My Toughest Gig
Just before Christmas I was contacted to do a Laughter Yoga Session for some people at a retreat. As it was in only two days time and nearly 2000 kilometers away I called three of the local Laughter Leaders to see if they were available. Unfortunately they weren’t. As I picked up the phone to give the proposed client the bad news something came over me. I wondered just how important it was to have someone do a Laughter Yoga Session for them and why. Their reason had me reorganizing my schedule and packing my bags for the seventeen hour round trip
Why do people need a Laughter Yoga Session?
Fundamentally I’ve found that people require us to run a Laughter Yoga session to entertain, provoke, inform, stimulate, or shift people’s thinking. If you can identify beforehand which one it is you’re half way there. Delivering it in the right way ensures success. Get it wrong and it usually ends up with the comment “they didn’t get into it and I don’t know why” followed by a host of suppositions
So what did this group want and why was it tough?
What was so tough about this retreat group is they wanted the latter and I’ve only ever had to do this twice. All of the participants had suffered the loss of a loved one in the last six months under tragic circumstances. It was thought that getting them away from their normal surroundings could provide a break in their present thought patterns. The provision of a variety of presenters would provide them with discussion forums, coping mechanisms, and psychological assessments but nothing that would leave them instantly more positive about returning home
The process I adopted
I started by giving them a gift. My friend Sebastien from LA had sold me some appreciation wristbands. Their messages were I Love to Laugh, I’m a Smile Millionaire, I Can I Will, I am Strong and Healthy etc. This was hugely popular because they received a gift as well as having the choice of what the gift said about them personally. The laughter had already begun. The next thing I did was related my personal story of how Laughter Yoga turned the negatives into positives when I was in severe distress with what seemed like no way out. From there on it was merely a matter of showing them how the Laughter Yoga process worked followed by a Laughter Session
The Grand Finale
The final thing we did was the appreciation chants. “Very Good Very Good” followed by “You are Amazing” over and over and over. The power here was that I’m guessing these were words not used often by them and probably never directed towards them
The trip home
Needless to say the trip home was very satisfying. Firstly in that I had the privilege to meet and help these people in their time of need. Secondly in knowing that the Laughter Yoga process is successful in any circumstance as long as you’re clear on what you require it to do. And finally in seeing the power of Laughter Yoga and how easy it is to shift the mind from misery to elation in a short period of time
Hope you all had a GRRREAT Xmas and looking forward to 2010
Cheers
Merv