I’ve always had trouble meditating – I simply can’t sit still for any length of time. But recently I tried Japa meditation, made popular by Dr. Wayne Dyer in his CD “Meditations for Manifesting”. In Japa meditation, you take a deep breath, and slowly breath out while you make the sound “Aaaah”. This is the sound of the creator, as is evidenced by the many names given the creator: God, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, Ra, Dao. All these names have the “Ah” sound in common. I’ve found that calmly repeating this sound allows me to focus my tumultuous mind for up to 20 minutes! Incredible for me. After the meditation, I’m full of energy and joy and ready to face the day.
This morning as I readied myself for the meditation, my Chihuahua Abby jumped on my lap. I figured it was OK for her to sit there while I meditated. I stroked her back in time to my “Ah’s”, and at one point she looked up at me with her wall-eyed look as if to say “You really are ridiculous, you know, but as long as you keep petting me I’ll put up with it”. It was so funny that I started laughing right in the middle of an “Ah”. And, guess what? Laughter is all “Ah’s”, repeated joyfully over and over. What a delightful discovery! The more I laughed, the more reproachful looks I got from Abby, which started me laughing all over again. I spent most of the meditation time laughing, and as I dried the tears from my eyes, I marveled at how wonderful and full of joy I felt.
This is what the world needs: a Laughing Meditation! 20 minutes of pure, joyful laughter to start out the day. A new prescription from Dr. Kathy, written to cure what ails you. I resolved after my meditation to bring this laughter with me wherever I go today, and gift it to whomever I meet. I’m going to work it into the class I’ve developed, and into the group coaching program. I’d like to see if laughter helps people learn, too.
Here’s to a world of joy and laughter!