LAUGHTER YOGA LEADER COURSE IN LANSING, IOWA—AUGUST 13-14, 2011

The Iowa School of Laughter Yoga will be offering a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader training seminar in Lansing, Iowa on August 13th and 14th. In this delightful, interactive learning experience, you'll earn lifetime certification as a Laughter Yoga Leader in affiliation with the Doctor Kataria School of Laughter Yoga.

The benefits of studying Laughter Yoga at the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga are many. Here are just a few:

• Confidence

When you train with me, you can be confident you are receiving the most accurate and direct transmission of the training, as I have been trained and certified by Dr. Kataria himself, the founder of the worldwide laughter club movement.

• Personal Renewal

Most laughter grads consider the seminar (whether taken in person or on-line) a life-changing experience that helped them find greater wellness through joy and intentional laughter. Do this for yourself, you'll be glad you did.

• Connection

The seminars and retreats help laughter students build lasting friendships with me and your fellow laughers. The synergy of the group helps students find support, inspiration and brainstorming opportunities. Upon graduation, you'll also be invited to join a free on-line forum specifically for the graduates of the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga where you can continue to connect and share ideas with each other.

• Supervised Practice

Even with laughter, practice makes perfect. During the seminars and retreats, you'll have ample opportunity to practice and polish your laughter leadership skills. For on-line learners, there is also valuable feedback offered to help you become a great laughter yoga professional.

• On-Line Referrals

When you train with me, you will be listed at the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga Web site for a minimum of 12 months where you may receive referrals and inquiries from all over the world.

• A Comprehensive Laughter Manual

You'll receive my original, comprehensive laughter training manual, Laughing Laura's Guide to Laughter Yoga. I have written this manual based upon my experience. It contains everything you need to know to become an effective laughter yoga leader and has an expansive collection of laughter yoga exercises, many of which are original. It gives suggestions for solo laughter practice and even addresses the spirituality of laughter yoga. It offers inspiration for how to live a more laughing life, and other valuable materials on how to launch your laughter-based career activities.

• Beautiful Diploma

I award my graduates with an originally designed, professionally printed, archival, full-color laughter diploma suitable for framing (pictured below), which shows lifetime certification as a Laughter Yoga Leader through the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga in affiliation with the Dr. Kataria School of Laughter Yoga.

• Laughter Yoga CD

As a way to help you keep up your daily laughter yoga practice, you'll receive a copy of my new CD, "Be Laughter."

• Laughter Inspiration Poster
You will also receive a "Live a Laughing Life" Poster. This is an original work of art featuring many fabulous and inspirational ideas for living in the joyful spirit of laughter.

• Future Savings

Laughter Yoga Leaders often find it helpful to come back and take the seminar or retreat again as a refresher, to reinvigorate them for future laughing. All students of the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga are given the opportunity to take future seminars at a significant discount, including the weekend retreats.

I invite you to join us for the August seminar in the charming river town of Lansing, Iowa during their annual Fish Days celebration.

The seminar will be held at Our Savior's Lutheran Church. The schedule is as follows:

Saturday, August 13 8:00 a.m. — 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, August 14 11:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.

This is an exciting opportunity to study with me at a live seminar. This is rare these days as I've been busy with the production of my new CD as well as an upcoming book. Tuition is $295 and includes all instruction, my original Laughter Yoga Manual, a Be Laughter CD, a Live a Laughing Life Poster, a full color diploma printed with your name, snacks, beverages and lunch both days!

Click here to enroll!

Already a graduate of the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga? Then here's your chance to come again as a refresher. Your rate for this seminar is just $100 (includes instruction and lunches only). To enroll as a refresher, simply pay with Paypal at the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga site.

Spread the word! If you register with a friend, you'll each receive a FREE CD or DVD and a poster of your choice from The Laughter Shoppe (a $20 value)!

THIS YEAR'S LAUGHTER YOGA CONFERENCE

What are you going to be doing September 22-25? If you're not already thinking about being at the 6th Annual, All America Laughter Yoga Conference in San Diego, California, you should be. I'll be there as one of the roundtable experts and I can't wait. It's a wonderful opportunity to laugh, learn and be inspired. Visit the Conference Website to learn more and get registered!

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ANNOUNCING THE RELEASE OF MY NEW CD, BE LAUGHTER

It is with great excitement that I announce the imminent release of my latest CD, Be Laughter. As you can see by the cover above, it is a complete, do-it-yourself laughter makeover.

As we all know, laughing and doing deep yoga breathing as a daily practice can boost your health physically, emotionally and spiritually.

A Harvard University study has shown that spending just 10 minutes each day sitting and breathing will increase your happiness. Dr. Madan Kataria and his wife, Madhuri, founders of the worldwide laughter yoga movement, urge laughers everywhere to intentionally breathe and laugh every day. This, they explain, will help you live in the inner spirit of laughter—to not just enjoy laughter, but to be laughter in a holistic way.

We lead busy lives, though, so it’s difficult to take the time for this practice. That’s why I’ve created this resource to help you. On this 75 minute recording, I’ll guide you through:

Morning – 5 yogic breathing exercises followed by 15 minutes of laughter, which you can do regardless of your mood. This will kick off your day by connecting you to your own inner peace and joy.

Noon – A laughter dance party to get you moving, breathing, laughing and dancing. It will revitalize you for whatever lies ahead.

Night – Unwind at bedtime with yoga nidra, a unique form of meditation done while lying down. It induces complete relaxation of the body, mind and emotions. At the end, the music will lull you into sleep, enabling you to rest in a blissful state.

Be Laughter also includes an 8 page booklet with more instruction about these 3 practices. Furthermore, the CD and its cool digipak will be made with certified green components. And thanks to careful attention to chain of custody and use of carbon offset credits, the entire package is rendered 100% carbon neutral!

I’ve dedicated this project in memory of my mom, Sharon Smith, who in loving me unconditionally has empowered me to be laughter. Read more about how laughter yoga has helped me through my grief.

The track listing is as follows:

MORNING

1. Breath of Fire (3:36)

2. Synchronized Breathing (3:08)

3. Cross Nostril Breathing (3:56)

4. Humming Bee Breath (3:32)

5. Conscious Breathing (5:41)

6. Laughing While Seated (5:08)

7. Laughing While Lying Down (4:55)

8. Laughing While Standing (5:06)

NOON

9. Laughter Dance Party (5:26)

NIGHT

10. Yoga Nidra (33:35)

It takes just 3 weeks to develop a new habit. So I’ve created the “Be Laughter” Challenge. Commit to practicing all 3 parts of this CD every day for 21 days and see how it transforms your life. Right now, I’m taking applications for my initial set of Be Laughter Challengers. If you believe you can commit to the daily practice for 3 weeks, drop me and e-mail at LaughterLaura@yahoo.com.

Be Laughter retails for $14.95 and is due to release July 8th. Right now, I’m running an introductory offer of just $12.95. Please go to The Laughter Shoppe to order on-line from my store. You can also order it at Amazon.com.

Or save money by ordering it by mail. Free shipping! Send checks of $12.95 for each CD payable to "Laura Gentry" to: The Laughter Shoppe, P.O. Box 11, Marquette, IA 52158. Thanks.

Laughter yoga professionals please note that I offer great wholesale rates on this and other products from The Laughter Shoppe. Drop me a line or call to fine out more. 563-880-2699

REMEMBERING LAUGHTER YOGA LEADER PHYLLIS LARSEN

Phyllis Larsen, an amazing graduate of the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga and a member of the Lansing Laughter Club, has passed away. We remember her joy and laughter with great fondness.

Phyllis and her husband, Mike, first heard about laughter yoga in the Ode Magazine laughter issue of August 2009. They read this article in which I was mentioned and realized we were neighbors. So they started attending my laughter club and eventually became laughter yoga leaders.

Laughter yoga made an immense difference in Phyllis' life. After one of the first laughter club meetings she attended, I gave them a tour of the church. As we walked around, she said: "Do you realize that I could hardly walk when I came in here tonight?" She and Mike were astonished. Indeed, the half hour laughter club meeting had literally transformed her walk from a painful shuffle to a normal gait (and I dare say she had a spring in her step). From that moment forward, they were hooked on laughter yoga. Though Phyllis was a long-time sufferer of rheumatoid arthritis, she found pain relief and increased happiness by practicing laughter yoga.

Read Phyllis' obituary here.

Phyllis with her husband, Mike

Phyllis going through the "laughter car wash"

With her graduating class at the Iowa School of Laughter Yoga

Phyllis is in the bottom right hand corner of this photo taken at a laughter yoga event in February at the AmerInn in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin

At Phyllis' funeral at the Methodist church in Gays Mills, Wisconsin, people were invited to come forward to share memories. I got up to say what a generous laugher Phyllis was and I convinced the whole congregation to do "milkshake laughter" with me (pictured above). It was Phyllis' favorite exercise and I'm sure she was laughing with us as we did it.

LAUGHING WITH GOD: NOT TAKING OURSELVES TOO SERIOUSLY

My laughter ministry got a mention in this editorial in Owatonna.com. Indeed, it is a great thing to laugh with God!

Martin Luther once said, “If I’m not allowed to laugh in heaven, then I don’t want to go.” Laughter is something that each and every one of us needs in our lives. It’s healthy to laugh.

I firmly believe that God has gifted each of us with a sense of humor, in one way or another. I remember a few weeks ago I was at text study, and we were talking about death and heaven/hell.

When I left, slightly unnerved, I got into my car, and when I heard what song was playing on the radio, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was “That’ll Be The Day (That I Die.)” Laughter brings us hope, encouragement, and joy. Far too often, I think we take ourselves too seriously. Stress causes so much pain and suffering in our lives. We need laughter to balance our lives.

Pastor Laura Gentry, a pastor in Northeast Iowa, has been named a Laughter Ambassador by Laughter Club International. Pastor Laura has introduced laughter ministry to the congregation she serves in Iowa. They get together weekly and laugh together. She says that laughing together weekly has boosted their joy and given them another opportunity to share their Christian love with each other through laughter.

She says that this laughter ministry has helped them gain a greater appreciation for joy in their faith lives, and their laughter club has made the congregation she serves a more compassionate congregation. She has made several laughter CD’s that can be used as laughter resources for personal or congregational use. These CD’s contain several laughter workouts that have you laughing out loud in many different ways. It feels a bit ridiculous, but that’s the point. The point is to laugh, to be silly, and “make a joyful noise to the Lord.” (Psalm 98:4)

We find many verses in Scripture that talk about joy and happiness. For example, in Ecclesiastes 3, we read, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” There is time in our lives to laugh. What wonderful news this is. In Luke 6:21, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” There are several other verses that allude to joy and happiness in the Bible, and laughter can have a wonderful effect in our lives, and in our faith.

Of course, the text also says that there is a time to weep, and a time to mourn. Not every moment of our lives can or will be filled with laughter. There are times to be serious, and we know when those times are. But laughter is a gift that we can use when we’re feeling sad, depressed, angry, or frustrated. In an article that Pastor Laura wrote for the ELCA Board of Pensions, she talks about scientific studies that were done on the effects of laughter on the body.

In these studies, gelatologists (that is, people who study laughter, or “gelos,” the Greek word meaning “laughter,”) have found that laughter has several health benefits, such as improvement of the function of blood vessels, prevention of heart disease, boosts in the immune system, reduction of stress hormone levels and hopefulness in the lives of people. Laughing can help make us healthy.

God has blessed us richly with the gift of being in community with one another. One of the ways in which we can build community is to laugh with one another. Tell someone a joke, make a silly face, or laugh for no reason at all. Laughter is contagious, after all. God has gifted us all with a sense of humor and when we laugh with each other, it creates a bond of joy, peace, love and happiness. Laughter creates joy in our lives, and joy reminds us of how blessed we are in the grace and love that God has given us. For we know that our God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” (Jonah 4:2). May we all find joy and laughter in our lives; and when we laugh, may it be a “joyful noise to the Lord.”

Pastor Perspective

One of my students, Mary Harris, was featured in this article in the Times-Republican of Central Iowa about the laughter club she runs in Marshalltown.

Making Laughter a Priority

Lively laughter club promotes happiness and health

By MIKE DONAHEY, TIMES-REPUBLICAN

T-R PHOTO BY MIKE DONAHEY

Several members of Trinity Lutheran Church’s Laughter Club are shown recently in the sanctuary doing the “Elevator” a club exercise. Clockwise left are Jeff Harris, Martha Schwandt, Sherry Allen, Rev. Gregg Davison and facilitator Mary Harris.

The sanctuary of Marshalltown's Trinity Lutheran Church was alive with hearty laughter Wednesday night.

Much of it was deliberate.

The occasion: The church's Laughter Club was in session for its weekly half-hour meeting from 5:30 p.m to 6 p.m.

Facilitator Mary Harris was dressed appropriately, with a multi-colored wig and coveralls.

There were flying monkeys, propelled through the air in sling-shot fashion. Mock bowling and joke telling were also on the agenda in the lively and fast paced meeting.

Harris did not lecture.

The activities were interactive, with all in attendance taking part.

Members laughed out loud for the sake of it. They turned from their place in the pew and laughed at each other. In one exercise, members would pick a piece of real or imagined lint of their clothing and laughed. A crowded "pretend" elevator was another skit which generated even more laughter.

Joining Mary Harris for this particular meeting was husband Jeff, Rev. Gregg Davison of Trinity and parishioners Martha Schwandt and Sherry Allen.

During the course of the meeting it was evident that there was more than laughter and rubber-band powered toys to the meeting.

The purpose, of all the exercises, according to Mary Harris is to make laughter a priority in people's lives.

She was serious about it.

Before each exercise, she spoke briefly about how laughter, in general, could make people happier and healthier.

She also said that laughter made people more resilient to stress, improved sleep and people were less prone to catch colds and flu.

Throughout the meeting Harris was using what is called laughter yoga.

Put simply, laughter yoga, according to an Evangelical Church of America website,elcabop.org/Home/LiveWell/Wellness, "was developed in India by Dr. Madan Kataria who figured there had to be a good way to harness the healing power of laughter. The method combines laughter with deep breathing techniques to maximize the benefits of the workout."

Mary Harris trained with a master trainer of Laughter Yoga, Rev. Laura Gentry of Lansing.

Gentry was trained by Kataria.

He said of her: "She speaks from her heart and inspires people with her true , joyful spirit. Laughing Laura is surely one of my best laughter professors."

It was Gentry's presentation at Trinity in June, 2009 that motivated Mary Harris to learn more.

"I saw her presentation," Harris, an elementary school educator said. "I know I could do that."

She went to Trinity's parish council and asked permission to form the club and use the church.

Her request was approved.

Mary Harris had another reason for learning about laughter.

"There was a lot of stress in my life at the time," she said. "My mother was in her 22nd year of Alzheimer's (disease) and if you have lived with that for awhile, its just is always there, it is always there."

There was more.

"And it's not something you laugh about," she said.

The Laughter Club provides relief.

"This is good," Mary Harris said of the club meetings. "It's good balance."

Member Sherry Allen said she "enjoyed a great good night's sleep" after attending her first session some time ago.

Davison said he attends the meetings periodically because "mostly because the provide stress relief," he said. "Everything I've read said that laughter is good for the body. I believe it.'

He had more to say.

"I think Jesus laughed a lot," Davison said, "considering some of the disciples he had, sometimes it is better to laugh than to cry."

The church Laughter Club meets each Wednesday in the church sanctuary during the school year

Contact Mike Donahey at 641-753-6611 or mdonahey@timesrepublican.com

ATTENTION NEW BLOG SUBSCRIBERS: Here's the secret link for your 100 Free Laughter Yoga Exercises. Happy Laughing!

NEW BOOK ON INTUITIVE EATING PRAISES THE BENEFIT OF LAUGHING

Author Jane Bernard has just released Am I Really Hungry? This book is a liberating guide for everyone who’s tired and frustrated with traditional diets. The product description says:

Instead of calories and rules, you get 10 tools to depend on for eating intuitively. It's 'good-bye' dieting and 'hello' long term-satisfaction with your body and yourself. End yo-yo dieting. Learn to eat when you're hungry and stop when you're not. No inner critic. No calorie counting. No forbidden foods. With this revolutionary book learn to recognize signals in your life that keep you in control. Am I Really Hungry? reveals how intuition connects the pleasure of eating with the satisfaction of being in sync with your body. Gain insights into how emotional reactions to eating interfere with real needs and learn to use intuitive tools to put an end to confusion created by old habits. Connect with your intuition, get satisfaction and look great.

I bring it to your attention because in the section about combating stress, this book uplifts the power of laughing. She even quotes me in it. Here's how it reads:

They say, "laughter is the shortest distance between two people." In fact, humor equalizes tension creating emotional balance and releasing stress. According to Reverend Laura Gentry, also known as 'Laughing Laura,' "Laughing makes the heart connect. It makes small issues dissolve and enhances our ability to forgive." (p. 131)

Here's a customer review:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book changed my life!, May 19, 2011

By

Ellee K - See all my reviews

This review is from: Am I Really Hungry?: 6th Sense Diet:Intuitive Eating (Paperback)

For years I was the typical yo-yo dieter. I've joined weight loss programs and lost weight, only to regain that weight and more after "finishing" the program. I spent years feeling guilty when I ate a "forbidden" food or when I didn't weigh and measure everything first. Finally, I found this amazing book that frees you from the restrictions imposed by pre-planned, one-size-fits-all diet programs. This book shows you how to enjoy a new guilt-free relationship with food. It teaches you how to use your own body signals, your five senses and your intuition to gain self-reliance and satisfaction. Now, I can attend social situations without the fear of losing control and binging because I "blew it". Since nothing is forbidden, there is no guilt associated with your food choices. I find myself reading and rereading this amazing book as I continue learning how become more and more in tune with my body.

Jane Bernard is an intuition expert and educator. Her IntuEating for Success programs promote physical and emotional health around diet and eating by relieving stress, sharpening focus and concentration, and focusing on holistic health and fitness. Jane is author of FINE TUNING, Connecting with Your Inner Power and talks on national TV and radio internationally helping others to find success and opportunity through their 6th sense. She is has been a Zen Buddhist for over 20 years and has degrees in Philosophy and Special Education.

Am I Really Hungry? is available at Amazon.com.