January 2007
Blessings on 2006 and may it rest in peace. Our eyes are set on a shining future. What a great year 2007 is promising to be!
- Hot On The Agenda: don't miss our upcoming Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Training in Sierra Madre, Los Angeles next week-end 1/27-28!
- The Laugh Angeles Foundation Is Born
- World Laughter Day Is Coming Up. Start Planning!
- Social Trend: Laughing In Church On The Rise
- New Laughter Clubs in Los Angeles
- Laughter Tip Of The Month
Lots of Love, light and laughter to you!
Sebastien
Sebastien Gendry
Director, American School Of Laughter Yoga
Director, Laugh Angeles Foundation
Hot On The Agenda: don't miss our upcoming Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Training in Sierra Madre, Los Angeles next week-end 1/27-28!
Someone recently asked me why the Certified Laughter Yoga Leader training lasted a full 10h. "What exactly do you talk about" he said. Surely laughing for no reason can't be that difficult."
True. Laughing for no reason is genuinely not difficult. Virtually anybody can do it, anytime, anywhere. And at the same time we note that there is nothing harder to pierce than the cloak of simplicity. How many people do you know that easily laugh for no reason? Said differently, all birds can fly and all humans can laugh, and not all birds fly at the same altitude nor at the same speed. Learning from experts in the field significantly speeds up your learning curve of what works best and what doesn't work at all.
There is a lot of ground to cover in this training. Our goal is not to teach you a method but a personal skill. You will not learn to entertain others. You will learn to have a good time first and foremost each time you lead a laughter session. You will not learn to memorize a list of set exercises, we'll show you how to dynamically create your own and make sure you never run short of ideas. And there is more, much more.
On a social level, Laughter Yoga is a blessing, a gift that truly changes people's lives. On a business level, you will have a hard time finding an easier method of stress management and team building. Please email us at laugh@laughangeles.com if you are considering attending this or any other of our upcoming training.
The next Certified Laughter Yoga Leader training in Sierra Madre, Los Angeles, California, on January 27-28, will be led by Sebastien Gendry, Founder and Director of the American School Of Laughter Yoga and the Laugh Angeles Foundation. Sebastien was the first American to train as a Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher with Dr. Kataria and served for 2 years as World Operations Director for Laughter Yoga International, the organization behind the worldwide movement of over 5000 Laughter Clubs in 53 countries. He is the author of "From Zero To Laughter In 0.5 Seconds", the Laughter Yoga exercise manual that forms the core of Dr. Kataria's own Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher manual.
The Laugh Angeles Foundation Is Born
It took a little while and it is with great honor that I would like to announce the birth of the Laugh Angeles Foundation, a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code.
In a nutshell our mission is to bring laughter to special needs groups in the Los Angeles Community as well as support the growth of Laughter Clubs in L.A. County.
Expect to here more about this Foundation and its projects in our upcoming newsletters. Our goal is to create a successful role model that others around the nation can follow to bring more joy and laughter into their own community.
World Laughter Day Is Coming Up. Start Planning!
Mark the date. This year World Laughter Day will be on 5/6/7 (Sunday, May 6th 2007). In case you are planning to have an event you would be well advised to start thinking about it now.
Here are 2 links that you may find helpful for this project at this point in time:
- Ideas on what you can do locally on the theme of Peace.
- A ready-made manual to put an event together and how to best handle local opposition (this has nothing to do with Laughter Yoga. I just like the systematic approach these people have taken to put an event together).
Social Trend: Laughing In Church On The Rise
How can a mind that is gloomy and dull, love? And isn't God all about Love? I observe with great joy how more and more religious people around the nation are taking laughter to heart and bringing it to their church.
Pastor Laura Gentry flew to California in November 2006 to train with us as a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader and started shortly after the Lansing Laughter Club in Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lansing, Iowa (population 1200). She shared with us how well received her initiative had been. Check it out (photo by William Gentry):
Reverend Sam Trumbore, of First Unitarian Universalist Society in Guilderland, Texas, wanted to try something new for the first Sunday of the New Year, and his Sunday morning service had the congregation in stitches. Literally. [read more]
Diana Copsey says the Denver Laughter Club that meets at the First Unitarian Church has changed her life. "I've never found anything that released the central pain and ache I had," she said. "It was the thing that allowed me to give up perfectionism. It freed me." [read more]
Take Action! Contact your local church and discuss together the possibility of starting / having a joint laughter club with them. That may provide you with a free space + a more significant crowd at each of your meetings.
2 New Laughter Clubs in Los Angeles
Well, if you live in our part of the country you will no doubt find that news very exiting!
- Mondays 7 - 7:30pm: Studio B 7466 Beverly Blvd. LA. Contact Hilary Kimblin (323-934-8332)
- Thursdays, from 11am until 12noon: Shakti's Elements Yoga Studio 717 Broadway Avenue Santa Monica (Lincoln & Broadway). Contact Kim Selbert (310-471-5773)
- Fridays, 6-7pm: 553 S Lake Avenue, Pasadena (inside Yoga Kingdom Sanctuary). Contact Sebastien Gendry (626 755 5999)
Community Announcements:
- Interested in Tuesday 9 - 9:45am or tuesday 11:45am - 12:30pm at Cheviot Hills Recreation Center 2551 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90064? If so please contact Hilary Kimblin (323-934-8332)
- Vicki Light in West L.A. can host a Laughter Club in her house pretty much any day at any convenient time and is trying to put a group together. Please contact her directly if you are interested: 310-445-0760
Jackie Curran from Australia shared with us that she always takes a very specific towel with her to her weekly laughter club and always lay on it during the laughter meditation. She also uses it to do some laughter exercises on the floor at home. It took a little while and now the sheer act of laying on her towel makes her laugh.
This is called brain conditioning, and what a great idea! Thank you Jackie.
More ideas? Let us know. Email laugh@laughangeles.com
