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World Laughter NEWS
UPDATED 12/16/2009 
Scroll down for Ideas, Information, Resources, Workshop Schedule, and the Spirit of Laughter
Check Out Workshop Locations for 2010
Is there one near you? Become a Certified Laughter Leader in the
 2-Day workshop:
"How to Create Therapeutic Laughter and Laughter Clubs"   

Click on the image below to find a laughter club

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iStock-flyer-coquitlam 

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Top 10 Reasons to Laugh Until it Hurts (or Helps!)

"The art of medicine consists of keeping the patient amused while nature heals the disease."
~Voltaire
 
After that quote I don't think I need to say much.  Laughing feels good and releases tension, your body likes it, bacteria and viruses don't (because with laughter your little white blood cells become absolutely ruthless), it's a nice ice-breaker and quite simply makes the day better.
 
Top 10 reasons to laugh (and laugh now)
 
1. Lower blood pressure. Initially upon laughing, blood pressure increases, but then falls below normal levels and as breathing deepens blood becomes more oxygen and nutrient rich.
 
2. Strengthen immune system. Laughter increases the number of natural killer cells that like to eat viruses for breakfast, as well as certain cancer cells.  Antibodies are also increased (immunoglobulin A), which is especially helpful for respiratory infections. 
 
3. Reduce stress, irritation, depression and anger. Ok, so those were 4 reasons.  Add anxiety and grief to those as well.  In short, laughter changes our biochemical state significantly by decreasing stress hormones, relaxing muscles and upping antibodies that fight infection.
 
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MANY WONDERFUL GIFT OF LAUGHTER IDEAS

ARE WAITING IN OUR
ONLINE STORE

 
LAUGHING CRITTER
 KEY CHAINS

Steve podium

  FUN IS AT HAND...

  THESE MAKE GREAT GIFTS

 
  Hilarious auditory surprise.
  These darling laughing critters
  get everyone giggling.


HILARIOUS LAUGHING SPORTS BALL KEY CHAINS
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MAGICAL WANDS 
wand

EVERYBODY NEEDS A LITTLE MAGIC NOW AND THEN. CAST A SPELL FOR FUN AND IMAGINATION.




"I LOVE TO LAUGH"A BOOK OF FUN & GIGGLES
 
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WRITTEN BY KAREN FARMER

GIVE CHILDREN THE ADVANTAGE
OF A HEADSTART ON LOVING LEARNING
AND LAUGHING




THE ABC's OF ACTIVITIES FOR ALZHEIMER'S
DVD  
 
10th

At last, professionals as well as family and other caregivers have easy to follow step-by-step instructions for powerful techniques that produce failure-free activities for persons with dementia and others. Amira Choukir Tame teaches by her caring and professional example with patients and residents in actual activity situations.
Worth its weight in gold, this powerful tool will improve your sensitivity and delivery of activities, including laughter programs, in clinical, residential, home and community based settings. AN OUSTANDING COMPANION TO HER BOOK,"HEALING THE WOUNDS OF ALZHEIMER'S".
Amira C. Tame is an CCCAP Certified Activities Consultant as well as a Certified Laughter Leader.
DVD, RUN TIME APPROX. 1 HOUR

 The World Laughter Pledge:

 
We will laugh every morning wherever we are, with others or alone, and we will start to send a wave of laughter continuously around the world forever!

Join World Laughter Pledge on FaceBook now.
grad globe 
OUR PROMISE:
To offer the best value in training;
To illuminate and improve the human condition;
To explore the science of laughter & humor in fun and exciting ways;
To deliver year 'round support and assistance to our trainees;
  To continuously develop the  program of systematic exposure to true mirthful laughter in a supportive environment;
To promote a six-step process for healing attitudes;
To offer a program that is uplifting, straight-forward, and effective for a wide range of individuals.
 
Won't you join us and help make the world a better place?


 
7 Reasons Why This is The Best Time to Get Training in Laughter Therapy
 
 
(1) When it comes to relieving stress, more giggles and guffaws are just what the doctor ordered. You feel good when you laugh because it is good for you!
 
According to the Mayo Clinic, mirthful laughter has been shown to be highly effective as a natural stress reliever, pain-reducer, and mood elevator, with important immune system and cardiovascular benefits.
 
(2) Here come the Baby-boomers! In long-term care, 75,000 staff are needed who can lead laughter therapy programs that meet contemporary needs. Additional opportunities exist in hospitals, schools, and businesses.
 
 (3) We now know more about how laughter works in the mind-body-belief system. A good example is in the recent Journal of Medical Hypotheses study reports by Dr. Michael Miller and Dr. William Fry, Jr.. CLICK HERE FOR A COPY
 
(4) Laughter therapy is more effective than ever, with future prospects for integrating theories of neuroplasticity ("brain fitness") and attitudinal healing.
 
(5) More than 5,000 Certified Laughter Leaders have already been trained, but it is a drop in the bucket. It is absolutely necessary to make something that is so much fun more accessible to so many who need it.
 
(6) Workshops can be smaller and more convenient at local Host-Partner sites, saving the expense of travel and lodging.
 
(7) Entrpreneurial asistance is available to help you organize and lead laughter clubs for friends, neighbors, healthcare, schools, businesses and other orgnaizations. You are independent so you can decide to do it for free or for a fee, or combine it with your speaking, consulting or other business.
Greetings!

iStock-flyer-coquitlam 

  FULL BELLY LAUGHTER
SOME HUMAN BEINGS ARE TOO HUNGRY TO BE LAUGHING
Think Globally, Laugh & FEED Locally
 
Easing hunger, nourishing bodies and souls, is necessary to leading the way to laughter and a better world. FULL BELLY LAUGHTER is the name selected for an initiative arrived at by a brainstorming process undertaken by Certified Laughter Leaders.
 
By Steve Wilson
�2009 - All rights reserved
 
These days I cannot eat a meal without thinking of those who are going hungry. I cannot have a really good laugh without thinking of those who cannot laugh.
 
In a 2009 paper presenting hypotheses about laughter and cardiovascular functioning, MDs Michael Miller and William Fry, Jr., wrote, "Laughter is a complex human behavior, with inherent characteristics involving and reflecting participation of almost every functional element of the human organism. Laughter is ubiquitous in the human world population. No human group has been identified as being devoid of laughter."
 
This generalization implies an assumption that merits further examination for deeper understanding. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs will be helpful in this endeavor.
 
In fact, the act of laughter is not ever-present everywhere. It is more accurate to say that the capacity or potential for laughter is everywhere, but that potential can only be realized when the conditions are right. It would be more accurate to say that no human group has been identified as being devoid of laughter when and if the conditions were right.
 
Yes, there have been reports that some people seem to be able to sustain laughter in spite of circumstances even as horrible as imprisonment in a concentration camp and sometimes facing a bleak prognosis means "laugh anyway" is all there is. But that laughter is highly exceptional, often temporary and short-term. Perhaps we can learn something by understanding what motivates and sustains the exceptional.
 
However, look at the bigger picture. Look at the images of people suffering from war, poverty, famine, disease, and genocide. Their central nervous systems may be wired for laughter but they are not laughing. The conditions are not right.
 
For now, for me, I am opting for encouraging that which is "actionable" toward removing the social, situational, and economic barriers to laughter, and inviting my laughter buddies to join.
 
 
Steve hat SWsignature 
 
  Steve Wilson

  World Laughter Tour, Inc. 
Worth Passing On to Others
 
"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book." ~Irish Proverb
 
"Laughter is to life what shock absorbers are to automobiles. It won't take the potholes out of the road, but it sure makes the ride smoother." ~Barbara Johnson
 
 
"What monstrous absurdities and paradoxes have resisted whole batteries of serious arguments, and then crumbled swiftly into dust before the ringing death-knell of a laugh!"  ~Agnes Repplier
 
"Humour is a rubber sword - it allows you to make a point without drawing blood." ~Mary Hirsch 
 
***

Steve Wilson's annual offering, "Secrets of Beating the Holiday Blues: How This Year Can Be Better Than Last Year" is ready now and yours FREE. Combines common sense, psychologically sound ideas, and modern mind-body science with, of course, many one-liners.
Please feel free to share this article as you see fit. Reference it on your Facebook or Twitter accounts. 
***
iPhone and iTouch Laughter!
There's a new top-notch laughter app out for iPhone & iTouch called iLaughOutLoud.   It's the first decent laughter application that plays genuine contagious laughter sounds on demand  - over 40 different laughs. But it's more than just a Laugh-Box-On-Steroids.  It has a "Delay" feature that enables you to pick a favorite laugh, set a timer, and have the laugh start when wanted.  ("Alex, I'll take 'Pranks & Practical Jokes for $500!")  And the "Loop" feature enables you to play any laugh over and over again, which makes it fun to turn on, and then hide it in a drawer or closet or.... you get the idea. It's fun, it's contagious, and it's only a buck! A portion of sales goes to help the Laughter Arts & Sciences Foundation.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION 
Or
 

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No joke: Laughter as stress-fighting therapy

By Janice Podsada - The Hartford Courant Posted: Monday, December 14, 2009
 
Can pretending to ride the subway, leaning into the turns and toppling fellow passengers, relieve stress?
Apparently, if the conductor is a certified laughter leader and the strap-hangers are willing to force a few laughs.
 
 
"Let's do subway! Lean to the right, to the left!" barked Jolene Nevers, above a chorus of loud but faked ha-has that morphed into a real giggle here, a bona fide titter there.
 
 
"You end up actually laughing," said Karissa Covelli, 19, who said the 20-minute laugh-therapy session at the University of Connecticut's Health Education Center recently dissolved the day's frustrations and a crabby mood. "I feel a lot better now."
 
Nevers, a university health-education coordinator and a laughter leader certified by World Laughter Tour Inc., learned about the laughter-therapy movement at an American College Health Association conference two years ago.
 
"Laughter clubs are a form of structured play," she said. "As adults, we have to work fun and play into our lives."
 
2010 WLT WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
New locations have been added. More to come.
Now with our own 1-2-3 Stimulus Package.
1. Stimulus Package A: Save $40.00. We are holding tuition for 2010 at the 2008 earlybird level. 
 
2. Stimulus package B: Every workshop participant receives a $10.00 Gift Certificate to use toward resource materials. Free shipping is available. 
 
3.Discounts on resource materials for Certified Laughter Leaders average 15% when ordering online.

NOTE: If you don't see a workshop near you, consider joining our Host-Partner program. With a little help from you, we can bring the training right to your community. Check it out!
  
REGISTER ONLINE 
 
OR CALL 1-800-NOW-LAFF(669-5233)

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January 8-9, 2010
[Fri/Sat] - Canon City, Colorado
Host site partner for this workshop is
Friendship House at The Home
1020 N. 15th St.
Canon City, CO
Faculty: Adrienne Edmondson 
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February 18-19, 2010
[Thurs-Fri] - Columbus, Ohio 
Best Western Port Columbus
AATH-small
1450 Airpointe Drive
Columbus, OH 43215
Faculty: Steve Wilson
___________________________
 
February 25-26, 2010 
[Thurs/Fri] -  Palm City, Florida
Host site for this workshop is
First Congregational Church of Palm City
Alaska Regional Med Ctr
560 SW 34th St.
Palm City, FL 34990
Faculty: Steve Wilson
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February 27-28, 2010
[Sat/Sun] - Goodyear, Arizona (Phoenix)
Host site for this workshop is
Cancer Treatment Centers of America at
Midwest Regional Medical Center
Alaska Regional Med Ctr
14200 W. Fillmore Street
Goodyear, AZ. 85338
Faculty: Chip Lutz
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March 31-April 1, 2010
 
[Weds/Thurs] Athens, Tennessee
Host site for this workshop is
McMinn County Senior Activity Center
McMinn County Senior Citizens, Inc.
Alaska Regional Med Ctr 
205 McMinn Avenue, Athens, TN 37371
Faculty: To be announced.
(A great way to begin National Humor Month!) 
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April 8-9, 2010
[Thurs/Fri] - Santa Cruz, California
Host site for this workshop is
Alaska Regional Med Ctr 
Location: Native Sons Hall
239 High St.
Santa Cruz, CA
Faculty: Steve Wilson
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June 3-4, 2010
[Thurs/Fri] Buffalo, New York
Host site for this workshop is The Laugh Academy
Alaska Regional Med Ctr
Location: Pine Lawn Cemetery Chapel, 2951 Harlem Road, Buffalo 14225
SPECIAL OPTIONS: Tour of Niagara Falls &
Authentic Buffalo Wing Lunch
Lodging suggestions coming soon.
Faculty: To be announced
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June 10-11, 2010
[Thurs/Fri] - Columbus, Ohio
Best Western Port Columbus  
AATH-small 
1450 Airpointe Drive
Columbus, OH 43215
Faculty: Steve Wilson
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July [Thurs/Fri]
Dates to be confirmed
Buhler, Kansas (Wichita area)
Host site for this workshop is
Sunshine Meadows Retirement Community 
Alaska Regional Med Ctr
400 South Buhler Road
Buhler, KS 67522
Faculty: To be announced
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July 15-16, 2010
[Thurs/Fri]- Anchorage Alaska
ALASKA REGIONAL HOSPITAL
Alaska Regional Med Ctr
Faculty: To be announced
Last day to register: July 1
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July 29-30, 2010
[Thurs/Fri]- Hamilton, New Jersey
HOST SITE FOR THIS WORKSHOP IS 
ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
HEALTH & FITNESS CENTER
Alaska Regional Med Ctr
Faculty: Heather Wandell
Last day to register: July 22
 
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August 2010
East Jordan, Michigan
HOST SITE FOR THIS WORKSHOP IS
Grandvue: Carlevoix County Medical Care Facility
Alaska Regional Med Ctr
Faculty: To be announced
Last day to register:
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September 16-17, 2010
Silver Spring, Maryland
THIS WORKSHOP WILL BE HOSTED BY
SOUTHERN ASIAN CHURCH
Alaska Regional Med Ctr 
2001 East Randolph Rd.
Silver Spring, MD
Faculty: Heather Wandell, MA
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September 23-24, 2010 
[Thurs/Fri] - Columbus, Ohio
Best Western Port Columbus
AATH-small 
1450 Airpointe Drive
Columbus, OH 43215
Faculty: Steve Wilson
_________________________________
 
October 13-14,2010
[Weds/Thurs] - New York City
Alaska Regional Med Ctr
JCC Association of North America
520 Eighth Avenue.
Faculty: Steve Wilson
__________________________________
 
WADSWORTH, OHIO
Host site for this workshop is
Summa Wadsworth-Rittman Hospital

Alaska Regional Med Ctr 
Faculty: Susan Stewart, MA, RN, CLL

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November 4-5, 2010
[Thurs/Fri] - Grand Rapids Michigan
Host site for this workshop is the
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at
Aquinas College
  Alaska Regional Med Ctr

Faculty: Steve Wilson
 
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MORE TO COME!
How about a workshop in your city? 

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Workshop dates & locations occasionally change.
For the most current information contact us at
1-800-669-5233
or see the full listing here



 
This month's special congratulations to Janet Lifshin, CLL, who presented 73 students with Certified Laughter Reader certificates through her FUNNY LITERACY program at Discovery Key and Southgrade elementary schools in Florida.

Celebrate National Humor Month (April) With The FUNNY LITERACY Project & Program

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Click images to get FREE materials

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