Laughing Jim?

My name is Jim, and I like to laugh. I'm a certified Laughter Yoga Leader!
I was certified by Laughter Yoga Fun's Carole Holcombe in San Jose, California. It also happened to be in San Jose, California that I first took a Laughter Yoga workshop. It was led by the amazingly talented Celia Farran. Celia is a Laughter Yoga Teacher, but she also is known as "The Everyday Goddess" and performs live and on line. Book her for a gig or just enjoy a show at www.celiaonline.com .
Laughter Yoga has been a huge influence on my life ever since, and I recommend it widely, and in almost any situation.
I like leading other people to explore the power of laughter to uplift and shift their mood and outlook. One of my favorite LY exercises is "Cry down. Laugh up" in which one folds over at the waist or knees, collapsing down while mock (or near-real) crying. Then one comes up laughing. It fills the heart to transform the energy in such explicitly simple ways, and I can't recommend this seriously playful practice enough.

"Mental Floss" is another fav, a play, obviously, on dental floss. It really helps clear out the ol' brain cobwebs from the folds of the frontal lobe.

I laugh energy up and down the chakras utilizing vowel sounds that correspond to the seven main centers of energy that run from the base of the spine to the top of the head. It is at once, relaxing and energizing, grounding and uplifting.

Leading Laughter Yoga has opened up a world of exercise class leading, and as much fun as leading Laughter Yoga sessions is, I haven't led one in a long time.

I have used laughter yoga exercises at ritual invocations.

I get audiences laughing and feeling good during open mic spots.

I pepper senior exercise and "Sit, Stretch, Smile" classes with laughter exercises and animal sounds, "cultivating childlike playfulness" as we like we are taught in laughter trainings.

I still laugh on the phone too, probably four or five times a week.

As we say, "We don't laugh because we're happy. We are happy because we laugh!"

-Laughing Jim