Storytime & Laughter Meditation: Spider Monkey
šš¼ Hello Laughter Lovers!
This is a story about a little spider monkey. It’s also a story about friendship, love, grief, and laughter. The story concludes with a Laughter Meditation in honor of Godfrey and whoever you would like to honor.
This video is more candid and personal than usual. It makes me feel oddly vulnerable to share it. I debated. Nevertheless, I’m going for it. Here’s a different side of me. I hope you like it.
Laughter Yoga Together on Patreon: What and Why
šš¼ Hello Laughter Lovers!
I just launched a Patreon page and Iām super-excited about it! If you have a quick moment, Iād love to tell you a bit about it.
What is Patreon?
Patreon is a membership platform. Youāll find a lot of musicians and video creators on it, as well as nonprofits, podcasters, visual artists, authors, game developers, educators, and more.
Simply put, my Patreon community is for people who like the videos I make and want to sustain my ability to keep making them by paying me a set amount of money every month.Ā
Why Patreon?
Patreon gives me a way to thank my biggest supporters with things like early access to new songs and videos, recognition in video credits, personalized thank you cards, and polls so you can influence new videos (and help me figure out new ideas). It gives me a way to bring you closer into the process.
As my Patreon community grows, it will become a reliable source of income, which will allow me to keep a consistent video release schedule, develop my Laughter Yoga abilities, and improve my video production skills.Ā
As much as I absolutely love Laughter Yoga, making videos, and writing songs… it is time consuming work. I spend countless hours a week planning videos, filming, editing, making graphics, uploading, tagging, sharing, writing songs, recording, mixing, mastering, submitting songs for distribution, writing blog posts, updating the website, researching and preparing the Laugh Pact List newsletter, and of course, laughingā¦ there is a LOT of laughing involved. With your financial help, I can keep it up.
Soā¦ are the videos still free?
YES, YES, YES! All of the videos and music will still be available for free on YouTube and other places. I’m so grateful for all of the ways you enjoy my work and the Laughter Yoga movement as a whole. If you do choose to join, you pick the amount and you can change it or cancel any time you want. Ā
Questions?
Please let me know if you have any questions! You can get in touch with me directly here.
So hey! If you want to help take Laughter Yoga Together to the next level, please take a look at my new Patreon page.
Have a wonderful day and laugh on!
š Kara
Laughter Ambassador Award
A really cool thing happenedā¦ it took me by complete surpriseā¦ and I couldnāt be more thrilledā¦
Dr. Madan Kataria & Madhuri Kataria of Laughter Yoga International honored me with the Laughter Ambassador award. How cool is that?! Honestly, I feel so incredibly proud of that titleā¦ Laughter Ambassador. Haha!
Thank you to my wife, Katie, for supporting and encouraging my Laughter Yoga adventure. Thank you to our cat, Murmur, for putting up with my noise.
Thank you to my family and especially my mom for teaching me how to freely laugh. My mom would be proud and that makes me smile ear to ear. She was a very funny woman with an exceptional sense of humor and a splendidly engaging laugh.
Thank you to everyone in the Laughter Yoga community who has inspired me and shared kind, supportive words. And thank you to Dr. Kataria & Madhuri for this honor and for creating Laughter Yoga in the first place. I am so grateful and delighted. I look forward to continue sharing the JOY of Laughter Yoga far and wide.
How I Found Laughter Yoga
I discovered Laughter Yoga while on a medically necessary break from my work as a retail manger. For over five years, I had suffered from plantar fasciitis. Eventually, my condition went from a morning annoyance of foot pain to constant, daily chronic foot pain. After a year of daily suffering, I had tried every option recommended by multiple doctors and online resources, except surgery or prolonged rest completely off of my feet. And so, I finally took 5 weeks off from work to see if I could significantly progress my healing. With this influx of time, I decided to explore mindfulness to help with my always looming anxiety and depression. This led me to an inspiring book called āUncovering Happiness: Overcoming Depression with Mindfulness and Self-Compassionā by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. And in this book, Laughter Yoga was part of a list ofĀ recommended activities to engage in playfulness. I explored Laughter Yoga online, participated in a couple videos, and I was hooked.
Why I Am Drawn to Laughter Yoga
Why I Am Drawn to Laughter Yoga
I originally heard about Laughter Yoga in a wonderful book about mindfulness. It is part of a list of activities that are suggested to add playfulness into your life. The idea of Laughter Yoga was intriguing, so I searched online, watched a few videos, and I was hooked.
The immediate thing that drew me in is how Laughter Yoga is inclusive of all physical abilities and ages. I could do it in my chair while healing from plantar fasciitis! The amazing side effect that I experienced is that the endorphins Laughter Yoga produced helped offer relief from my anxiety and depression.
I’m collecting awesome Laughter Yoga videos that I try out from YouTube. Check out this playlist of my favorites and try Laughter Yoga now! While you’re there, please subscribe to my YouTube channel. I’ll be making my own Laughter Yoga videos soon.
