Laughter

Early tomorrow morning I leave to go to Alamagordo, New Mexico, where my sister and mother live. My Mom has Alzheimer's disease and lives in a special care unit. We moved her there last April. She had lived in Colorado Springs for 30 years and I was used to seeing her regularly. At the end of her time here I was going to her assisted living home and doing Laughter Yoga with the residents weekly. What a hoot! Even though her memory was going quickly and each time she didn't remember that she had ever heard of laughter yoga before,she was a willing participant. Although my Mom could often be very critical, she could also be very playful and silly. I am grateful to her for giving me a role model of a playful adult. She laughed easily and criticized easily. I am like her on both counts. I notice however, that the more I laugh, the less critical I become. It is hard to make myself wrong when I am laughing at myself in the mirror. As I write this I remember I haven't laughed today. Being a laughter yoga leader has taught me that laughing for no reason feels
as good and is as good for you as laughing at a joke. It's a good thing because I have discovered that people drop their voices when they tell jokes and I can't hear them anyway.Ho Ho Ho Even when I could still hear them, I didn't think most jokes were funny. Lots of them are humorous at someone's expense which always bothered me and I often didn't get the punchline.So I am sitting at my computer laughing to myself. It's more like a chuckle and already I feel the cloud of urgency about getting ready for my trip lifting. I can relax and enjoy writing this. Laughter yoga is a movement started in 1995 by an Indian doctor and his yoga teacher wife. Now there are 5,000 laughter clubs all over the world where people get together and stretch and breathe and do silly exercises and laugh. Check it out by googling laughter yoga (I can't remember the international website- HaHaHa)or Denver laughs.com. The laughter yoga club I attend and lead once a month meets every Monday at noon at the Unitarian church on 14th and Lafayette in Denver. It lasts about an hour and is free. Dr.Madam Kateria's vision is to bring love joy peace and laughter to the world one laugh at a time. Come join us sometime. Have you laughed today? How about giving yourself a little twitter now? I may or may not write on my trip. If not I will see you on Monday. In the meantime have yourself a laugh for me.