Laugh for the Health of It! HOW DO YOU FEEL?

To measure the immediate effects of Laughter Yoga

Date: Location:

Occupation: City/State where you live:

Please circle the number that best reflects your feelings for each of the items below:

BEFORE Using a scale of 1-10 (1=lowest, 10= highest)

AFTER Using a scale of 1-10 (1=lowest, 10= highest)

Enthusiasm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Enthusiasm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Energy level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Energy level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Mood 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mood 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Optimism 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Optimism 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Level of friendship with group members

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Level of friendship with group members

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Level of muscle relaxation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Level of muscle relaxation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Level of mental relaxation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Level of mental relaxation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Ability to laugh without a reason

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ability to laugh without a reason

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please describe your experience doing Laughter Yoga today.

I’d like to learn more about this. Please contact me. (please print clearly) Name: Email: Phone:

© 2017 Sarah Routman Sarah Routman sarah@seriousgiggles.com 612-802-1608 www.seriousgiggles.com

Contraindications: (of Laughter Yoga)

Advanced (bleeding) piles

Any kind of hernia

Any persistent cough

Anything with acute symptoms

Epilepsy

Heart disease

High blood pressure

Incontinence of urine

Major psychiatric disorders

Severe backache

Having undergone surgery within the last 3 months

*If in doubt, check with your doctor!

ALWAYS BE SAFE DO WHAT FEELS GOOD & COMFORTABLE

not to be confused with….

‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone’

-Neal Donald Walsch

© 2018 Sarah Routman 612-802-1608 www.SeriousGiggles.com

Sarah’s LAUGHTER YOGA Cheat Sheet LAUGHTER YOGA – Hasya Yoga Laughter yoga (Hasya Yoga) is a practice involving prolonged voluntary laughter. Laughter yoga is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same physiological benefits as spontaneous laughter. Laughter Yoga is done in groups, with eye contact, jokes and playfulness between participants. BEFORE A SESSION ACTUALLY BEGINS Check the Contraindications sheet – potentially check with your doctor

THE RULES

1. Eye contact – connection 2. Unconditional acceptance – create safe space/environment to support each other in

laughter/suspend judgement, not only of others, but of yourself – it’s not only okay, the more silly, playful and ridiculous you are and feel, the better!

5 Points – What is Laughter Yoga?

1. Anyone can laugh for no reason – without relying on humor, jokes or comedy 2. Initiate laughter as an exercise in a group. With eye contact and childlike playfulness, it

soon becomes genuine and contagious laughter! 3. Combines laughter exercise with yogic breathing, which brings more oxygen to the body

and the brain, providing increased energy and better health. 4. The body cannot differentiate between intentional and genuine laughter. You get the

health benefits either way. 5. In addition to laughter clubs or laughter for fun and sociability, Laughter Yoga is

beneficial in many settings: corporations, senior centers, schools, hospitals and clinics, and can be used successfully with physically and mentally challenged people.

WHY Practice Laughter Yoga? The 3D’s

1. Duration – to get the scientifically proven health benefits, we need to laugh continuously for 15 minutes. Since we do Laughter Yoga as an exercise, we can prolong the laughter as long as we want. With the prolonged practice, we can see increased blood circulation, muscle relaxation, increased oxygen levels in the blood and more.

© 2018 Sarah Routman 612-802-1608 www.SeriousGiggles.com

2. Deep Diaphragmatic Breathing – To reap the benefits of laughter, it must be deep and loud, coming from the diaphragm, like a belly laugh. Laughter clubs provide safe, socially acceptable environment where loud and hearty laughter is perfectly acceptable. Withhold Judgment – Support each other with laughter!

3. Dependability – By practicing Laughter Yoga, we don’t leave it to chance, that we will subjectively find jokes, commedians or life situations to be funny. We guarantee getting the health benefits of laughter by creating the laughter – the feel-good hormones will follow!

4 steps of Laughter Yoga

Laughter Exercises – 15 sec. per exercise minimum/30-45 sec. preferred o add creativity/improv o aiming for deep, hearty belly laughs – from your diaphragm

Clapping –becomes transition between exercises o 39 energy points in your hands o Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha-Ha! o Very Good, Very Good, YAY!* o Very Good, Very Good, Yippee!* o Investigate other languages

Deep breathing and stretching – This is where the yoga comes in o When we get winded from laughing deeply, we stop, stretch and breathe so we

can Laugh more Oxygenate our cells, which ultimately boosts the immune system

o "Pranayama is control of Breath". "Prana" is Breath or vital energy in the body. On subtle levels prana represents the pranic energy responsible for life or life force, and "ayama" means control. So Pranayama is "Control of Breath".

*Childlike playfulness – This helps make it FUN! Think about the wild abandon that a

child feels. The more silly and ridiculous, the better!

5 Secrets

1. We don’t need a sense of humor to laugh. 2. Motion creates emotion. 3. You can laugh even if you are not happy. 4. It’s really not about the laughter – it’s about cultivating childlike playfulness and

allowing ourselves to be silly. 5. You can train your body to laugh.

For more information: www.laughteryoga.org

Superbrain Laughter Exercise by Madan Kataria, Founder of Laughter Yoga http://laughteryoga.org/superbrain-laughter/

This new laughter exercise is a direct adaptation of superbrain yoga which seems to be an ancient Indian practice to stimulate the entire brain. This technique has been researched upon in many universities and the results are scientifically validated.

In India, when I was in school, the most common punishment given by the teacher to non-performing children was asking them to catch their earlobes and do a number of sit-ups. I did not know where this tradition came from. But, what was very familiar in India was the practice of catching your earlobes by crossing the arms and saying, ‘I am sorry’. This is our traditional way of apologizing and asking for forgiveness. In fact, based on this, we have a laughter exercise called Forgiveness Laughter.

I never bothered to go into the details of this ritual until recently, when I found a discipline called superbrain yoga, which has very precisely shed light on the benefits of holding the earlobes on the human brain.

A few months ago, I was looking for new exercises to be introduced for school children and I found one – ‘The Superbrain Laughter’.

Here Are Steps of This New Superbrain Laughter Exercise: Take your left hand and hold your right earlobe with thumb and forefinger. Make sure that the

thumb is in front. Now take your right hand and hold your left earlobe. Again, make sure that the thumb is in front. At

this point you’re pressing both earlobes simultaneously. Make sure your left arm is close to your chest and inside your right arm.

Inhale through your nose and slowly squat down to the ground. Hold your breath to the count of 3, and while exhaling gently laugh as you start making your way

back up to a standing position. Repeat this squatting action 14 times. Remember to keep holding your earlobes and to keep your

tongue touching the roof of your mouth throughout the entire exercise. The Science Behind Superbrain Yoga Dr. Joie. P. Jones of the University of California, in his study, says that superbrain yoga uses the body’s energy centers which absorb, digest, and distribute energy to different parts of the body. These primary energy centers are actually major acupuncture points, which get affected by pressure from the exercise.

When done correctly, superbrain yoga exercise helps the energy trapped in the lower energy centers move up to other major centers of the body. As the energy travels upwards, it passes through the practitioner’s heart centre and fills it with feelings of calm and inner peace. When the energy moves up further into the throat and beyond, the practitioner’s intelligence and creativity are improved. Other benefits include regulation of the sex drive, which is especially important for teenagers.

Benefits of Superbrain Yoga in A Nutshell: According to our Master Choa Kok Sui this exercise:

Energizes and activates the brain and increases inner peace Reduces psychological stress and gives greater psychological stability Gives greater intelligence and creativity Regulates the sex drive Transforms lower energies into higher energies Ensures proper functioning of the brain Increases the flow of pranic energies within the body Makes the practitioner in general, smarter and more psychologically balanced

NAVIGATING WORKPLACE WELLNESS CREATE A MORE POSITIVE CULTURE - MAP THE WAY WITH LAUGHTER!

Add humor & play to help combat stress & improve productivity in the workplace

Budget Cuts – do more with less

✦ Laugh All the Way to the Bank - shifts perspective

Creative Problem Solving, Efficiency Do what you love & what you’re good at - StrengthFinders

Feeling Isolated ✦ SMILE-UPs 😃 😐 Welcome Laughter: ✦ Name ✦ Shake Hands ✦ Wave✦ Aloha Laugh

Connection, Collaboration, Mood Boost. Teamwork

Decreased Staff Morale ✦ Rowing Laugh ✦ Laughter Drill Positivity, anger mgt, team building

Time Management Issues ✦ Slow Motion Laughter ✦ Hurry Up & Wait Laugh ✦ Celebrate Your Accomplishments – VGVG, Yay!

Get enough sleep, more organized Tickler File Completion List vs To Do List

Communication Issues – not on the same page

✦ Telephone Laughter ✦ Gibberish Laughter ✦ Follow the Leader Laugh

Low Energy/ Negativity ✦ SMILE-UPs ✦ Clapping ✦ Skipping Energized, FUN!

Creative Brain Drain ✦ Brainwash with Laughter ✦ Mental Floss Creativity, Productivity

Frazzled, Distracted ✦ Superbrain Laughter ✦ Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha Grounding Dance

Focused, Centered, Grounded

Workplace Stress Using Laughter Yoga Exercises Solutions

© 2018 SARAHROUTMAN 612.802.1608 Sarah@SeriousGiggles.com www. SERIOUSGIGGLES.COM

Don’t SKIP the meeting – SKIP TO the meeting!OBJECTIVES: 1. Identify causes of workplace-related stress and implement solutions using laughter, humor and play. 2. Use customized strategies to increase focus, creativity and productivity in the workplace. 3. Create an action plan to implement new techniques for self-care and reducing stress at work.

Happy Employees = More Productive Employees = Increases Bottom LineUse Laughter Yoga exercises & other tools to increase focus, creativity and productivity in the workplace.

INCREASED DECREASED

Positivity Stress

Energy Anxiety

Focus, Concentration, Productivity Depression

Creativity Distraction – with practice, become more present oriented

Teamwork, Collaboration Anger – you can’t be angry & laugh at the same time

Trust from eye contact + shared together Inhibitions

FUN! Boredom, Nervousness

SELF-CARE WORKPLACE

SMILE-UPs Laughter Drill

I Love Myself Laugh Laughter Shield

Shower Yourself with Laughter SMILE-UPs

Gratitude Laughter – Gratitude Journal Mindfulness – be present

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED THAT YOU CAN/WILL USE?

© 2018 SARAHROUTMAN 612.802.1608 Sarah@SeriousGiggles.com www. SERIOUSGIGGLES.COM

Other Challenges – What do YOU face? - - -

✦ Laughter Shield ✦ Create Your Own Exercises When You Laugh….Shift Happens!

Workplace Stress Using Laughter Yoga Exercises Solutions

Laughter Yoga is also great exercise, and because it’s completely portable and you always have it with you, you are much more likely to do it. Don’t forget, it’s FUN!

CREATEANACTIONPLAN:The best exercise is the one you will actually do!

LAUGHTER EXERCISES PROVIDE:

In addition to smile-ups and other Laughter Yoga exercises that you can practice at home, here are a few tips of how to add laughter to your daily routine…go ahead, give me a little giggle! (tee hee hee!)

Make a list of things that make you laugh and incorporate them into your everyday life.

Record, replay and rent funny movies, shows, cartoons, bloopers, and watch them often.

Listen frequently to the comedian who makes you laugh until you wet your pants!

Throw a party funded by money put into the laughter pot every time someone is caught being grumpy.

Write ‘FUN’ on top of every meeting’s agenda and start with something funny.

Tough times at work and home? Each day, put a piece of tape on your sleeve indicating where you’ve had it up to.

Surround yourself with funny pictures of you, friends and family.

Create a laughter bulletin board at work and home where everyone contributes pictures of people laughing, cartoons, baby pictures, jokes, etc.

Challenge others to have a best- joke contest.

Buy funny greeting cards. Stop while you shop and read a few.

Listen to kids laugh. It’s contagious!

*Breathing is the KEY to Life!* Here's how you can check to see if you are deep breathing properly: Imagine yourself blowing up a balloon. ~ As you BLOW into the balloon, notice that your abdomen/belly contracts and pulls IN. ~ As you take your next big breath IN, notice that you full abdomen/belly expands OUT. Repeat: Blow OUT ~ belly sucks IN; Breathe IN ~ belly expands OUT.

Need help adding even MORE LAUGHTER to your life RIGHT AWAY?!?

Join Sarah’s FREE Laughter Call – 15 minutes of energy, exercise and FUN! Every Monday morning – 9am CST, 10am Eastern Call: 218-339-2460 Code: LAUGH# (52844#) Do it for your health. It matters! Hahahahaha!

© 2018 Sarah Routman www.SeriousGiggles.com

It’s Time to Skip Your Workout! Skipping is

Better Than Walking and Running JULY 14, 2015

There’s a workout out there that doesn’t feel like exercise. It’s considered a total body workout, exercising

major muscles and your heart. Its minimal impact makes it easy on joints. People of all ages can do it, and they

generally finish with a smile on their face. So why aren’t all of us skipping?

Yes, skipping. It’s the activity you picture in your mind with little pig-tailed schoolgirls tra-la-la-ing across a

field of daisies.

Sarah Sanchez, an accountant in Denver, hasn’t been a schoolgirl for quite a while but recently took up skipping

when she learned it was better for you than walking. She now leaves her desk a few days each week to

go skipping over her lunch break. She skips around the 3-4 mile path at her office park and is loving the effect

so far.

“It makes me feel happy, like a kid again,” she said. “It’s a nice bonus in the middle of a stressful work day.”

Who couldn’t use that kind of mid-day pick-me-up?

Trainer Corey Smallwood not only echoed the euphoria that Sanchez is experiencing, but backed up the

benefits, too.

“In 19 years of training, I’ve seen more people than I can count finish a workout consisting of walking, running,

or jumping rope looking miserable,” said Smallwood, a programming developer for popular workouts

on AcaciaTV. Smallwood has been a certified trainer for 19 years and owns the goPerformance gym in

Clarksburg, MD.

“Skipping, on the other hand, will instantly put a smile on your face.” As soon as his clients remember how to

skip, something we seem to lose over time, the care-free smile returns to their faces.

And that, he says, is one of the biggest differences between more popular cardio exercises (likewalking,

running, and jumping rope) and skipping — people actually enjoy it!

“When skipping is performed properly, you work just about every muscle from your big toe to your ears,”

explained Smallwood. While skipping, he says you’ll use your legs, hip flexors, glutes, core, arms, and

shoulders. He added that “with a powerful skip, you’re activating the muscular and nervous systems as well as

elevating the heart rate.” So there’s cardio, too! When you utilize all three systems as Smallwood has described,

skipping allows you to burn a lot of calories.

Skipping is arguably a better exercise than walking, running, and jumping rope. Smallwood clarifies

that marathon runners will still need to log their running miles, but that you get all the aforementioned physical

benefits of the sport without the impact.

“Skipping is certainly less impact on your joints and works more muscle groups [than running],” he explained.

Because of the flow of a skipping movement — taking off and landing on the balls of the feet as opposed to

heel strikes — you minimize the impact, making it safer and more effective.

So again, why aren’t all of us skipping around like schoolgirls? Sanchez noted an air of paranoia when she first

started. “I only did it until I saw another person and then I would stop,” she recalled. “Then I just decided that I

don’t know any of these people I see on the street and I shouldn’t care what they think!” Let the inhibitions go

and you’ll be fitter than the rare person who might find your actions silly.

Smallwood thinks we should all be skipping as part of our daily routines. He does it, his mom does it, and his

twin daughters do it, each gaining something different, but positive, from the experience. He refines a sprinting

technique, his mom uses it for exercise, and his twins make it to their swing set a little faster. It’s a versatile

activity that suits everyone!

“One day, while I was skipping in the office park, I looked across the street and saw another lady skipping! We

smiled and waved at each other, like we knew something no one else did.”

More information about skipping:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/12/skipping_as_an_adult_great_exer

cise_and_a_lot_of_fun_for_grown_ups_and_kids.html