On average, children laugh about 350 times a day. They are veritable laughter fountains. Adults, on the other hand, laugh far less: somewhere around 17 times daily. Alas, the heavy responsibilities of adult life weigh heavily upon us. Hence, stress and stress related illnesses are on the rise.
One of the reasons that adults do not laugh as often as children, is that they forget to play. Playfulness in an innate gift that people of every age possess. It is a life-giving trait that can keep us healthy and happy. It is just that we grown-ups do not practice it often enough. Just as a muscle that is not flexed grows weak, so our childlike, playful sensibilities diminish if not practiced.
So what do we do? We need to cut loose a bit more. It doesn't mean we should shirk our responsibilities, but we need to create more balance in our lives. The more stress we've got, the more we need to play. Laughter club is a great way to do this. Getting to act silly with others is a fabulous way to develop a more advanced playful nature.
Once you practice this, you'll develop a sense of silliness and have the courage to boldly play—even apart from the safe zone of laughter club. To bring you inspiration on this front, I decided to go for a dinosaur ride today. This lovely little guy is sturdy enough for adults and yet I've walked by him for years and NEVER taken a ride. Well, this afternoon I decided to seize the day and not let this delightful opportunity for fun pass me by. My fabulous roving photographer husband captured it all so I simply HAVE to share the pics with you. May they inspire you to cultivate your inner child today!
Oh, what a wonderful ride! Woo hooo!
Gidddeeeeupppp!!
Okay now for the treacherous dismount...
Thank you, Mr. Dino, let me give you a pat on the head.
Oh, I love him so much!
See? Now I have no stress! And the best part about all this is that as a Laughter Yoga professional, this is not goofing around, this is professional development!
My debut album, Today is a Laughing Day, has officially released! The whole shipment of CDs arrived by UPS to our home today. Pre-orders have already been shipped! Can you see that I'm a little bit excited??
Today, I did a laughter presentation at the Great River Care Center in McGregor, Iowa. It was an inservice for the entire staff. Administrator, Cheri Leachman, wanted to treat them to a fun-filled afternoon, complete with a catered Christmas party following the meeting. So, she decided Laughter Yoga would be the ticket.
The staff members had no idea that they were in for a less-than-serious laughter-filled seminar and were rather shocked when I showed up in my pink flamingo costume. But once they got adjusted to the idea that laughing at work was okay, they threw themselves into it and had a fabulous time. Not only that, they learned about the health benefits of laughing and how to laugh more with care center residents.
“I was so glad to be able to surprise the staff with this laughter experience! I think it is going boost them for a long time.” Said Leachman, who, as you can see pictured above, got into the spirit of laughter herself.
Free Laughs is another song on my album Today is a Laughing Day. This song is dedicated to my husband, William, with whom I love to give out free laughs.
This jazzy little tune was inspired by the popular YouTube video of free hugs in which a person stood around in a public place with a sign offering free hugs. I thought it would be fun to give out free laughs because people can always use those. Laughter is so contageous that it always uplifts people. We all ought to give out lots of them!
I love you and so I’ll laugh with you and we’ll giggle a lot before this song is through You and me we go: he he he! and we give out free laughs to everybody we see!
Free laughs! Free laughs for you! Free laughs! And laughs for you too! Free laughs for everybody! tee he he, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha he he he, Yeah, the laughs are on you and me!
Another song from my album, Today is a Laughing Day, is called Smile Millionaire. You see this concept works like magic: the more you smile at people, the more they smile back at you. And every smile you receive makes you happier. So you have to give smiles generously in order to become a smile millionaire.
It is my hope that this song will start a smile movement and we'll all be as rich as rich as rich can be!
SMILE MILLIONAIRE by Laughing Laura @2008
1. I have made an amazing discovery that when I smile people smile back at me. Soon I’ll have so many smiles that I’ll declare: “I am a smile millionaire!”
SMILING REFRAIN: I’m gonna be a smile millionaire. I’ll have a million smiles to share. And I’ll be as rich as rich as rich can be with all of the smiles that folks have given to me. Oh I declare, I’ll be a smile millionaire!
2. Now even when I have an ouchy or I feel crabby and oh so grouchy I’ll keep on smiling so that I can declare “I am a smile millionaire!” [Refrain]
3. Oh you, my friend, can become rich too! when you smile, people smile back at you Soon you’ll have so many smiles that you’ll declare: “I am a smile millionaire!” [Refrain]
Turkey the Turtle is the name the most popular song on my album, Today is a Laughing Day. This song was inspired by and dedicated to my pet snapping turtle, Turkey, who truly is a star. Yep, that's him pictured above, dancing in the ha ha ha spiral. Isn't he a fabulous character?
We adopted Turkey in 2001, immediately after we moved to Iowa. He was a brand new hatchling making his way to the Turkey river when we nabbed him, took him home and named him after the river he never reached. In all my years of owning turtles, I have never before had such a hearty and fast-growing turtle as Turkey. We put him into a ten gallon tank but after just three months, he outgrew it and we moved him to a thirty gallon tank. Three months later, he again outgrew his home and we had to buy him the biggest tank we could find at Petco: a seventy five gallon tank that is now the centerpiece of our living room.
Turkey has been our most beloved pet and now weighs well over fifteen pounds. He's attempted some daring escapes and made some trips to the veterinarian but we love him all the same. He's emotionally involved in all that happens in our home and he has many fans. Sometimes people come by just to visit "Turks." So you can see why he inspired such a silly song.
Listen to a sample of the song with the Amazon widget below.
You can buy the MP3 download for just 99 cents. It's fun to use at laughter club.
1. My turtle’s name is Turkey, he is so very perky!
He taps & taps & taps his toes,
he spins around & around & wiggles his nose
Turkey: (wiggles nose)
GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A turtle doesn't have a nose, it has a beak!
Laughing Laura: Yeah, well that doesn’t bother Turkey,
he wiggles it anyway & we can wiggle our noses too.
In fact, let's wiggle our noses while making the silliest faces possible.
Turkey will love it!
GIGGLERS: (wiggle noses & make silly faces)
TURKEY’S REFRAIN:
Turkey, Turkey the Turtle!
He leaps over the hurdle!
He flaps his tail — it goes flap, flappy!
I flap mine too— it makes me happy!
He’s the funniest turtle by far!
Turkey the Turtle—you are a star!
2. My turtle’s name is Turkey
he is so very perky
he hops & hops & hops by a frog,
he spins around & around
and barks at a dog.
Turkey: Arf!
GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A dog can bark at a turtle
but a turtle can’t bark at a dog!
Laughing Laura: Yeah, but Turkey doesn’t know that so he barks
anyway & we can bark too, even though we aren’t dogs.
Are you ready to bark? Here we go!
GIGGLERS: (bark like dogs)
[REFRAIN]
3. My turtle’s name is Turkey
he is so very perky
he wiggles & wiggles like I don’t know how
he spins around & around
& moos like a cow
Turkey: Moo!
GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A turtle can’t sound like a cow!
Laughing Laura: Yeah, well Turkey thinks it’s cool
to act like a cow. Let’s try it with him. It’s lots of fun!
GIGGLERS: (moo like cows)
[REFRAIN]
4. My turtle’s name is Turkey
he is so very perky
he kicks and kicks, he is so kickin’
he spins around & around
and acts like a chicken
Turkey: Bawk! Bawk!
GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A turtle can’t make chicken sounds!
Laughing Laura: Yeah, but chicken sounds are a blast to make.
Let’s be chickens with Turkey!
GIGGLERS: (cluck like chickens)
[REFRAIN]
5. My turtle’s name is Turkey
he is so very perky
he skips & skips like a lanky giraffee
he spins around & around
and lets out a laugh.
Turkey:
GIGGLER: Hey, wait a minute! A turtle can’t laugh!
Laughing Laura: Yeah, but Turkey thinks everything’s so funny, he’s got to laugh & we can laugh & skip all at the same time! Let's go for it!
My debut album, Today is a Laughing Day, is available at the Laughter Shoppe at my Web site, www.LaughingLaura.com. In fact, there is an introductory offer going on right now where you can save $4.95 between now and Christmas Eve. The price is just $10. After Christmas, it will retail for $14.95.
Let me tell you more about this album. It all began with the production of Laughter Friends—the workout video of Laughter Yoga I produced last year. For this project, I collaborated with my husband, William Gentry, and jazz pianist, Tom Bourcier. Together, we wrote five fun songs, which we used in the video.
They were live versions, however, and I knew that such fabulous songs deserved studio recordings. It has been almost a year since I said, "Hey, let's make a kids album!" I've learned that being a music producer is seriously hard work, but it is also exciting.
William and I proceeded to write ten more songs and cheers, bringing the album total to fifteen. Here is a listing of the tracks in order:
1. Today is a Laughing Day 2. Laughter Friends 3. Turkey the Turtle 4. Enthusiastic 5. Laughing with Me 6. The Parking Fairy 7. Laughing for Peace 8. We Like to Laugh 9. Smile Millionaire 10. Happy to be Laughin' with You 11. Here Comes the Garbage Lady 12. Amazing 13. Free Laughs 14. Ranger Kathy 15. Today is a Laughing Day Reprise
I worked with sound engineer Brett Huus at Soundstrations Studio in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. There, we recorded the album—from July and until November.
The band consists of Tom Bourcier on piano, Rich MacDonald on percussion and Karyn Quinn on bass. The backup singer is Trish Bruxvoort Colligan of The River's Voice.
The "Gigglers" (pictured above) are the children who added laughter and silly sound effects to the album.
Below is the graphic design of the back cover.
The CD is packaged in a beautiful digipak with full color printing. It is eco-friendly—made of recycled cardboard and the CD tray is made of reused plastic water bottles. In fact, the 1000 CDs saved 400 bottles from the landfill!
You can also order Today is a Laughing Day at Amazon.com or you could download it instantly at DigStation, which is the greenest option.
Of course, I encourage you to order directly from me at the Laughter Shoppe (support indie artists)!
In the coming weeks, I will write more about these songs at this blog. Thanks for visiting! ha ha ha!
