Tag Archive for: children

Back to school

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September. Back to school. Back to work. The coming autumn.

If you’re a parent and your child (or children) have recently gone back to school, you might like this suggestion to help the whole family cope with these changes more healthily and serenely.

How was your first day back?

Remember when you went back to school in September? Brand new school supplies in your bag. Nice clean notebooks. Brand new pencils. And a sense of trepidation about what lay ahead. The unknown.

Was the teacher going to be nice? What about my classmates? Would I be able to learn the lessons? Would I have a lot of work to do?

What I remember is that with each new year, I set off with a mixture of excitement, apprehension, pleasure… and anxiety.

New class. New teacher. Would they like me? Would I like them?

Finding your place

I can’t say I was the most sociable child at school. At least, that’s not how I remember my early school years. I had friends, yes, but I was rather reserved and studious – although according to my report cards, I sometimes got lost in my daydreams! But I did very well. And that made me really proud!

It was only later that I realized the value of humor and laughter in making friends and getting out of situations! Around adolescence.

However, I remember very well that every time I went back to school, I didn’t breathe much!

And that’s where I have a suggestion for you!

BREATHE IN LAUGHTER!

I have a simple exercise to suggest, and you can do it even if you don’t have a child starting school!

Laugh at the vowels!

You don’t need to read the letters to do the exercise with me. Do it with (or without) your child. Just by looking at me. But DO IT!

Not only do the vowels emit vibrations that are different from one another, but you’ll also have..:

  • Breathed
  • Works your diaphragm, massaging your internal organs
  • Help your nervous system to calm down
  • Oxygenate your body and YOUR BRAIN

Want more ideas for effective exercises to do with (or without) your child? There are many here , and you can also subscribe to the Laughter Yoga School YouTube channel.

Ready for a smooth, serene back-to-school?

You know what to do!

Laughter, joy and health

Linda

Putting things into perspective

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There’s nothing like laughing with children to put things into perspective! I experienced just that on Saturday, when Rossana Bruzzone, the bubbly beauty behind Neige en couleurs, invited me to offer mini laughter yoga sessions under a heated yurt in Montreal’s Ignace Bourget Park.

What a gift!

Let me put you in context.

Curtain up on the stage…

Friday morning, when I woke up, I got a nasty surprise: my website had been hacked after suffering a hijacking attempt! Total panic! BAM! It was all hands on deck to protect my work, change passwords, and make sure everything was okay… The whole thing is quite a nightmare.

If someone tries to move a site to another server – and thus block access to it – it’s a most frightening and catastrophic scenario. It’s hard to imagine anyone waking up in the morning and thinking: who’s going to steal today? But it does exist! But alas…

I was supposed to leave for Montreal during the day on Friday, but I was pretty upset about the whole thing, so I decided to hit the road the next morning… and when I looked at the weather forecast, I saw that another 10 to 15 cm of snow and rain were forecast… Travel and participation called into question. Safety first and foremost.

The next morning, sunshine and barely ½ cm of snow on the ground! And off we go to Montreal!

Without realizing it, I was heading for a corner of paradise… not a physical one, no – everything was icy, wet and too windy to be pleasant outside when I arrived. No, it was a corner of paradise for the heart! For love, complicity, simplicity, candor…

A yurt is round!

Now that’s fun!

A few families were seated at tables, drawing, tinkering… colorful posters promoting health, joy and lasting happiness on the “walls”.

At first, I didn’t have many participants. First, I had to do a few laughter yoga exercises with one child at a time, then do a session with a parent-child group.

Because Rossana suggested he come to me, I started by laughing with a handsome 7-year-old boy with sparkling, sky-blue eyes! He was accompanied by his father, little brother and two sisters, but he came alone to laugh with me while the others made a craft for the next day’s happiness parade.

My new friend was reserved but did the exercises willingly. And the exercise he seemed to enjoy the most was… laughing at tears! He didn’t laugh out loud, but he laughed sincerely. HO HO HAHAHA was said with enthusiasm!

The same goes for the little girl who came to me after a few minutes. A pretty 6-year-old girl whose favorite color is turquoise and who was breathing in the scent of her favorite flower… turquoise! “Even though a turquoise flower doesn’t smell very good, it’s so pretty!

Finally, some families arrived, and we kicked off a fun session under the yurt!

A small miracle…

First, my morning gloom quickly vanished with the first smile I exchanged with the little boy at the start of the activity. But it wasn’t until I was walking back to my car that I really paid attention to how I was feeling at that moment.

My heart was overwhelmed with gratitude. Grateful to have had the joy of being TOUCHED in the heart by the simplicity, the naturalness, the authenticity of these children. Without trying to force it, their eyes spoke loudly and SAID joy! Hope! Faith! Faith in a world of goodness, beauty, help, purity…

To tell you how good it made me feel. How it got me “out of my head” as an adult! I felt light and far from the responsibilities of being a big, serious, stressed-out person during this moment of grace.

For a while, I really believed that the world is beautiful and that anything is possible!

I know the world is beautiful, but at that moment, it was an ASSURED CERTAINTY. In that moment…

What if we made this moment last? What if we cultivated this state of openness, abandonment, playfulness, hope… and above all kindness…

Shall we do it?

Laughter, joy and health

Linda