Laughter Yoga

Challenge Prompt: Write a story that does not end well and allows the consequences to stand.

1) Well, you don't need a mat or certain garb to go to laughter yoga group.

2) You can go to group on the phone or in person.

3) Those friendships are everlasting.

4) Laughing helps with depression.

5) Starting with smile ups is easy to teach, for a better day.

6) Laughter breaths, it's so important to breath for anxiety and panic.

7) Laughter is freedom!

8) Our brain doesn't know the difference between real smiles and laughs. So fake smiles and laughter have the same healing affects.

Now is the time for how laughter yoga may not end well:

1 - I have been late to laughter yoga on the phone recently, and decided to set my alarm for earlier, to get there on time.

I discovered that wouldn't work if I don't change my alarm! I took the 9:00 weekly time off my phone last week. And I forgot to put 8:55 on my alarm, so I wasn't reminded to attend.

Today will not go as well, as other Mondays.

2 - I am missing my energy that I get from laughter yoga when I don't participate. I can do some on my own, and it just isn't the same.

About 15 years ago I was taught from a laughter yoga group to practice daily myself. About 40 years ago, I was taught to scream and holler in my car or when alone in my house to get some pent-up feelings out. Both work.

If I don't have the group as a reminder though, I don't remember when I really need to remember!

3 - In laughter yoga, I learned about acupressure points when clapping between laughter exercises. That can help with our immune system, and other health helps. But if we are not doing them...

4 - If you never know about laughter yoga, you will not experience the benefits.

Assuming everyone knows about laughter yoga is false. Not everyone does know. It is okay to tell people, and if they are not interested, at least they were told.

I have had the same experience with Reiki. Reiki is great but not everyone knows about it or is interested.

5 - Not everyone has a computer or a phone to go online for laughter yoga. There are not in person laughter yoga classes everywhere either.

6 - If I grump around, I get noticed by people who know me. The other day, an ex-mail lady came up to me and said, you look grumpy today. That is what happens when I am smiling all the time. When I don't people notice. Not everyone will say something. We both laughed.

My story that does not end well:

Sally was running for office and her community was supportive. It was the community who asked that she run. Then things started to happen. Certain people remembered the time she did something they didn't like.

She was out making sandwiches from the trunk of her car when someone she knew drove by and said, "Wouldn't it be better and easier to stop by and pick up burgers from a fastfood place?"

All of a sudden, Sally couldn't do anything well. But she persisted. She kept the smile on her face and laughed with family and friends as often as possible, and she felt good about herself and all that she had accomplished.

Election day came and Sally didn't get elected into office. She decided that she would work to fix some of the things people complained about and she would run again.

Yesterday, she found out she didn't win the primarys and she still held her head up high and again made a committment to run in the next election. She asked me about laughter yoga, knowing that I am involved in that.

I told her that it wouldn't get her elected but it sure does help with depression, anxiety and panic.