The Power of Volunteering

We’ve all heard that when we give, ultimately, it comes back to us. I’ve found this to be real. This is one of the more powerful spiritual principles for manifesting. We reap what we sow. If we sow joy, we reap joy. Maybe not where we expect to, but it will show up – predictably when we need it the most.

I am grateful for chances to volunteer to lead laughter yoga. I limit myself to those I can afford, financially and emotionally. I know my gifts and where I lead with the most grace. When I give laughter, my heart is emptied – full of room to receive. I become more aware of when and how I receive what I need. Then gratitude happens… which helps me want to give again. It’s an automatic spirtual cycle that is already in place. We just need to step in. It’s our move.

Laughter in the Park – Days 3 & 4

Thanks to Jeffrey for support and easy-to-do suggestions!

I faked my laughter during these days and proved that “fake” laughter works almost as well as “belly” laughter. I felt so much better after the meetings, even though I didn’t have the inner resources to put forth the effort to really laugh.

This is a rigorous but do-able spiritual discipline. Like any yoga, the more we practice it, the easier it becomes.

We’re still waiting for others to join us! I tend to morph energy from other participants and be inspired by their willingness to be goofy and courage to laugh, “in spite of.”

Our plan is to carry on for about 90 days, give or take a beach vacation for a few days. Kundalini Yoga posits our habits change within 40 days and our subconscious minds shift within 90 days of doing the same discipline each day. I am eager to see what changes and heals in my life just from laughing, on purpose, each day.

ha ha ha,
Leigh

Laughter in the Park – Day 2

I found it a little bit more difficult to laugh in the park this morning, and was a bit more self-conscious. That was my hang-up. I really tried to think and laugh at the same time. It’s almost impossible to do and tiring.

We came up with three new laughter games — progressive decibel laughter, swimming strokes laughter, and tight rope laughter. 

Jon and I are practicing, I think, for the time when people actually do show up to laugh with us. We’ll seem to know what we’re doing. We certainly helped a few passers-by laugh this morning.

Mainly, the consistency of making a commitment to laugh together every day – in a public place – will make all the difference in our relationship and perspectives as we stick to it.

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From Jon:

Laughing Day Two – June 30, 2009

I felt little resistance today to arriving at the park, in fact was eager.  I have no attachment at this point with any number of participants.  Actually it is slightly less intimidating to just laugh with Leigh, as we are comfortable and familiar; the challenges will come as new people are added.

Leigh created a couple new games today (see above). I find myself more drawn to the motions that seem to open body postures.  The Archer, Tiny Measure and the Hands over Head, all seem to be freeing.  I am however more comfortable in closing in, Sneezing, Balloon Blowing and Colapsing in Laughter all fold inward and feel safer somehow.

Meditation today was grand.  The laughing section was slightly more forced, and I was tired…less inclined to push than yesterday.  However, I went in deeply and quickly during the silent meditation.  My connection to earth, with grass and sun was very strong and very tuned to a natural setting.  The bustle of the waking downtown area was a grand contrast.  I felt so grateful that I was able to not shut it out, but in fact, embrace the external as a soundtrack to my internal quiet.

Laughter in Lee Park – Day 1

Since last year, I’ve wanted to start a laughter club in Lee Park. It’s just been on my heart to do.

Jon and I showed up at 7:55 a.m., put up our sign and started with the usual warm-up laughter games. No one else joined us this morning. Although we missed our supporters, we were mainly there for ourselves. We have the ability to get too serious and need to laugh, every day, as a spiritual discipline. It brings us much more levity, which helps small things stay small.

I felt the energy disperse with every “Very good, very good, yay!” that we cheered. We confused a few dogs. Otherwise, people pretended we weren’t there. They looked down at the sidewalk and walked by like nothing was happening. I guess I would have done the same a few years ago.

I realized how much my inhibitions have shrunk to a workable size for authentic social interaction as a result of leading laughter yoga each week for two years.

Staring at the bright blue sky in the morning while laughing, then meditating, was a special treat. The weather was gorgeous. We left refreshed and ready to start the day. It was great. Come join us!

The Challenge of Change

If we need to change something in our lives, if something “isn’t right” and needs “correcting”, the process usually bears shame for us. “Shame on you! Be different!”

What if we embraced the “not right” parts of ourselves - those icky behaviors – instead of hiding or tucking them away? What if we loved those parts for absolutley no reason?

I think we can love ourselves for no reason as a discipline just like we can laugh for no reason. It may seem really really fake at first. We’re so used to loving ourselves for reasons. The only problem with that concept is reasons can change from moment to moment. So our self-esteem will be shaky or overly rigid if we choose that route.

When we surround darkness with laughter, it becomes lighter. It loses it’s power to shame,blame and threaten us. Whatever we laugh with, for a reason or not, no longer has the power to rule us. Laughter has a way of leveling the playing field.

When you attend a laughter yoga session, especially during the laughter meditation, locate a dark place. As you laugh throughout the session, be mindful that you are embracing and laughing with that part of you. When you laugh during the meditation, pull you knees into your chest, wrap your arms around them, and rock back and forth. That part of you needs forgiveness for no reason. Allow any amount of forgiveness in during that time. You may not be able to use this discipline yet. If you keep laughing, a time to forgive yourself will open.

The more we laugh, the more we love.

laughlovepeace,
Leigh

The Heart-Healing Retreat

What an honor it was to co-lead the Heart-Healing Laughter Retreat at gorgeous Bridge Between the Worlds! I came away with a few thoughts on laughter that were reinforced by the comments made by the participants. It works. It heals. It brings hope as it is adopted as a discipline, a yogic path. It opens the spirit to visions of new possibilities that hadn’t been seen, or fathomed, before.

Leading with Jon was a special treat. He has a background that compliments mine, and a leadership style that is different, too. We seemed to flow well together.

Most of all, my belief that laughter is many things and serves us well in so many ways was underscored. It’s taken about 2 years for me to become an irreversible, bonafide, “addict” (I’m using that word cautiously as substance abuse is so very painful) to laughter yoga. I want to start a laugh-a-demic and help foster an energy shift with whatever group who are willing and open to do so. Improv. Fun never-been-done-before stuff. If that interests you, please let me know. info@yogalaughs.com.

laughlovepeace,
Leigh

When Contentment Feels More Natural than Sadness and Fear

This is what I’m starting to discover about developing a habit of laughing for no reason, regarding arguments with those I love: Contentment feels like a more natural emotional state for us than fear and sadness.

Laughter helps me be more quick to forgive and forget and start giggling again. I’m not such an expert at laughing at nothing that I can laugh in the middle of a painful argument, nor do I think that would be appropriate. But the increasing ability to “bounce back” after an argument is surprising me.

If I can remember to capitalize on the fun times, to laugh as much as possible when I do feel like it — then my sad and fearful times seem less overwhelming and don’t last as long. 

May joy, healing and forgiveness flow in and from our relationships.

Ego-less Healing

Sometimes the pure simplicity of laughter yoga throws our egos for a loop. It seems too easy.

In Hatha Yoga, for example, there are postures to master, which usually takes quite a bit of falling over, tense muscles, hopping around on one foot, and confused breathing. Eventually, with enough practice, our minds let go, and we “get it”. “I stuck with this difficult exercise and I’ve finally mastered it.” And this does feel good – it is certainly an accomplishment to be respected.

Laughter yoga, as a method, completely circumvents the left brain. It’s hard, almost impossible, to laugh and think at the same time. Your laughter does the transformative work for you. Instead of practicing for months, you can “master” laughter yoga within a session. The relaxing, healing results are tangible and immediate. 

In laughter yoga, your ego can only take credit for being vulnerable enough to step aside. That’s actually surprisingly uncomfortable. Our egos love to transform our egos. We want to work at it. Earn our transformation. Be more enlightened due to hours of study and silent meditation. But laugh? Isn’t that just another new age trend?  

Haysa (Laughter) Yoga is an ancient-age practice that dates back a few thousand years – it started in India. Laughter began… well… when we did. Laughter yoga heals and transforms on many levels that I’m sure we haven’t recognized yet. Laughter and breathing are parts of our life-force, our BE-ing. We laugh before we talk. Even deaf, blind babies laugh. They don’t need a reason. We can tell babies jokes all day. They don’t get the jokes, but they still laugh.

There are a few clips of babies laughing on the paparazzi page on this site. Watching them always helps me laugh, and reminds me that I still have my ego-free, organic, original laugh. It took me a while to find it, but it’s there.

Where is your original laugh? Have you heard it recently? You can start to find it again by practicing Laughter yoga – whether alone, with a laughter club, and/or at a conference. It would be my honor to help you find your original laugh and laugh it back into your life. It will likely bring healing you may not realize is missing.

laughlovepeace,
Leigh

LeRoi Moore’s Mom

Recently, one of the lead musicians in The Dave Matthews Band, LeRoi Moore, passed. This brought much sorrow to Charlottesville, family, friends, and fans.

For the past few weeks, I’ve had the privilege to laugh with his Mom.

One of the main points of laughing for no reason is to start by matching your laughter to your mood, even if it’s heavy grief… to locate the pain in your body, and try to begin to mumble laughter from that place. If your mood doesn’t lift, or becomes more pronounced — the goal is to start, not to expect a certain result.

I wish laughter yoga brought instant, magic happiness. Much like your first traditional yoga class, the discipline feels and looks awkward when you begin.  With practice, the transformation brought by laughing for no reason, and the mood-boosting, mind-clearing results, become much more accessible.

I applaud Mrs. Moore for her courage to laugh from a place of grief. She is a great sport, and reports feeling “so much better”.

laughlovepeace,
Leigh

“Thank You.”

On New Year’s Day, I was invited to participate in a sweat lodge – a Native American practice. If you’ve never done this, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like, even with the most thorough description.

Part of the ceremony involves sharing what we give thanks for from 2008. In my life, 2008 was great. For me to say something was great is miraculous alone, given my battles with depression. 

My giving of thanks at the lodge, although coming up with the list required some emotional digging, was authentic.

Others had different perspectives and experiences in 2008. On New Year’s Eve, I tracked different New Year’s Eve celebrations from around the world. It seemed like an almost globally unanimous response – Thank God 2008 is over. We’re ready for 2009 because it can’t get much worse. 

Do we really know what we’re saying? It can’t get much worse? I can imagine many, many ways that life could dramatically become much worse, individually and collectively.

With laughter yoga, I look back over 2008 and I’m amazed at the progressionof what I thought would only be a very small part of my life. I had my first laughter yoga seminar in November 2007, then had a well-attended New Year’s Eve celebration. A few days before, I had called David Mauer of the Daily Progress at, as he said, just the right moment, to have Laughter Yoga featured in Daily Progress. I headed directly from the New Year’s celebration to be interviewed by David. 

Next, the Valentine’s Celebration brought 36 people and was aired by WVIR-NBC. I attracted the attention of Hampton Roads Publishing and they requested a proposal for a book on Laughter Yoga.

I started a Senior Center Laughter Club, which brought 15 or so participants for the first meeting. They immediately moved it into a regular program.

I volunteered at the regional jail with women inmates who, after getting used to me and laughing again, championed the classes. Their enthusiasm floored me.

Cathy Harding wrote a beautiful article about me and laughter yoga in c-ville weekly.

Then came the end of the year, meaning, from about October on. Celebrations brought maybe 5 people, even with heavy advertising. Laughter Club meetings had 2-5 attendees each week. I began to wonder if I was doing something inconsistent with my practice to start rumors or negative word-of-mouth about me and laughter yoga among the Charlottesville community.

By December, even with an email newsletter list of 170+ people, 4-5 people attended the special events I had planned.

By the end of December, I was ready to stop leading laughter yoga, except volunteering at the jail, where the women really like the class and appreciated laughing as a spiritual exercise. I need to invest energy where it’s returned, I thought. Baaaah Humbug.

 As I looked at the end of the year, I thought, leading laughter yoga in Charlottesville can’t get much worse. Thank God the year is over.

Then I started reading some of the comments I’ve gotten from attendees throughout the year about how much they had been helped by me leading laughter yoga. I’ve kept a journal, just in case I needed some inspiration one day.

I feel like I’ve gotten myself back.

I didn’t realize laughter was missing so much in my life until I started laughing again in classes.

I used laughter here to beat some social anxiety.

That was a blast.

My leg doesn’t hurt when we laugh.

My blood pressure has dropped almost 30 points.

You have no idea of the gift you’ve given us.

She came home from your class absolutely glowing, so I had to come, too.

Those are a few.

The other part, that I hadn’t realized, from October until now, is that I believe I’ve found an incredible man that may become a true partner, through speaking about laughter yoga at a conference.

How can I not be thankful for the many opportunities to lead laughter yoga? It’s a good idea to reframe the year as a whole. There were good things that happened. A new president who is shattering racial barriers, for one.

Very good, very good, yay!