What do Puzzles, Painting and Crocheting have in common?

by Diana McCollum

First off I take a break from technology. Put my phone in my purse or another room, turn off the tv and shut down the computer. 

I do put my phone in my pocket if I'm taking a walk or working in the flower bed. And I do use the computer if I'm doing a YouTube exercise or yoga video.

Sometimes I put on instrumental music. I can listen to it while I crochet, work on a puzzle or paint. Doing things with my hands such as crocheting or painting really relaxes me. 

(current puzzle I'm working on. There must be 100 pieces of just the bear, and it is hard)

I forget about my stress and concentrate on what I'm doing. Those are my three best go to relaxers.

(took some watercolor classes over the holidays)

Now I practice the tecniques at home.

Outside I enjoy going for a walk and getting some fresh air along with exercise that I do 3-4 times a week and I try to be in the moment. Watching as squirrles scurry across the sidewalk and up a tree, listen to the birds singing,  and stopping and sitting on a bench to just listen to the wind in the trees.

I'm a much happier and relaxed person when I include some of these things in my daily routine.

What is your go to relaxer?

Laughter Meditation

By Robin Weaver 

We all know that “laughter is the best medicine,” but did you know laughter is also a form of meditation?  Seriously, it’s a thing. In addition to laughter meditation, I discovered several forms of therapy that use laughter when I researched this month’s theme.  Heck, there’s even laughter yoga.  When I first encountered that term, I assumed it was the response of people who’d seen me do yoga, but I transcend, I mean digress.

Laughter Meditation is similar to traditional meditation but adds some giggling to the process. When I first attempted “regular” meditation, I was skeptical, but over the years I’ve come to truly appreciate the value of deep breathing. Granted, I needed scientific evidence supporting the benefits before I gave mediation a real chance. While I couldn’t find specific studies supporting the merits of laughter meditation, there is abundant research indicating laughter is indeed good for us humans, so I decided to give funny mediation a try (primarily for the sake of this blog).

There are three stages to this type of mediation: stretching, laughing, and meditative silence. The website I found did not include “stretching,” but I did that anyway—assuming yawning counts.  Here are the specific instructions I attempted to follow:

Step 1: (One Minute) Start laughing. Just laugh!

Okay, I just felt ridiculous. Have you ever tried to just laugh? For no reason? When all alone? My poor cat ran for cover. One website suggested “shout out “Yahoo” a few times and raise your arms up in the air. I did not try that. Come on—who uses “yahoo” for any but a search engine. Thinking about that did, however, make me smile for a few seconds, so I considered that “good enough” and moved to the next step.

Step 2: (One Minute) Sit in silence with your eyes closed. 

Now I wanted to laugh. Since the “yahoo shouting site” also suggested: if there is still laughter bubbling up, allow it, I kept laughing. Then, at risk of wetting my yoga pants, I had to interrupt my meditation for a potty break.

Obviously, laughter meditation didn’t work for me. I know I come across as irreverent, but I can be truly quite serious—um, maybe I’m just irreverent. Despite my snark, I am truly not belittling Laughter Meditation; the benefits of laughter mediation include presence, lightness, stress reduction, and emotional release, i.e., the same benefits as regular meditation. But hey, potato-poTOTo, give it a try. Here's a link with more detailed instructions: https://chopra.com/articles/laughter-meditation-5-healing-benefits-and-a-10-minute-practice.

If it works for you, do it. And don’t give a crap what us bratty folk think.

Grins and namaste,

Robin