’s a black man in a predominately white community as minister of the First Congregational Church in McGregor. (They live in that church’s parsonage.) She’s quick to say the communities readily accepted the mixed-race, mixed denominational couple.

Laura and William met at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., and married in 1996. He’s from Alaska. She was born in Cedar Rapids and grew up in Illinois, Wisconsin and Dubuque. After five years in Los Angeles, they came to Iowa. As she’s expanded her laughter program, he’s pursued professional photography.

“We love Iowa,” Laura says, laughing. “Some people don’t get us here, but they tolerate us.”

The laughter, she admits, has become an important aspect of the Gentrys taking care of themselves, too.

“It’s miraculous to me how a little laughter can do so much for people,” Laura says.

Following the principals of Dr. Madan Kataria who started laughter sessions in India and brought his teachings to California, Laura incorporated her experience in dance, the arts and public speaking into “The Iowa School of Laughter Yoga.” She and William have produced books, videos and a website, www.laughinglaura.com, extolling laughter’s benefits. Her audiences range from executives in suits at GE Healthcare in Wisconsin to students in Chile where she and William laughed their way across the country for three weeks.

“Laughter is this universal language,” Laura says, “and we learned how true that is.”

The yoga aspect of Laura’s sessions comes not in the exercise so much as the controlled breathing with the fits of laughter. Even if you force yourself to laugh, you get the benefits. Plus, it can become contagious and develop into genuine laughter.

In a recent session Laura had participants shake their hands, roll their shoulders, hop around, breathe deeply like weeds blowing in the wind, walk with an arm extended as if they were elephants. “I am happy,” they chanted. “I am relaxed. I am happy. I am relaxed.”

“Because we don’t tell jokes,” Laura says, “nobody is being laughed at. It’s just playful laughter.”

She had everyone hold a hand over theirs noses, pretending it was a mask for laughing gas. They panted like a dog and wagged their tails. They pretended to breathe through their right ears because, as Laura said, “You can’t do it and that’s what makes it funny.”

At one point, everyone sat in a circle and smiled at each other until it became a grin and then all out laughter. It put everyone in a positive mood which, with exercise, can become habitual.

“No sense of humor is required,” Laura says, “but humor leads to laughter and laughter leads to humor.”

Comments: (319) 398-8323; dave.rasdal@sourcemedia.net

LAUGHTER YOGA FOR THE BUSINESS WORLD

Got stress? Most people do. Especially in the business world. There are so many pressures and responsibilities. It can lead to stress, depression, burn-out and even serious illness.

What can alleviate this workplace stress? Laughter, of course. Scientific research has demonstrated that laughter can help to resolve workplace stress and many related issues.

Indeed, laughter is great. And in everyday life, there are opportunities to laugh, but on average, these laughs only last for 2.2 seconds. This is not enough to unleash laughter’s full potential. It is only when we laugh vigorously for a longer time that we can experience powerful physiological and biochemical changes.

This is why laughter yoga is such an effective tool in the business world. It is a breakthrough delivery system, which enables a person to laugh continuously for an extended period of time—even without having a developed sense of humor. This is extremely beneficial, particularly because it is punctuated with deep, yogic breathing. Together, the laughing and breathing serve to dimish stress, build teamwork, boost physical health, and can even improve creativity and efficiency.

For these reasons, companies around the world are starting to utilize laughter yoga. Results indicate that employees in laughter yoga programs become more committed, learn more easily, improve their interpersonal skills, and that the workplace becomes a happier place. It is often reflected in increased sales, efficiency and productivity and an improved bottom line.

A one-year laughter yoga trial in a Danish IT company yielded the following results: The company’s sales increased more than 25% in a highly competitive market while stress levels decreased by 75%. The program consisted of laughter yoga sessions daily for a week followed by weekly sessions for one year. All management and employees participated and stress levels were scientifically monitored.

On August 30, I led a corporate laughter program for an international meeting at GE Healthcare in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Below is a short video of the executives showing off their newly-formed laughing-for-no-reason skills. My visit provoked some good conversation about the need for more workplace laughter.

This is the second time that I have presented laughter yoga at GE Healthcare. Click here for the blog post about my first visit.

GE HEALTHCARE GETS HEALTHIER WITH LAUGHTER YOGA

On May 9th, I had the incredible opportunity of leading two laughter yoga workshops at GE Healthcare in Waukesha, Wisconsin. This demonstrates how serious GE Healthcare is about promoting workplace wellness. One of the workshops was open for all employees to attend if they so desired. The second one was for a staff meeting. In both workshops, the GE Healthcare community had a delightful time laughing, relieving stress and boosting their own health.

My sister, Dr. Kathleen Phelan—a graduate of the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga and is now known as "Laffy Kathy"—assisted me in this laughing endeavor. It was so exciting to lead the laughter yoga sessions with her. We've got a great synergy.

Art Larson of GE Healthcare explained the event in this way: "We had Laughing Laura and her sister, Kathy, attend our GE staff meeting. The only person that really knew what to expect was our 'Health Ahead' committee member. Everyone else was in for the surprise. I noticed immediate interest by our team, a team that normally manages through a great deal of stress each day. While there was hesitation as we began, by the end of the session everyone felt a lot better than they did when we started. Laughing Laura and Kathy put us at ease with a combination of solid clinical examples on the effects of laughter on body and soul and some great exercises to do as a team. We all really enjoyed the session and had a great time exercising with laughter!"

One of the event organizers, Naresh, wrote to me: "Thank you so much for coming! I have been laughing ever since. You made all the participants feel comfortable to come out and explore the lighter and funny side of life. It was simply great and you two are fabulous! Ha ha haaaaa!"

The other organizer, Shari Lynn, added: "I've received a lot of positive feedback. You and Kathy were a big hit here!"

I also was forwarded an e-mail from a lead engineer who wrote of the session: "It was nice to see a pastor getting a hold of this for good health...she has a very unusual talent. I must admit, the session impacted me. When I laid down to go to sleep, I started chuckling! :D"

Though we didn't have my photographer husband, William, along, we did manage to get a few pictures of the hilarity and post them here.

The Ha Ha Sisters

The morning workshop

Doing the "elephant laughter" exercise in the second workshop

More laughing trunks with "elephant laughter"

Laughing for no reason

"Santa laughter"

Laughter meditation (Yes, that's a group of serious employees cutting loose by laughing on the floor of their conference room!)

The Ha Ha Sisters with one of our new

laughing friends from GE Healthcare

Shari Lynn and I showing off our laughter-wear

More new laughter friends from GE Healthcare

(As you can see, they are amazing!)

Laughter yoga is fantastic for stress management. It can help bring about greater wellness and increased efficiency. To read more about laughter yoga as a business tool, click here. Laughter yoga CDs and other resources can be found at The Laughter Shoppe. Bring laughter and levity to your workplace by calling me, Laughing Laura, at 563-880-2699 or Laffy Kathy at TallDoc@wi.rr.com.