Death has been on my mind a lot lately. I woke up the morning of my first laughter yoga class in Michigan this summer thinking about dying. My alarm clock went off at 5:00am and I just wanted "five more minutes" but I got up anyway. I thought, "What if this is what happens when you're on your death bed- you want more time- just five more minutes- but don't have it?" What will I do with the five minutes I've been given today while I'm still alive? Will I sleep through them or will I be grateful for these five minutes and live in them fully? Can I fully I appreciate their value now before they're gone?
That evening at Laughter Yoga class we were doing a "value" laughter exercise to practice laughing together in difficult times of life. The first man said, "driving" and the next woman said, "when people die"... I wasn't expecting her response and this wasn't a "stressful situation" we had practiced responding to in class during the teacher certification course I took; so I want to take a moment now to share an interesting experience and talk about how laughter yoga can go hand in hand with the topic of death.
There are some things in life that "just aren't funny" but they are a part of life anyway. We will all experience difficult times in life and we will all experience loss, the question isn't if but when. How can we learn to deal with these situations in a positive way? Can we turn these stumbling blocks into stepping stones in our lives?
I had so much respect for this lady, she came to a Laughter Yoga class in the middle of her hurt and sadness, she was willing to laugh during a time of great pain in her life. This takes courage, it is not easy.
When you are going through a hard time, like a death or a loss, you can still use laughter medicine. For example, you can send loving laughter up to the energy of the person, they're still with us but in a different form; Einstein said, "Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only change form". We can send them joy on their journey with our laughter, remembering the joy they've given and the joy we will bring with us because they were here.
We can come together to celebrate life and hold each other in the energy of love and understanding during laughter yoga sessions. We're going through this human experience together, we're not alone.
You're not alone.
Find a Laughter Yoga session near you at: http://www.laughteryoga.org/english/club/find_club
That evening at Laughter Yoga class we were doing a "value" laughter exercise to practice laughing together in difficult times of life. The first man said, "driving" and the next woman said, "when people die"... I wasn't expecting her response and this wasn't a "stressful situation" we had practiced responding to in class during the teacher certification course I took; so I want to take a moment now to share an interesting experience and talk about how laughter yoga can go hand in hand with the topic of death.
There are some things in life that "just aren't funny" but they are a part of life anyway. We will all experience difficult times in life and we will all experience loss, the question isn't if but when. How can we learn to deal with these situations in a positive way? Can we turn these stumbling blocks into stepping stones in our lives?
I had so much respect for this lady, she came to a Laughter Yoga class in the middle of her hurt and sadness, she was willing to laugh during a time of great pain in her life. This takes courage, it is not easy.
When you are going through a hard time, like a death or a loss, you can still use laughter medicine. For example, you can send loving laughter up to the energy of the person, they're still with us but in a different form; Einstein said, "Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only change form". We can send them joy on their journey with our laughter, remembering the joy they've given and the joy we will bring with us because they were here.
We can come together to celebrate life and hold each other in the energy of love and understanding during laughter yoga sessions. We're going through this human experience together, we're not alone.
You're not alone.
Find a Laughter Yoga session near you at: http://www.laughteryoga.org/english/club/find_club
No comments:
Post a Comment