Australia Day – Woo Woo – Thursday 26th January

Who lives near Melbourne or in Victoria? Then you will know about heaps of activities that go on in and around the city on Australia Day.

Please spread the word, I felt to share this on my blog because some readers may live overseas, yet have friends in Melbourne. In which case, the more the merrier to join us at 10am near the corner on Bourke and Swanston Streets.

We are group number 58 and you won’t be able to miss our purple and yellow Laughter Clubs Vic t shirts. If you have one please wear it and if not we may have one you can borrow. The march starts with the raising of the flag at 10.30am and lasts about 30 minutes but we need to be there for marshalling at 10am. After the march we will be meeting for community laughter sessions in the park at the Melbourne People’s Day Festival.

After the March at 2.10 pm Laughter Clubs Victoria Inc will be leading a laughter session and there is more information on the Australia Day 2012 page at Laughter Clubs Victoria’s website. It is on the grassed area and note, not on the main stage.

If you would like more information about what’s on in Melbourne. Then Google What’s On In Melbourne! I just did and saw that The Roulettes will be flying overhead at 2pm. The Roulettes are from the Royal Australian Air Force and they will be putting on quite a display. And there are fireworks at night, at midday at The Shrine, an Australia Day 21 Gun Salute, movie marathon at ACMA showing our nation’s rich heritag, Government House is open, even a 5km swim at Middle Brighton Pier, plus you could start the day with breakfast. Everything is covered on this very special day, between breakfast, lunch and right up to the fireworks.

It is wonderful to be part of a nation and community. I recall when I went to see my beautiful daughter Georgina in Vancouver a few years back, we were driving through the mountains to Calgary and happened on a small community which was having its celebrations. There was a march and one person jumped out at me, he was posing for my photo and was a really small, finely built elderly gentleman who loved to dress up as a clown and share fun, love and laughter with his small community.

Isn’t that what life is about? We all make so many contributions, albeit unconsciously to come together and share ourselves with others, sharing the joys, the sorrows, the ups and the downs. Where would we be without family and friends and I believe that all of us, or truthfully, the majority at least, have that sense of belonging.

That belonging can be to ourselves, to immediate family, larger family group, our work and it extends out and out until in reality, we are all connected upon earth. I love that there is so much awareness happening these days with the animal kingdom, the environment and with many overlapping areas, people are growing and evolving, becoming interested and desiring to make a difference as they can.

Regardless of feeling of hopelessness and what is the point of it all that is shoved down our throats and programmed through the predominantly negative media, there is hope, there is a purpose to it all and it starts with one thought, word and deed. It is never too late to start a new beginning. Each day is a new day and with it comes a new start. What was that saying about changing the things that you can and accepting what you cannot. We can change our attitude and how we react to things. We can make a difference in our lives and help uplift the planet, holding in our mind’s eye the ideal, rather than heaping more judgment on what we see and hear. To hold in our heart the ideal of what can be and say ‘Mother Father God, they will not my will be done’  helps us to work with the universe into programming love not fear.

I did not know this was going to happen, felt to write about Australia Day and obviously it touched something in me wanting to be expressed. It is wonderful to be part of something, Laughter Yoga, that sense of believing in a movement that is positive. cherished and world wide. As I said, it is great to belong on many levels and with all that develops a deeper purpose which can help to fill the void and connect us with our heart and soul.

Thanks for listening. Love and Laughter Blessings to You and Yours. xxx

There were 45 girls present and two teachers and I was invited to facilitate a laughter yoga session as part of an initiative by the students, an activity organised by their fun club. The girls have been attending school for many years and will be finishing their secondary education and then heading to university in 2012.

What a perfect way to complete their fun activities with a laughter yoga session. The girls were very, very loud and if it were not for the Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha clapping, would have gone on and on with each laugh, as they threw themselves into the activity.

It was a joy to be there and partake in their youthful exuberance. So often as adults we lose that and simply do not have the energy to spare to act like that!

This reminds me of how we can get away from our spirit nature and get bogged down with duty. We can learn to please people to fit into life and forget to please ourselves. To please ourself surely must come first, to please ourselves in a gentle, loving ethical way where we are connected at our core with our wholeness, our essence.

Here is a favourite quote of mine: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain.

This one is a gem also, a Raymond Hull quote on the cost of not being yourself: “He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.” ~ Raymond Hull.

If you feel to, take some moments to sit quietly and reflect upon where you are in your life right now. Is it where you want and choose to be? Could it be that you need to lighten up a bit and this could be done, right here, right now, using laughter and breathing.

So I urge you to sit and reflect, perhaps to write and connect through pen and paper and then do deep breathing for a few minutes and let go with some hearty laughter. See then how you feel and check if this could be a useful exercise to do on a regular basis, throughout the day, laughing all the while consciously, with great awareness.

Blessing to you.

Since then I have been seeking and learning, much of it was leaning towards eastern traditions of yoga, always keeping an open mind and particularly towards alternative teachings.

I believe we all are unique and each one’s path is equally unique, as we are drawn towards new experiences, ever leading us upwards and onwards towards our oftentimes, unconscious goal. Can you relate to that? Feeling your goal so far away yet being led somehow towards new experiences, often in a test of faith and with each step revealing a new light on your path. The light is enough, sometimes barely enough, to give you heart to keep going.

If you are feeling stressed out and your life lost its purpose and direction, it could be time for you to follow your instinct and learn something. Anything. It could be that you have stopped moving forward and need to pick yourself up and gain momentum. Then things, your life, will become clearer, as you trust in yourself, your own heart’s knowing.

Nowhere to turn? It could be time for you to belong in a safe group environment, in which case you could attend a class where you will learn to meditate and share with like minded souls.

A spiritual growth class will jump out at you getting your attention when you need to attend it. This can work for anything in our life, when we have a need, we draw that thing towards ourself, we magnetise it. We create our own reality and the clearer we are, the more awareness that we hold, we create and manifest things towards ourself more quickly. Look at goals and anything of our choosing. Goals can be very slow to come to fruition because we do not hold enough focus and our mind wanders.

One valid reason for taking yourself to a regular spiritual growth class would be because you want to make friends with your mind. To stop it’s incessant thinking, worrying, round and round, until your energy levels drop and you are constantly stressed.

I believe that most such classes would use various tools with which to help to tame and calm the mind. They would generally teach meditation and yogic breathing exercises. The body is tough and at the same time can be extremely sensitive. The reason that I say this is that everything flows together and is effected by each other. Breathing affects the emotions, the mind, the spirit. We could say, introduce here that it is a 4-body system. The physical body, the mental body, the emotional body and the spiritual body. This is the most elementary way of explaining that to live a joyful, peaceful life, we need to be balanced, have self discipline and have union within all aspects of our body. If we are not right with ourself, we cannot be right with others. Not in our relationships, nor our work or play.

I encourage you to be kind to yourself and live harmoniously with yourself and the universe. Blessings to you.

I had the pleasure of facilitating a laughter yoga session this week for the volunteers, preceding their special lunch and joined them for lunch also. The KCHS as it is generally known relies quite heavily on volunteers and from what I could see spending time with these people, a wonderful way to be of service in the community.

I understand that there are a few positions available for those wanting to get involved, either in a small way or a larger time investment.

The laughter yoga session was a lot of fun and it did my heart good to share laughter with these lovely, giving people, many of whom have been volunteers for decades. The favourite laugh of the day was the Kookaburra laugh, followed by the High Five laugh.

Thank you KCHS for inviting me to be part of your community again, as last time it was for the ACE (active chair based exercise) class. That had quite a different flavour and was for a fairly short time as time was behind. I look forward to returning at some stage to introduce the laughter yoga exercises and breathing to the staff.

I went to the first SelbyFest today, with much joy, in order to bring Laughter Yoga to

some people. We were set up to do it inside the Tipi and instead did the laughter exercises next to the Tip and finished with meditation inside.

We were first on for the day, so it was a small group of laughers. They threw themselves into it with great enthusiasm, obviously from their positive experience they will be recommending it to their friends. One lady had been a member of my club and a couple of other laughers said they would come along sometime when we get together.

It was a glorious day. I felt extremely blessed to be there, to be involved with this first event. There were many activities happening, as it was a community festival run by the Selby Community House. I was told there were 25 volunteers working hard for six to nine months organising the many activities and events on today and tonight, as there is a folk festival in the house itself.

For me it was a blessing to be involved and watch these local people join in, as there was obviously a team spirit in this little community that is so often lacking in larger townships and cities these days. I had not realised it is a very green and alternative area; people dressed in interesting and at times weird, alternative, bright coloured clothing.

There were others too who were going in the fashion parade. Who ever heard of a little festival having a fashion parade? The local clothing shops were represented and there sure were some pretty groovy outfits being modelled. Finishing up for the day before the evening festivities began, was a fancy dress parade. I was talking with Lulu, who along with her friend, were dressed as clowns. Lulu is studying community work at university and said that she would bring a group along to World Laughter Day at Federation Square, in Melbourne. I believe also that Lulu will do the teaching training some time, as she sees the value of laughter in one’s life. What a great asset having such beautiful young people coming up in the ranks to lead Laughter Yoga Sessions.

For the rest of the day, I put aside my ‘laughter hat’ and promoted my personal growth classes and life coaching. This gave me the opportunity to sit quietly, enjoy the beautiful sunshine and bubbles in the air from a fellow selling bubble makers and observe this beautiful community. Volunteers were wandering around doing work non-stop and I must congratulate them for a terrific, highly successful day. So many people and dogs out to mix and relax. Many of them were there for the entire day and my sense of it all was that it was an uplifting experience. I came home inspired by the SelbyFest 2011 event with the feeling to work together more with people, bringing laughter, meditation and peace when I am given the opportunity to do so.

Thanks for listening.

Love, Laughter and Blessings.

Faking phone call can be a real hoot.

How cute am I?

Last November I led the session on the Friday, which was tremendous fun. Usually we do it from the stage and one or two laughter members go down into the audience to encourage people to get right into it, the laughter exercises.

This time we had Laughing Laura visiting with her husband William and a lovely young lady, Doreen, from the Malaysian Laughter Club, as well as Martie, who attends both the Ferntree Gully and Mitcham clubs.

It is always heaps of fun to go up on stage and get involved laughing. This time was a little different, as Laura being an honoured visitor, started it off really well with a great introduction regarding Laughter Yoga and then very soon hopped down into the audience.

The laughter session flowed really well with many laughs being led by the four of us ladies and in a short space of time we were all down amongst the Friday audience who became very involved. On young couple in the front lay their baby down on a blanket on the floor to free themselves up to become totally involved in the exercises.

I decided to join the other three too and the only one left on stage was a little girl of about three years old who obviously loved it all!

What a wonderful blessing laughter is in our lives, to be able to become one with the audience, our hearts and minds were truly connected together in that half hour in a memorable way. I appreciate the gift of laughter and the service that Dr & Mrs Kataria have given to us all worldwide and the opportunity to share it publicly in the City of Melbourne at the Mind Body Spirit Festival twice a year. Thank you.

Love and Laughter

Lynette Mitchell x

• “I liked the beautiful safe container provided by the lovely ladies.”
• “I liked feeling accepted by the group, having relaxing activities. The meditations were relaxing.”
• ‘I liked everything about the day.”

The activities included a lovely ray meditation by Kay and several other meditations, some being short ones before the next activity. Diana’s presentation was around our hands, as we use them on a daily basis and can take them for granted. We did some artwork around them which was so interesting, as each of the participants artwork during the day was so radically different from each other person.

Carmen introduced us to some very sound techniques around how to and the importance of grounding, aligning and centering our bodies, using the Energetic Hygiene process.  If you would like to receive this process, email me for your free copy.

What I did was a mandala hour which was an introduction to mandalas. Please ask me for articles on the fundamentals of the mandala if you want to get started on them in your life.  Later on I led a short laughter yoga session. Here are some photos, the first one is when we were drawing mandalas. The next one during the laughter session, which was stacks of fun. Laughter really uplifts and connects us and ourselves on many levels.

I am sitting in daily meditation and there she is.

My daughter left her cat with us many years ago.

Cats. You love them or hate them perhaps.

This particular one is independent, yet loving.

She was not always so, used to hiss and bite.

Not today, over time we have grown closer.

Millie is a wonderful, loving cat.

I believe that cats are marvellous mirrors.

They so easily reflect us, where we are at in life.

Tonight, I ponder, what is going on here?

I feel the cat’s quiet, serene, peaceful strength.

She sits on the edge of the arm chair,

Then lovingly rubs her face against my book.

Taking a rest from catching mice,

Time off from being on the look out for them also.

She settles down, purring at my side.

Will she sleep until morning, or go outside for a twinkle?

Millie has been left to us by my daughter Virginia.

She misses her, she has put her needs ahead of her own.

The love of her life, sometimes moody at first,

One is still always wary of her, in case she growls.

Those growls can lead to hissing and biting.

Surprisingly, over the years, puss has become softer.

Her wariness and distance turned to that of trust.

One delightful thing she does is greet us when we come home.

Millie leaps up at the sound of our car.

She runs out fast, purring her head off.

So delighted that we have come home.

Millie has missed us no end and now will not leave us alone.

A very surprising state of affairs.

Like people, cats have their own ways and unique behaviour.

How blessed are the homes with a resident cat!

The cat does indeed sit upon the proverbial mat.

Part of puss’s charm is her independence and aloofness.

We observe puss and muse at her behaviour.

We ponder how it must be to live as a cat.

Self sufficient, contented, watching and observed.

Thank you to all the cats I have every known.

The ones greeting me on the streets as I walk.

Those in pet shops looking out, innocently.

And the ones I have been lucky enough to live with.

Thank you, I have appreciated each one of you.

It is so easy to understand, being a lifetime cat lover,

How many of us humans treasure cats and include them in many ways.

As a pet or perhaps more – a cattery business, an artist or writer.

Maybe you are a vet or vet nurse and handle them each day.

Whatever the reasons for your connection with cats,

I imagine that if you are reading this you just happen to be a cat lover.

I greet you from my heart to yours.

May cats continue to bless us with their presence.

To inspire us and give us joy, company and some purpose in our lives.

Cats are there to share our lives with and give us opportunities for growth.

Blessings in abundance to you and all the cats you have ever known and have yet to meet.

Saturday 30^th Oct. at 9.45 am for 10.00 am start – 5.00pm

The Hut Gallery in Ferntree Gully. Please book before coming!

Discover Your

* Creative Artistic Self  * Rainbow Energy  * Joyous Child Within
* Compassionate Heart  * Serenity & Healing Through Meditation

Note: Group meditation for Joy starts at 10.15 am sharp!

Morning & afternoon tea provided.  BYO lunch or buy at nearby shops.

Bookings Essential: Numbers are limited so secure your place by registering with pre-payment.

Energy Exchange: $50.00

Contact: Lynette Mitchell

Email: lynette@lynettemitchell.com.au

Phone: 9763 5475 or Mobile: 0425 799 258

Here is what some past participants said:

“Thanks, I had a great time, it was well organised and heaps of fun. I feel more grounded and centred.”

“The facilitators were supportive, enthusiastic about their subject and sensitive to the needs of the group.  There was nothing I didn’t like!”

All facilitators are members of The Insight Foundation™, a non-profit global educational and philanthropic organisation dedicated to transformation and healing.

To not cause harm has been bandied about, we have possibly picked up from other people’s beliefs tied in with a particular religion, that to live in this way is a paramount belief to foster. We can take on beliefs, make them our own, make them a habit without reviewing our life and attitudes in it.

Do not stand on an ant, or you become a vegetarian for instance. That is all very well; however is the attitude coming from a fear based reason, say from the head rather than the heart? Or when from a narrow viewpoint, you can be eating vegetables, thanking the food in an unbalanced manner? Your behaviour may become extreme and I believe that harmlessness is frequently used out of context, rather than in an integrated, loving way.

This article is from the point of view of harm towards oneself. How you treat yourself, your daily habits, the general nurturing that you do for other people, whether it be your partner, children or other members of the family or outsiders. Sometimes it is so easy to follow wonderful principles of not causing harm and we do this for others and forget about ourselves.

This could relate to your diet, exercise, hobbies and work. It could be about books that you read, television shows you watch, whether they are scary, funny, uplifting and informative. There are numerous ways of taking care of yourself and I believe that care giving to yourself is a great preventative medicine, as well as things that you take in the form of a healthy diet, vitamins and so on.

What you feed your emotions, mind and spirit are equally as important as to what you feed your body either from food or feed in through your five basic senses.

It is dishonouring yourself to focus on looking outside of you and then to forget that if you are not as well, strong and balanced as you can be to begin with, then over time you will become weaker and succumb to dis-ease. The well known bible saying that ‘charity begins at home’ may be applied firstly to yourself.

When you put others’ needs before your own, especially because of not having enough time, ask yourself is this really what you want? If the answer is ‘no’ you can change this if you choose to. Life is running at such a pace and you can put things off, especially for yourself. You make lists of things to do and things that you want to do, without prioritising. When you do the most urgent, they may not, in fact, be the most important. It is important to make an appointment with yourself to do something that you love, both for your self expression and to not feel dry, that life has become meaningless.

I invite you to spend the next twenty minutes or so to make a list. First sit where you will not be disturbed for half an hour and breathe. Feel yourself relaxing as you breathe and connect with your heart. Next write down a list of the things you have done that have been nice, caring and special for yourself in the last week. You may discover that your list is bare, barren! You had great intentions to spend time doing something for yourself and somehow other things got in the way, it did not happen. Again.

You are your own creator and I urge you to take this opportunity to make a different list. This will be of things that you would like to do. It can be several lists if you wish to break them down for practicality. Such as a daily, weekly or say, a three monthly list of desires and goals. Make it realistic and achievable, starting with something that is comparatively easy, which will set the new, beneficial habit of success towards harmlessness towards yourself on the right track.

Good luck with this exercise, as to succeed with it, you must first recognise that you are important and do need to nurture yourself on every level. And then you have to choose to have the right intention to carry this through into your daily life, to make it a habit. Habits take time to concrete, so be patient with yourself and know that absolutely and positively, YOU ARE WORTH IT!