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Mother/Daughter Team bring Laughter to Winnipeg
Using Laughter as Winnipeg's Best Medicine
It has long been known that laughter is good medicine, but now comes the Laughter
Club, the latest in stress-
People in Laughter Clubs use a systematic method of chuckles, chortles, giggling
and guffawing to reduce stress, prevent hardening of the attitudes, and contribute
to world peace. The laughter routine, designed to make anyone feel better, works
without using jokes or comedy to stimulate the laughter. Guerard says "There can
be many sensitive issues around humor, such as people not getting jokes or being
offended by them. So we skip jokes altogether. We laugh with each other, never
at each other. At first the laughter exercise routines can seem a bit contrived,
but soon peals of genuine happiness-
Guerard and Leslie join Laughter Leaders across the country showing Canadians how
to laugh their way to happiness and health. "This is not only a breakthrough in integrative
healing strategies," says Guerard, "it can be done at work during coffee break, or
in the backyard, with your neighbors." The most typical reaction to the Laughter
Club has been that we need this now more than ever. Ongoing research in the science
of laughter points to the method's capacity for reducing stress and diminishing social
isolation while improving self-
According to Guerard, laughter is a universal language, which in our groups acts as a powerful social and emotional glue. Laughter has no accent. Laughter clubs are open to everyone.
World Laughter Day 2008 (Part 1)
Happiness and laughter flowed from every pore on World Laughter Day, Sunday May 4th
as the Uplifting Laughter crew of Dorian Guerard and Jennifer Leslie led an enthusiastic
crowd through a series of everyday events and turned them into laughter-
World Laughter Day is a time when laughter lovers around the world join forces, figuratively, to celebrate the benefits of laughter. These benefits range from helping to strengthen your immune system; improve breathing, digestion, and sleep, and by helping people get along together better. Add to this the fact that your brain chemistry actually changes for the better when you ANTICIPATE a fun time, then you can see that there are many reasons to celebrate laughter.
Laughter exercises are designed to give participants a chance to “laugh for the fun of it”. Picture a crowded New York Subway driven by the world’s worst driver throwing the crowd together in hilarious ways and you have the first example. Follow with an adaptation of Rock Paper Scissors –only using Roar, Miss, Zap instead. On cue, the participants turned to face each other and either roared like a lion (Roar), gave an energetic High Five Miss (Miss), or shared a ‘shocking’ handshake (Zap). Peals of laughter rang out as they turned and matched the action of their partner (or not).
World Laughter Day was first observed on January 11, 1998, in Mumbai, India. After psychologist Steve Wilson brought the happy event to North America via the World Laughter Tour, the date was changed to the first Sunday in May, and he became the catalyst for the first USA celebration in May 2001, in New York City.
In each subsequent year, more and more events have been held across the United States and around the world. This coincides with the phenomenal explosion of interest in laughter therapy and the amazing powers of laughter. Says Wilson, “Regardless of the reason you laugh, the primary purposes of laughter have to do with reducing the terrible effects of stress, and connecting with other people; laughter plays a huge role in maintaining relationships. Actually, we need laughter more now than ever!”
Part 2, the story-
Did you know –
Humor and fun help people accept change. The most typical reaction to change is resistance, but when the change is brought about with fun and humor people will be more receptive. Opening a new business? Instituting a new procedure? Changing a product? Changing personnel? Make these changes fun. Contests, prizes, celebrations, slogans, jingles, cartoon characters, clowns, bands, fireworks – fun – gets more people more involved and more accepting of the changes.
From “Super Humor Power” by Steve Wilson
Do YOU need help adapting to change in your life? Let us take you on a fun-
Programs run from 1 to 3 hours depending on the team’s requirements.
Call 204-
Other Uplifting Laughter programs available:
Stress vs LaughterTeam Building in Business
Forget about an apple a day-
Pack up your troubles – Laugh instead
Pay it Forward with Good-
Call 204-
Luncheon session teaches women the benefits of laugher
By Karen Christiuk (from Voxair, issue #5, page 4)
International Women's Week was celebrated by personnel from 1 Canadian Air Division/Canadian
NORAD Region Headquarters (1 Cdn Air Div/CANR) and 17 Wing on March 7 with an Uplifting
Laughter luncheon that was facilitated by certified laughter leaders Dorian Guerard
and Jennifer Leslie. The mother and daughter team presented a one-
"Laughter releases cortisol but it increases endorphins," said Guerard. "Laughter brings out an emotional high."
Guerard said that intense laughter can also mimic physical exercise.
"We call laughter internal jogging. Five minutes of laughter is worth 15 minutes of exercise in the gym."
Leslie told the audience that laughter can raise energy levels and eventually help people to relax.
"Think of how children fall to the ground because they're laughing so hard," said Leslie.
To demonstrate to the audience how laughter can increase a person's heart rate, the
audience was invited to participate in several laughter exercises. One of the exercises
included a modified version of rock-
Guerard and Leslie also encouraged the audience to reflect upon their own lives and
try to create a different goal for each work day in order to emphasize what they
called good-
"Mondays should be for compliments," said Guerard. "Tuesdays are for flexibility. People tend to do the same type of thing every day and get into a rut—laughter stimulates both sides of the brain, and a little bit of change in your life can make a difference. Wednesdays are for gratitude. You are happier because you are grateful. Thursdays are for kindness and Fridays are for forgiveness."
At the end of the session, all participants were asked to recite an Uplifting Laughter Oath where they promised to laugh at least 15 times per day.