Prayer in Vilcabamba

ThaHAhank you for all the interest about my upcoming Goddess retreat in Ecuador  - a great question - why Pray in Vilcabamba?

The name of the valley comes from the Quechua language of Inca derivation.  It  is composed of two words, Huilco meaning "sacred" or "Goddess" and Bamba meaning "valley"; hence, "valley of Goddess" or "Sacred Valley."

Hidden away, deep in the Andes Mountains of South America, lies this peaceful valley called Vilcabamba  - an idyllic land of lush, subtropical agriculture where nearly every imaginable grain, fruit, and vegetable grows wild for the picking. It is a veritable paradise on Earth, and by legend, proposed to be the original Garden of Eden.

Over the years the Sacred Valley has been called: "The Isle of Immunity for Heart Disease, The Land of Eternal Youth, The Valley of Peace and Tranquility, and The Lost Paradise."

It has been given these labels because of the valley's solitude, serenity, clean air, dazzling sun, nearly constant blue sky, pure mineral drinking water, medicinal herbs, green fields, towering mountains, friendly people, lack of illness, and a kind of ubiquitous beauty that penetrates to one's soul and provides a sense of well-being.    

It is here that my soul is calling me to nurture and rechaHAharge my batteries and find the STRENGTH to bring peace to my world in 2013.

It is here that my body gets restored and rejuvenated and grounded.  So I can return to South Florida and absorb the electromagnetic force fields and create love.

It is here that my mind is free to rest and become creative and play. And then remember which way to go and flow.

It is here where I can best hear my song so I can shaHAhare it with the world.  

It is here where I will pray and whisper my desires out into the Universe and tap my toes and wrinkle my nose and send my fairy dust out into the World.

WHY Ecuador?

Many peeps wrote in this week asking WHY am I leading a PRAY PAINT & PLAY retreat in Vilcabamba, Ecuador?

Besides being known as the Valley of Longevity, Vilcabamba is listed as a Blue Zone.  A Blue Zone is a region where people live longer, healthier, happier lives.

In Vilcabamba, people live long and healthy lives. I've met some of them. 

The mountain air is clean and the water is abundant with natural minerals.  The perfect year round climate means peeps can be outdoors breathing that air all the time - with windows open, free of air conditioning and synthetic noise.  The good weather also means constant access to fresh fruits and vegetables.  And of course, the laid back valley lifestyle is very stress free.

While doing my research last year on longevity and how haHAhappy people live longer, I came to Ecuador to see what it was all about.

I fell in love - the mountains, the rainbows, the people, the food, the water, the air, the valley, the peaceful easy feeling of living in a place and space that is in accordance with your body.

And so, I bring those Goddesses ready to chaHAhange their lives and relax their bodies and come back to themselves to PRAY, PAINT and PLAY in the Valley of Longevity as we explore and research the haHAhappiness connection further.

Check out the video of MonteSuenos, where we will be staying and playing and painting and praying.  Woohoo!!!

SUPPORTING PEACE

I started Laughter Yoga circles here in South Florida because I saw it as a way to bring peace - to myself and in my life. 

  

I found this simple method of laughing out loud for no reason had a huge impact on me.  Before, I used to be so serious, and get broken up and delirious (Electric Light Orchestra, So Serious) Now, an easy peaceful feeling (Eagles, Peaceful Easy Feeling) permeates my soul, making it child's play to laugh at myself. 

I have been building this muscle for five years now. And it works.

These simple HAHA techniques - deep breathing and Laughing out Loud and cultivating an attitude of gratitude and dancing the Hokey Pokey and affirming our OMazingness makes it easy to be the Peace that I want to see in the world.

It all starts with ME and WE.  Thanks for helping me sing my song.

AWAKENING to my CALLING

This summer I traveled to the Valley of Longevity in Vilcabamba, Ecuador.  I stayed at an OMazing property called MonteSuenos (Dream Mountain).   

I had never expressed an interest in Ecuador before and yet, when I saw the name, MonteSuenos, I knew I had to go.  I had a heart felt yearning to go and see and be.   It was time to explore.

What I found was an OMazing country.  Ecuador lies on the equator and has diversity in topography (coast - Pacific Ocean, Andes mountain -  valleys and basins and rainforest). There are waterfalls, and trees - all sorts of trees,friendly people, pure air, and food  - the most delicious fruits and vegetables - no pesticides, no gmos - straight out of the ground and off the trees and into the kitchen and served to me.

What I was blessed with was an OMazing property called MonteSuenos -  a sacred space of peace, sustainability, and creativity.   Overlooking the village of Vilcabamba, there are two houses, art studio, meditation tower, nooks and crannies to relax and take in the views, two modern kitchens, natural trails through lush tropical gardens, tiki huts, ceremonial sites and breathtaking nature all around.

I met OMazing women on this trip. SisterGoddess Meredith, the artist who created and envisioned the details in each and every room and whose art hangs everywhere in the houses. SisterGoddess Meredith's art speaks of the Divine Goddess - the Sacred Feminine.  Her easy gentle manner and warm smile and artistic touch make you feel delicious.  SisterGoddess Sarah, resident guru of juices, websites, rawfood and energy healer.  SisterGoddess Caroline, yogini extraordinaire and holistic coach and my busyness parter in our upcoming retreat. SisterGoddess Virginia, Goddess rest her soul (she passed away last month) who was queen of the busyness of MonteSuenos and dancer of my heart.

While I was there, I was part of a sacred ritual - indigenous tribes walked from the center of town to two mountain peaks where the three rivers meet.  A circle was formed and we witnessed a ceremony honoring YakuMama (MotherWater) - we had a dialogue between the East and West, we danced around the fire, we took tobacco leaves at the convergence of these three rivers and blessed the leaves and released them.

I had a feeling - an Aha MOMent that there was something very important for me here.  An AWAKENING that this sacred space needed me to return and to bring those being called.

I found a safe space here in our World that honors the Sacred Feminine  - the return of the Goddess.  I am called to return and express myself through Play (laughter and drumming and dancing) and Prayer (yoga and dancing and laughter and sacred rituals) and Painting (expression of emotions and freedom of creativity).  I am called to bring SisterGoddesses who want to experience another way of breathing and being and eating.   I am awakened to the call of our EarthMother, PachaMama, who wants me to return and shaHAhare her beauty and sustenance and blessings of food and pure water and pure air.

MonteSuenos, overlooks Vilcabamba, the Valley of Longevity.   Having been there and experienced the peace and quiet and purity and sanctity, I am awakened to the truth of this valley.     While there, we had laughter circles run by SisterGoddess Lourdes.  We laughed HAHA HO HO HEE HEE and our peals rang down into the valley spreading joy.

At this time, I am blessed to be able to offer this experience to those SisterGoddesses called by the Oracle of 2013.   My partner and I have set up a PRAY, PAINT & PLAY retreat - Pleasure for your Body, Mind and Soul - nourishing all parts of you and me and we.

I am so excited to go back and shaHAhare myself and my wisdom and laughter in this sacred space that took my breath away and made me feel like I was home again.  I look forward to the women who are called to join me on this journey.

I ask, that as you read this, if you are not called, pass it forward to another woman who might resonate and be awakened to being in this space at this time and raising the vibration of peace as we Pray, Paint and Play.  Check out the beautiful web page created by SisterGoddess Sarah for this OMazing trip  - PRAY, PAINT & PLAY (click on Pray, Paint & Play)

I made a movie of some of my pictures of my experience.  I shaHAhare it with you here for your enjoyment.

ThaHAhank you for letting me shaHAhare my joy and taking a moment to read it.

PRAYERS ANSWERED

Last week I prayed for HILARITY and shaHAhared with you how it feels to have it in my life.   I immediately got an email from WSM Andrew who shaHAhared Dr. Orloff's blog and her topic Celebrate Laughter.    

As she puts it:

"True laughter is a surrender 

to hilarity; a sound, a smile, 

a heart opening."

This week I pray for lucidity and in my life appears WSM Bob and his dog/God Bogart.  Brother from another mother Bob and Bogart travel on a bus all around the perimeter of the United States.  9,000 miles biking and bussing and shaHAharing their powerful messages.  They stop in different cities to meet peeps and raise awareness to his goal of One Million Acts of Kindness. 

For two evenings, Bob parked his bus under my trees and vibrations of love and good chi were felt in my neighborhood.  It was so enlightening to wake up in the morning and see Bob and Bogart's bus and all these beautiful messages of hope and faith and LOVE and TRUTH and haHAhappiness in front of my house.

I love how we just have to ask and be greatFULL and the Universe showers us in aBUNdance with messages and peeps that remind us of our purpose and the WHY of what we do.

I was so inspired by Bob and his bus, I made a little movie:

Bob and Bogart plan on coming back in 2013 and laugh with us at TY Park.

Until then, check out their website or like them on FaceBook and order their cool stickers or their book or make a donation to keep Bob and Bogart riding on that wonderful bus.

HILARITY BRINGS CLARITY

For me, I find the harder I laugh, the better I feel.

I had one of these MOMents of hilarity - breath knocked out of me, holding my belly, sputtering from the mouth, laughing so hard the tears started to flow.   ExhaHAhaling my HAhas as my laughter came from deep in my belly.  

The OMazing thing is that as I laugh from the center of ME,  I feel it touching and affecting every cell in my body.  What started within expands out until my belly laugh becomes a body laugh and all of ME is shaHAhaking.

These last few weeks, I was dealing with the flu - high fever, body aches, congestion in my nose, chest and head.   Coughing and sneezing and wheezing.  I couldn't sleep.  I couldn't eat.  Laughing helped me pull the phlegm up and out of my body.  It got my muscles and lungs to open up after all the contracting from the fever and aches.   

I didn't think I could laugh and yet once I started I couldn't stop.  All that yummy oxygen coming in - all that shaHahaking and moving my body - releasing the stiffness and stuckness of the flu.  I got centered in the present MOMent and allowed myself to flow again.

As Madison Taylor of Daily Om puts it:  

It is easy to laugh when we feel good, but it is when the world appears dim that we most need laughter in our lives.

For me, hilarity brought clarity.  An A-hahaha MOMent.  An opportunity to chaHAhallenge myself to do different.  It also flooded my body with oxytocin, released my physical stress and released endorphins into my blood stream.

Hilarity is uninhibited laughter - food of the soul, nourishing us from within.   And when we feel full, we can focus and gain clear INsight into our lives.

After three weeks of the flu - I was able to see where in my life I needed some chaHAhange.  Laughing so haHAhard and shaHAhaking it all gives you a new perspective.   It's kind of like leaning over the side of your bed and looking at your room upside down.  You see your room in a whole new way.

If you are ready for some clarity in your life, some HAHA to A-Ha, I can help you.  Send me an email and let us find the WOOHOO in your life.

What is Laughter

This poem was written by Hafiz, a 14th-century Persian mystic and poet.  His works left a mark on Western writers such as Thoreau, Goethe, and Ralph Waldo Emerson (who called him a poet's poet).

What is laughter? What is laughter?

It is God waking up! O it is God waking up!  

It is the sun poking its sweet head out

From behind a cloud

You have been carrying too long,

Veiling your eyes and heart.

It is Light breaking ground for a great Structure

That is your Real body - called Truth.

It is happiness applauding itself and then taking flight

To embrace everyone and everything in this world.

Laughter is the polestar

Held in the sky by our Beloved,

Who eternally says,

"Yes, dear ones, come this way,

Come this way towards Me and Love!

Come with your tender mouths moving

And your beautiful tongues conducting songs

And with your movements - your magic movements

Of hands and feet and glands and cells - Dancing!

Know that to God's Eye,

All movement is a Wondrous Language,

And Music - such exquisite, wild Music!"

O what is laughter, Hafiz?

What is this precious love and laughter

Budding in our hearts?

It is the glorious sound

Of a soul waking up!

~ Hafiz ~

(I Heard God Laughing - Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)

Why You Can Incorporate Yoga and Laughter in your Workplace

Thank you SisterGoddess Carolyn, our guest blogger, for shaHAharing your feelings and thoughts and wise words with our community.
Hi, my name is Carolyn Fallon. I'm a 20-something year old who is passionate about fitness, eating well, and living life to the fullest! I love my family and friends -- I wouldn't be where I am today without all their love and support. I love to watch movies, read all kinds of books, and travel as much as I can (I wish I could do more, but I try to get away here and there when possible!). I love to shop and find great deals, learning DIY projects, and I love to immerse myself in all kinds of learning and help to spread awareness and share my experiences with anyone who is interested :) Check out my blog at http://fullonfit.blogspot.com/.

Today’s businesses are (finally!) becoming savvier about employee health and well-being. Many companies have the goal of improving employee retention and productivity by incorporating breaks throughout the workday. Although it hasn’t become mainstream for a majority of companies, there are some out there that actually break for employee-activity times to allow for team bonding and creative-thinking to occur. My company, unfortunately, does not do these kinds of breaks. However, since I do get a 1-hr lunch break, a few of my girlfriends and I from work have decided to make our own fun breaks – and this is the time where we allow ourselves to de-stress and regain some energy by practicing yoga… oh, and a whole lotta laughter mixed in!

Fortunately for us, we have a large enough work space where we can go in one of the meeting rooms and use it as our Yoga Room. It started out as a small group of us, but as more and more of our colleagues saw what we were doing we have tripled in our original size! Even our bosses have noticed—one of the managers even joins us on a regular basis!

As our bosses have noticed, those of us who participate in our Yoga & Laughter breaks are in a MUCH better mood and waaaay more productive when we return to work! While we aren’t to the point where we as a company take breaks to practice yoga and get our laugh on, we are actually causing enough of a stir where our bosses have at least started to talk about the possibility of making a company-wide break to do some of the things we are doing! Of course, it never hurts to “make known” what some of the other benefits are of practicing yoga and laughter during the workday.

Why Yoga in the Workplace?

What’s one of the highest-wants of employers from their employees? Productivity. In order to be productive employees have to actually like being at work. When we’re allowed to have some time to practice yoga and giggle with one another, we feel better about ourselves, and we are ready to return to work and get things done with way more energy, attention, and optimism. Also, a big part of most workdays involves stress of some kind, and yoga is a great way to alleviate stress in a short period of time as blood pressure lowers and stress hormones stop being released.

Yoga AND Laughter Together

Again, where there is stress there are bad health outcomes. Stress is a leading cause of chronic health problems like the common cold, headaches, viruses, sleeplessness and more. Yoga reduces stress due to its innate nature of focusing on one’s breathing and calming of the body. Laughter, while not as “calming” as yoga, can be used along with yoga to reduce stress because laughter causes endorphins to release into the body, which automatically makes people feel better. Next time, when things just don’t seem to be going well – allow yourself to laugh for a couple minutes straight and see how much better you feel JUST because you gave yourself that little break to let out a few “ha ha ha’s!”

Yoga in the workplace has so many benefits that it’s a surprise that more companies out there aren’t taking advantage of using it in their normal daily/weekly routine. Yoga alleviates stress, keeps people healthy so they don’t use as many sick days, allows for bonding between employees, and allows employees to feel like they are getting a work out in without having to worry about running to the gym before or after work.

Since I have started doing yoga at work on a regular basis I have noticed that I have such a better attitude when I return to my desk and my body feels good because I was able to stretch it and work it in a way that makes me feel good about myself when I’m done. Dr. Seth Greenky of St. Joseph’s Hospital suggests that regular physical exercise is critical to ensuring healthy bones, and yoga is a sure and easy way to fit exercise into my weekly routine by allowing me to do it at work!

So there you have it – work can be fun when a little bit of yoga and a whole lot of laughter is thrown in. Although your company may not be on board in the beginning, give it a shot and see how much better it makes YOU feel each day you do it. People, including your bosses, will be sure to notice your change in mood, production, and overall attitude, and then who wouldn’t want to be a part of something like that?!

The Greatest Group of Peeps

We love what we do
Every Tuesday morning
And Thursday night 
Rain or shine 
We get to show up and 
laugh with the most OMazing peeps

We are never sure who "they" are 
or how many will show up.  
Our JOB - joy of being - 
is to show up and 
hold a sacred space for 
others to come find the laughter.   

We've been doing such a great JOB 
over the years that the Sun Sentinel 
came by to check us out.  

Geo a/k/a Ihosvani Rodriguez wrote an article about us 
- check it out HERE - and then 
he made this movie too 
woohoo

HAHA Sustenance

Noah and I first started our laughter circles here in Hollywood Beach in 2007. We would show up every week, twice a week, to hold sacred space to laugh.

We created a space for peeps to come and Laugh out Loud just because we can.  

It seemed that this was a strange thing to do - remind peeps to laugh out loud, for no reason.  And yet, we persisted, because it felt so good.

Over time and with practice, the HAHA has provided us with sustenance -  strength and stamina - so we can better enjoy our health and our lives.

These are our top 5 finding for HAHA sustenance:

1. It feels great to have endorphins flowing because of a minimal HAHA effort.
2. It feels OMazing to have the residues of LAUGHter in our body - it cha-ha-hanges our attitude and our outlook.
3. It feels great to find a community - other peeps like us who understand the powerful healing effects of laughter and the health benefits we can reap.
4. It takes repetition and practice - over and over again.  Showing up at the park to laugh in community.  Practicing in front of a mirror and LAUGHING out LOUD. 
5. It takes laughing at oneself and kissing oneself and loving the process.


It is not for the faint of heart.  
It is for those peeps who are ready to play big.  
For peeps who are ready to shine their light bright.  
One laugh at a time to World Peace.  
Right here, right now.

The HAHA Effect

  THE HAHA EFFECT    

I am observing an OMazing phenomen that I call the HAHA effect.  No matter where I am or where I go, if I think of HaHa, it hahahappens around me. For example, at the airport on Friday, I found a seat by the gate.  Feeling a little stressed, I took a deep breath and said HAHAHA under my breath, tapping my fingertips together.  A group of peeps right behind me burst out laughing.  It was so nice to hear and feel the vibration. The HAHA effect is really simple.  All you have to do is say HAHA (under your breath or even in your head) and somewhere in the vicinity of you, you will hear it out loud.  It's like an echo - what hahahappens within is reflected outside of you.  A reverberation of our enerchi is projected into the Universe and amplified.    I started to test my theory and see if it works all the time.  I tried it while standing in line for a haunted house - in a crowd of hundreds - people roaring with laughter as soon as I mentally HAHA'd.  And later at a restaurant, being playful with my niece and NoaHaHAha we attracted a group of peeps who laughed through their whole meal and got us and the table beside us laughing too. The HAHA effect makes me wonder about the correlations with the Butterfly Effect which states that a small chaHAhange in one place (a butterfly flapping her wings) can result in large differences elsewhere (a tornado halfway across the world).     While it is only a theory at this moment, I like the idea of sending a ripple of HAHA and creating a chain of haHAhappy peeps wherever I go. I will keep on researching and shaHAharing my data.

Power of the HA

  THE POWER OF THE HA

I find the more I LAUGH,  the more I increase my capacity  to LOVE.    It's easier to go with the flow  & ride the waves. With the weather shifting and winds a blowing exploding with ebulliency expending enerchi efficiently I find myself outside feet naked touching the Earth HahaHA It feels so very good, very good, Yay Cool and firm, fragrant and wild sitting with GingerMama talking to squirrels  enjoying trees Keeps me grounded Gives me courage to LAUGH out LOUD by myself until my peeps show up and play with me Life is full of surprises My chaHAhallenge is to stay in pleasure MOMent to MOMent laugh at myself OUT LOUD just BEcause I can Building my HAHA muscle HOHO HAHAHA  ChaHAhanging the way I look at things Attitude Adjustment Giving gratitude and gaining altitude Feeling my LOVE muscle grow. Woohoo

HAHA YOGINI - Spotlight on the Crone Goddess

  
When I first shaHAhared Laughter Yoga with the world outside of ME, it was with a GIRLfriend - a Grandma Mama Sister Goddess. She laughed at me and kept on laughing and laughing.  We laughed so hard we almost cried.  

It was at that MOMent I knew how OMazing this HAHA muscle is.

Of course, the girlfriend I shaHAhared it with is like no other.   A trendsetter extraordinaire, this woman can spot savvy and sassy from a mile away.  Crone Goddess Margo is a knitter - sees everything through the eyes of her needle - and she is so very wise and witty. 

When I started offering laughter circles to the community, she showed up everywhere to laugh with me.  We laughed at the beach, we laughed in the park, we laughed in women's circles.  We've laughed in museums, on the street and in the pool. 

She's inspired me to laugh my way just because I can.  She reminded me to love no matter where I be.   She allowed me to celebrate her and crown her as the Crone Goddess and WiseOmazingWoman that she is.  Here she is, CroneGoddess Margo, about to jump out of an airplane.

A great big thaHAhahank you to my Crone Goddess Margo, my Matriarch of HAHA.

MUSIC MAESTRO

Music is such an integral part of my life.   I can use music to shift my mood in an instant  - and classical music does that easy peasy lickety split.  It raises my joy level and amps up my ebullience for life.

I can always lose myself in the music - no matter what mood I am or what I am thinking or feeling - a good melody can get my heart singing and help quiet my mind and take me to another dimension. 

It's like a meditation. I let the sound enter my ears and vibrate into my cells and fill my bones. I am transported by the sound to a different place and space where peace and stillness are easy to find.

Mozart relaxes and soothes. Beethoven excites and stimulates.  Each a reverberation of its own kind.  Each a prayer of pleasure.  A love song for the soul.

Our Pleasure Practice this week is 10 minutes of Classical Favorites.  Take a MOMent to close your eyes and soak it in.  Enjoy the emotional journey and the hahahappiness that follows.

My Morning Practice

ONE LAUGH - - WORLD PEACE - - ONE LOVE

As I learn to roll with the punches, I am blessed for all the opportunities to laugh and shaHAhare my HAHA superpowers. 

Last week, I had the opportunity to share my morning practice at a Womens' Luncheon for the Greater Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.  The topic was "Laugh It Up - benefits of Laughter" and I was a panelist.   I followed the comedienne and helped the audience go from left brain to right brain belly laughter.  Woohoo.

I am truly grateful for my morning practice.  A few minutes of my HAHA signature techniques make such a difference in how I face the day.

Now, I call you to action.  To flex and stretch and strengthen your HAHA muscle.  Here a few ways to do it:

1.  Laugh with me virtually - Buy my video and get 23 minutes of HAHA Chi practice - you, me, we - in the comfort of your living room, cellphone or TV.  This is a great way to support our community and help us pay the bills and provide more laughter everywhere.

2.  Laugh with me in person - Tuesdays and Wednesdays at TY Park under the trees; Thursday nights at Hollywood Beach (behind the community center under the tent).  This is a free service for whoever is called to show up - love donations always welcome.

Flexing our HAHA muscle helps us duck and roll quickly and stand firm - peacefully grounded in the Now.

Looking forward to strong HAHA muscles and World Peace.

ONE LAUGH - - WORLD PEACE - - ONE LOVE