Turkish belly dancing (see pic above) - poor old snake? It was a great show, pure recreation, all part of a much needed break which recharged the energy batteries and loosened up the laughter reflexes.
blues skies, torrential thunderstorms, great gigs, crazymad laughter workshops, fine dining, socially responsible blue faces, orbs, column of light, human catherine wheels - where else but Glasto? Rampant neighbours, cold showers, hippy crack, yup, it all happened somewhere for someone.
21/22 march saw another batch of happy graduates emerge from an intensive weekend, full of laughter and learning (evidently a preferred way of spending what used to be known as ‘mothering sunday’ before the marketeers got their guilt-inducing hands on the concept.)
We supped fine teas courtesy of Pukka Teas sponsorship, watched the london skateboarders, scores of them, as they passed our room at Troubadours, and laughed and learned, and learned and laughed. Delegates included drug rehab specialists, community development specialists, dance teachers, Mind Gym educationalists, so we were a nice mixed group, and everyone enjoyed it.
Yes, the weekend was a success.
Sunny Sandsend, a lovely place to run the 1st Laughter Facilitation course in the north of England. Weather was perfect, as were the fish & chips and the prawns. And the course, well, 8 enthused, keen and inquiring and willing people make for a great course, full of laughter, good quality information, wonderful stories, growthful risk-taking - you could see it in people’s faces by day 2, their openness, the sparkle in their eyes, their easy engagement with each other, a very rewarding experience for all of us.
Photos to follow soon, taken by Ilford’s current master-class photographer Keith.
Saturday 22nd nov saw 60-70 people attend this conference and have a 30 minute laughter workshop, including one Ruby Wax. She’d interviewed Steve, the organiser, a couple of days earlier in ‘Ruby’s Room’, he invited her, she managed to come, and the first session she attended was the laughter workshop. She told Steve afterwards how much she enjoyed it.
Were you there?
A lovely email popped into my inbox as a result: I was at the Social Anxiety event on Saturday and am just writing to say I really enjoyed the session you did (even though I thought I wouldnt!).
We had another good laughter workshop at the Pierian Centre on the 18th, we all left with various aching muscles, cheeks, ribs, tummy. The question of practicing came up again, how important it is to keep persevering when adopting a new way of doing something and not becoming dissuaded by the inevitable mind-chatter (why am I doing this? Do I really have time? Is it really worth it? What’s for breakfast?)
This is just our mind’s resistance to what it perceives as a threat to its existence, its way of life, our ego feeling threatened and so throwing up a smoke screen to discourage us from initiating changes. However, as we probably all know either from our own expereince or from other people’s, when we persevere, sooner or later we have an experience that makes us realise that our new practice has just delivered a result. When that happens, we know. Its no longer a debate about whether something works or not, we know from our own direct personal experience.
So, it was a useful conversation we had, and I look forward to hearing how everyone gets on, what results their ‘Start the day well’ practices deliver.
I’m sitting in autumn sunshine, watching the leaves fall, recovering after an intense time which culminated in the bristol laughter worksdhop last night. About 12 of us this time, playful, energetic, light-hearted, with a good consolidating discussion at the end - how to incorporate this into day-to-day living? Evergreen suggestions are to start your day well, do something as early as possible in the day to bring a good-natured smile to your lips.
Mine started wth a chuckle, remembering faces and some of the creative funny interactions from the night before.b I’m smiling now as I remember them again. Yes, thankyou, my day has started well.
x
Well, here we are, spring bursting round us - any good plans shaping up for the summer? If you’re a festival goer, there are lots of laughter workshop opportunities coming up for you, starting of course at Glasto, then Quest, Small Nations, Big Chill, Bestival, and hopefully next year Big Green Gathering again. If you’ve never been to a festival session you can get a flavour from the pix - well, if the blog will upload them, that is!
The laughter facilitation course is fully booked again, maybe we’ll get lucky and have a pic here - let’s see……..hmmmm. Ah well, if you’re getting despondant over this, go and have a look at the chuckle gallery, feedback is that it really works!
Well, here we are in 2008, after 8 nights of partying and pingpong, fabulous. In the middle of all this I did manage to have a laughter review of 2007, to pick out the highlights and these included a wonderful week at Cortijo Romero which I strongly recommend if you want a week which is both stimulating and relaxing.
There was also another mudfest at Glasto so its about time we had another sunny one - even dry would be nice! Keep an eye out for the Theatre Field programme, this is where we’ll be again, and on that note, it was very sad to hear about Arabella Churchill’s passing, she was a great organiser there with a longtime role, and she’ll leave a big hole.
(pause for a small silence)
The Big Green Gathering was another goodie, everyone’s always well up for a boisterous laugh-a-bout, there’ll shortly be some great pics on the www, both here and on theirs so keep your eyes peeled.
A new CD is on the way too (A Big Laugh) so this hibernating period has been a bit unhibernatey so far - ah well!
What’s your news?