Wellbeing in the workplace....
Cam-mind launches ‘Laughter W☺rksh☺ps!’

Cam-mind is now offering stress-busting, team-building “Laughter W☺rksh☺ps!” to local employers as part of its Wellbeing in the Workplace project.

While it might sound a bit “out there”, Laughter W☺rksh☺ps! are based on the solid scientifically-proven fact that laughter and smiling is very good for us — both physically and mentally. Moreover, it has been shown that FAKE laughter and smiling are just as good for you as the real thing!

Laughter workshops involve elements of yoga (in terms of yogic breathing) with fun exercises/activities — including the sorts of silly games we might play (and enjoy) at Christmas but rarely do at any other time. Following the one hour sessions, participants so far report that their mood has lifts, they feel energized and have real a sense of camaraderie (with fellow group members) and wellbeing.

Cam-mind's Aly Anderson trained in laughter facilitation skills last year and is now hoping to take the fun out into community groups as well as to local businesses and other employers.

Laughter Yoga was originally developed by the Indian physician Dr Madan Kataria. The first laughter club was held in a park in Mumbai in March 1995 with only 5 participants but now there are over 6000 laughter clubs in 60 countries — just showing that there is a need for laughter all over the world.

Interest in laughter yoga across the UK dramatically increased after Dr Kataria appeared on BBC's The Apprentice, at Sir Alan Sugar's invitation, to run a laughter workshop for the winners of one of the episodes' business tasks.

FIRST LAUGHTER W☺RKSH☺P! . . . AND WHAT A GIGGLE IT WAS!!

Members of Cam-mind's staff team were the first to ‘try out‘ our new Laughter W☺rksh☺p!

And what a laugh we had!!

Seven members of the team took part in the hour-long stress-busting, team-building session, which took them on a journey of smiling, chuckling, singing, stretching, relaxation, laughing out loud and being very silly together.

Feedback to the first session was excellent — with all participants saying they felt energized, relaxed and their mood lifted. . .we now plan to make them regular sessions and will now start offering Laughter W☺rksh☺ps! to everyone at Cam-mind as well as within workplaces and, well, to anyone else who is interested. . .