Expressive Meditation

Laughter As Therapy

Laughter as therapy? I never imagined such a thing was possible. As a child I longed to laugh, giggle and be funny but this was frowned upon in our household. In fact, fear and anger were prevalent and joy made scant appearances. Yet the giggles remained, albeit stuffed down deep in case inappropriate gales of laughter erupted at an inopportune moment. As an adult embarking upon the therapy I needed to heal my childhood wounds, I experienced a lot of grief, tears and sadness. Allowing those …
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4 Secrets for Harmonious Relationships

Are you experiencing relationship discord? Here are four secrets that, once known and practiced, can bring you harmony within yourself and with others. In fact, you will want to share this with as many people as possible. I’ve included a photo here of my little grandson who asked me to be his valentine. Of course I said Yes! Wearing a silly hat reminds me to have fun, be playful and enjoy all my relationships as well as practicing the secrets below. 1. LOVE AND ACCEPT …
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Laugh Your Way to Enlightenment

As I sat in a restaurant one Sunday evening enjoying my pasta salad and the company of some friends, the sounds of giggles and laughter drifted over from the next table. We turned to see a family with two teenage daughters who had a bad case of the giggles. The father, obviously not in a good mood, became more and more exasperated with the girls' inability to contain their laughter. Finally, with a very serious straight face, he said, "That's enough laughing for the weekend, Julia." I had to …
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What is Expressive Meditation?

The point of expressive meditation is to first release mental, physical and emotional tensions from the body and mind and then, sit in silence. By taking the lid off the proverbial pressure cooker and dumping out inner turmoil in a meditative context, we can then more easily access inner peace, clarity and our authentic self. These techniques , for example the Laughter, Tears, Gibberish, Dancing, and Humming meditations allow us to transform our anger, grief and fear into emotional …
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How Laughter and Play Lead to Deep Meditation and Silence

Laughter releases stress from the body and mind. It’s true, isn’t it? After a good laugh, we feel better. Through the laughter meditation technique, you can make a conscious practice of using laughter to release your stress and help you to drop deeper into inner silence and stillness. Laughter meditation: Stage one: start laughing and laugh for no reason. Stage two: sit in silence and watch with non-judgment. You can do this for any amount of time that you choose, just do the same …
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Hotei the Laughing Buddha

The enlightened mystic most associated with laughter is Hotei, also known as the laughing Buddha. Hotei was a large man with a big belly who traveled from village to village in sixteenth-century Japan. He had no desire to call himself a Zen master or to gather disciples. Instead he walked the streets carrying a sack full of candy, fruit, and doughnuts, which he gave to all the children who gathered around him. And he laughed—a lot! At first people would gather around him because they …
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How do Laughter, Tears, Silence Help Us Find Inner Peace and Enrich Our Lives

LAUGHTER is good for us in every way: physically, emotionally, spiritually. Among its many benefits laughter: * stimulates physical healing, * enhances our creativity, * is rejuvenating and regenerating and keeps us …
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How Can Children Benefit from Expressive Meditations?

Children need to have a form of meditation in their lives as much as us grown ups do. My experience has been that the expressive techniques in "Laughter, Tears, Silence : Expressive Meditations to Calm Your Mind and Open Your Heart" are ideally suited to children. They are already laughing, playing, running and jumping. Just offer them a quiet few minutes to sit or lie down after their activity. This helps them calm down, for example before eating or before going to bed or before a math class or …
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How To Heal Grief and Pain Through Meditation Techniques

Grief and pain are difficult for people. Can you talk about healing pain through meditation techniques? It is often fear that prevents us from allowing and facing pain and grief. The problem with this is that our minds create an extra layer of pain, inducing psychological pain. Mind is of the past and the future, never of the present. Our problems worsen when we think about our emotions rather than actually experiencing them. Reality is never the problem—our ideas about it are. We actually …
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Why are Sound and Movement Important in Meditation?

To be beneficial, meditation must be grounded in the body. Humming is a technique designed to open us to trust, to bring us into our inner sanctuary of peace and serenity. As we hum we are generating our own energy to heal and center ourselves. Humming brings us straight down from the head and into the body, keeping us alert yet relaxed. It has a soothing, calming effect as the vibration of the sounds resonates throughout the body/mind. Humming is actually metabolized into natural …
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