You Bet! Laughter Can Help The Grieving Process
Laughter Yoga seems a bit bold if grieving the death of a loved one. Yet Karen Johnson, founder of EveryDayGrief in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a Laughter Yoga Leader trained by Jill & Dan Johnson, uses Laughter Yoga in her grief counseling profession with a gentle touch – “Using our laughter muscles, which we do not use now in our lives, let’s do some grief groans.”
So, after grief support group everyone moaned, groaned, stretched, felt their laughter muscles work, and supported one another as they reduced the tension of their two-hour griefwork meeting.
At the end of every session they quietly say, and clap, “very good, very good Yeah!” and repeat it three times, with the third time being very, VERY loud. Then everyone applauds themselves for being honest and for releasing some of their sadness. Sharing the grief lessons the intensity, yet of course, loved ones will always be missed. After experiencing Laughter Yoga a group participant said, “This was a hard night and now I feel less tension.” So goes the world of Laughter Yoga… we adapt, we readjust, and we breath… just like in grief.
Karen has also conducted Laughter Yoga sessions at the What a Woman Wants Expo in Salt Lake City Utah, introducing the idea that laughing unconditionally is healthy, fun, and a huge stress reliever. The participants laughed, reached, bent over, did the hula, mixed a milkshake, said the vowels, laughed at their visa bill, and toned their bodies while they gave their mind a rest. As Karen says, “We did not think, we worked out. Our bodies and brain were full of gratitude.”
Come winter, Karen will be teaching the Loss Institute, a one-day seminar for helping professionals to learn loss and grief strategies for those living with loss. Laughter Yoga has opened a world of relief to many that's fun and useful, and you can't beat that!
Karen wants to thank Dan & Jill Johnson for her incredible Laughter Yoga Leader training. She says, “The souls who join me in these activities, including griefwork, increase my sense of balance and serenity. Thank you Dan and Jill for my laughter leader training!” You can reach Karen at www.everydaygrief.com
written by lee-jean fung, November 30, 2010
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