EP9 // The magic elixir of laughter: An Interview with Robert Rivest

 EPISODE 9

Laughter is the best medicine.  Seriously!  It frees our emotions.  Can shift our perspective.  Reduce overwhelm.  Increases oxygen flow.  Releases neuropeptides that decrease stress. Connects us with others.  Breaks down barriers.  And all while having heap loads of fun!    

 

In this episode, I interview Robert Rivest, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer.  He shares his journey to peace and stillness through motion and activity.  With 40+ years of experience in the mindfulness field, he shares his wisdom, his experience, and of course, his laughter.  

 

Takeaways from today’s episode:

1. Take time to share with someone who has contributed goodness to your life how much they mean to you (even if you think they hear it a lot from other people).
2. You can simultaneously feel rooted and grounded yet light and free.
3. There is stillness in movement.  Ease in effort.
4. Laughter Yoga is the quickest delivery system of the mind-body health benefits of laughing.
5. Laughter dissolves all the walls between us.
6. Motion creates emotion.
7. Sitting, standing, walking, smiling and laughter can all be meditation.
8. We can get through heavy things with laughter. 
9. Laughter helps to open the emotional valve, so that emotions that may be stuck can flow through.

 

How to connect with Robert Rivest, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer

For everything go to >>> https://www.robertrivest.com 

Robert’s YouTube Channel >>> https://www.youtube.com/user/robertrivest

Robert’s FaceBook Page >>> https://www.facebook.com/robert.rivest.7/

Robert’s Instagram >>> https://www.instagram.com/robertrivest/

 

The Carol Rivest Foundation

http://www.carolrivestfoundation.org/home.html

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Hey Beautiful, and welcome to Finally Effing Happy, a podcast and community for kick-ass, can-do women living with chronic illness. My name is Shannon Klenk, happiness coach and self care strategist. I share with you my personal journey to joy through chronic illness, bring you some amazing guest speakers and share tons of happiness hack's and self care strategies so that you too can live in joy and happiness, despite what chronic illness or condition you may be living with day to day.

And I am absolutely thrilled that you are here for today's episode because today is a tool box talk to put one more tool in your self care, health care, wellness mindset, toolbox. As kick ass can do women living with chronic illness I know you are amazingly resourceful and you know what works best for you, for your health, your heart and spirit, your journey. And in today's episode, you'll pick up a new tool or two to make your journey easier or be reminded of one that you haven't used in a while, or maybe hear a fresh take on an oldie but goodie.

Whatever it may be, I am so excited to share this collective wisdom from some of my most favorite guests during these toolbox talks. So with no further ado, let's see what's in store for us today. Hey there. Did you know that this last Sunday, May 2nd, was World Laughter Day? It is one of my most favorite days of the year. And so to honor World Laughter Day, we are going to talk about probably my most favorite thing in the entire universe.

And that's  laughter. That is right. A good old chuckle giggle bottom of your belly. Laughter I am most definitely a lover of laughter. I have totally bought into the idea that laughter is the best medicine and to laugh at ourselves for me is one of the highest forms of self-love. And as someone who has traveled to lots of places around the globe, I know that a smile or a laugh is universal in every language. Laughter truly is the language of the soul.

But there's a whole bunch of science that can back this up as well. And this is where I love-- I'm a little bit of a science of happiness geek because I love that science is coming along to show us what's going on in our brain and our bodies when we're engaging in these happiness hacks and activities. And so let's just talk about the physical benefits of laughter real quick. So laughter enhances our intake of oxygen, which obviously stimulates our lungs and our hearts and our muscles.

It increases the endorphin release in our brain. And so just like negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that bring upon stress in our body, in the same way, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress. And we all know that stress is one of the biggest aggravators indicators for whatever our chronic conditions are for sure. I get told that time and time again, you know, a good, like, rollicking laughter. It fires us up and it can increase our heart rate and blood pressure, but then it cools down the stress response.

And what's the result of that sort of firing up and cooling down? You know, that really good, relaxed feeling, you know, after you've had a really good laugh and you're like, oh, God, I haven't left that heart in so long. Oh, that feels so good.

And here's the great news about that, that positive feeling, those neuropeptides that have been released into our system, they remain with us long after our laughter subsides. Laughter is also known to relieve pain in the body. It helps to connect people, which, as we know from the indicators of happiness, connected positive relationships, is one of the top five indicators of somebodies happiness. And it obviously improves our mood. And science backs this up as well. In the world of positive psychology, it is known that laughter will help you shift your perspective.

It will help you pivot so that you can have be open minded enough to seeing something from a different perspective, which can be all the difference between staying stuck in the depression and heaviness or being able to turn the corner to see the beauty, see the light, see the goodness in a situation. But it also creates something called psychological distance and that psychological distance, particularly when we can laugh at our own foibles, our own mistakes, our own missteps, whatever those might be, it reduces overwhelm.

And I'll tell you, as women living with chronic illness, overwhelm is something that's at the top of our list. How do I manage it all on top of taking care of myself? So what better way to reduce our overwhelm than to engage in a consistent laughter practice? Wouldn't that be awesome? Here's the bottom line. Research absolutely suggests that the physical act of laughing, even without humor, is linked to chemical changes in our bodies that can potentially reduce stress.

And when we reduce our stress, we increase our health. And the great news is that laughter really is contagious. Just by hearing somebody laugh, it primes our brain to get ready to smile and join in the fun and really all the science aside, it's just fun and really who couldn't use a little more fun in their life. And that is why I am so incredibly thrilled to bring you my guest today, Robert Rivest. He is a laughter yoga master trainer.

That's right. You heard me correctly. Laughter Yoga. I came across laughter yoga several years ago, and it has been a steady tool in my toolbox ever since. And Robert is my go to person for all things. Laughter Yoga. His mission is to help people cultivate and share peace, love, laughter and joy, and he's come to this mission, like most of us, through his own journey of challenges, but has so eloquently found this place where his high energy kick ass can do self lives, fully integrated with the genuine peace and joy that are the byproduct of laughter yoga.

So I introduce to you the fabulous Robert Rivest.

 

Shannon Klenk

Hi Robert.

 

Robert Rivest

Hello, how are you?

 

Shannon Klenk

I am good, how are you? Great, good. It is so good to see you.

 

Robert Rivest

Great to see you again.

 

Shannon Klenk

How have you been through this crazy year?

 

Robert Rivest

Overall, well, I mean, when you when you think about it, I have adapted and turned my career into a zoom career.

 

Shannon Klenk

I so am looking forward to hearing how that's going. I'm so thrilled to get a few minutes with you. I just always enjoy our time together. And I have been watching your YouTube videos on the backend -- I just-- you don't know how much you fuel me and my life.

Yeah. As I'm sure you do many people so.

 

Robert Rivest

Well, thank you. It's always good to hear because people say to me, oh, I'm sure everyone tells you this. You don't need to hear from me. And it's this less people than you think actually that let me know

 

Shannon Klenk

-- that share the goodness. Yes, I love your mission statement. Your mission statement. It is it is on your website. And maybe it's changed since then. But you have a mission to help people cultivate and share peace, love, laughter and joy around the world.

I mean, just saying that makes me happier  like, if we could all just do that, right? What a what a world it would be. But how did you come to that mission other than being just fabulous you? Like what's the part of your story that brought you to that mission? 

 

Robert Rivest

Wow I would have to say everything in my story brought me to that mission. I can't remember the day that I decided specifically on that, but I know that in meditation I often ask myself. You know, why am I here, what's my purpose, that type of thing? And even as a 17 year old, I remember thinking that my purpose, my reason on Earth back then was twofold. One was to help people, the main ones, to to help other people through this life experience and to do it in two ways, one with humor, because I was kind of a goofy guy joking around all the time.

And the other was I didn't have the word mindfulness, but it was more of a thoughtful way of living and existing, I had friends that were in the martial arts and I was reading a lot of Eastern philosophy at the time. So even as a 17 year old, that's what I was thinking, that I'm really here to help people get through this experience.

 

Shannon Klenk

Mmm, that's so delicious, it really is. And way back when we didn't have the word mindfulness, when I was a teenager,-- I would-- I had some book about the Dao De Jing

And I would go into my closet because I didn't want to be teased by my family with a flashlight. It's the one place I could go and I would read this little book translation about the daojiong in my closet and long before the word mindfulness became what it is today. So two similar souls in that in that way.

 

Robert Rivest

Yeah, it's funny because I've been performing in schools, doing presentations in schools for 38 years. And in the beginning when I wanted to bring in mindfulness or actually just meditation, Tai Chi, Gideon, yoga. You couldn't do that 38 years ago. People thought, you know, it's a religion, you're trying to impose a religion, and I'd say, no, these are just mind body ways of improving our health. And so I would say I'm going to teach you a mime, because I'm a mime artist doing mime in schools, I'm going to teach you a mime warm up that'll help you feel more energized, alert, awake and aware, yet very calm and peaceful.

And  I am a synergist. So I take bits of everything and pull it together. And and I've created --now I'm calling it-- the Robert Rivest method. But back then it was just a way of trying to find as many tools as I can and share as many tools as I can to help people, in that case the students and the teachers just feel calm and peaceful, but yet awake, alert, alive and present.

 

Shannon Klenk

I love that and you're describing something I actually wrote in my journal just the other day, I was talking about having this balance between a low energy.

But what I call the high vibe day, and I I didn't know how else to language it, but I had previous in my life always equated in order for me to be sort of high vibe connected, whatever that means. I needed to be high energy. But I'm at a place in my journey where that isn't necessarily so.

I can have a low energy day and still feel very high vibe connected, and I even hesitate sometimes using the words low and high because there's such a continuum there or a better than, worse than. Neither is better than worse than just trying to put words to my human experience in that.

So I love that you've been doing that for a long time. You knew that a long time ago. I just needed to ask earlier on.

 

Robert Rivest

Well, it's interesting that in fiding this year, you know, during the pandemic. That initially I thought I was going to help people. You know, to to do that mission, bring more peace, love, laughter and joy to people and help people find a way through this. And then I realized that a lot of the videos that I've done this year. To help people through the pandemic is about freedom, about freeing up the body, freeing up the mind of being able to express yourself to feel free even within the situation we're in.

And then a lot of the teaching that I've been doing was about feeling both rooted and grounded, yet polite and free within every cell. And that if we did some laugh and we laughed along and laughter is a very high vibration. If we laughed along and then we came to a more peaceful moment to feel both.

 to feel the peace -- peacefulness within the energy of laughter, to feel the energy of laughter, within the peacefulness. I created a tai chi form and I showed it to a group and one person said, I see the stillness in your movement. And I took that as a great compliment.

 

Shannon Klenk

What a beautiful-- I see the stillness in your movements. Oh, I just love that. Robert, thank you so much for sharing that. And seriously, I will absolutely--

For those listening via podcast, here is a shameless plug. You need to go subscribe to Robert's YouTube channel. You just do. You need to subscribe to his YouTube channel. My listeners, my audience, they are women who are doers, kick ass, make life happen, kind of women who also happen to live with some kind of chronic illness. In my case, I have a primary immune deficiency disorder. It could be diabetes. It could be lupus.

It could be arthritis. It could be know we have a whole new class of covid-19 long haulers.

And so that skill of being able to find the calm, find the stillness in the cacophony of our lives, our families, our illnesses, our condition.

Is a skill that fuels our healing, it fuels our,--  I'm not even sure the right word to put there, but it's such an important skill and so truly, for my listeners, go subscribe to his YouTube channel, like now. The link will be in the show notes, by the way, to make it easy.

 

Robert Rivest

Oh, great.

Yeah, this. If anyone just looks up Robert Rivest laughter, it'll probably come up because there's only one Robert Rivest.

Well, there are several actually. My tribe comes from Canada and Robert Rivest Grobet. They're excellent.

 

Shannon Klenk

So do you have some of that French background in you as well? 

 

Robert Rivest

I do. Just from my ancestors-- grandfather. You know, back to what we were saying just a moment ago. I work for a group. Of people who are the program, I think called D N R S, I do a lot of gentle programs for them, but also in my own background, I've been interested in having an ease in my effort, meaning even though I'm doing something very athletic --, inside I'm relaxing and I could do five shows a day, even at the age of 59. And the way I can do it is: I'm finding the moments of rest everywhere I can and rest not being a collapse. Just being aware that I'm resting instead of being on that river. So I have to be up. You can be up yet very relaxed, within and and rejuvenating and refreshing and renewing.

 

Shannon Klenk

Hmm, I just love that and actually, on a side note, believe it or not, yesterday I was diagnosed with covid.

And so but I wasn't going to miss our talk today. No way, no way. I mean, unless I was physically incapable, I wasn't missing chatting with you today. And so I has I started an episode for my podcast that is about managing our bandwidth as opposed to managing our time.

And it is all about  our rest not being about the collapse.

& How do I proactively, consciously, mindfully seek those moments? Sometimes I need to create them. Sometimes they're just created in there. And if my eyes are open, I can experience it. And so I love that.

I love the ease of effort.

I'm actually going for a monoclonal antibody infusion this afternoon and I am going to take that piece of effort with me so personally. Thank you very much. That's a nugget in a gem.

So of all the things, all the ways you could bring joy, peace, laughter. What drew you to laughter yoga.

So and then and then maybe share a little bit about what laughter yoga is.

And I don't know which order you think is best to answer those two questions, but of all the things that you could use to fulfill that mission, why laughter Yoga.

 

Robert Rivest

Sure. An interesting thing for me in a little bit about my background, I, like many who grew up in the 60s, came from a bit of a knockabout childhood. Right. And had some difficult times and some dramatic experiences as a child, a teenager in my 20s. But I was also like a Superman, I was lifting weights, I was sort of the strongest kid around, I was taking 10 dance classes a week. I was in training in my home for four hours a day.

I could jump high and do amazing things. But in my 30s, my body felt like it was falling apart and it felt I wasn't getting the answers. I was looking for the medical profession. So I started studying mindfulness meditation, which led to tai chi and chi gong and yoga, which actually led mindfulness to yoga to tai chi and chi gong. And all of those things helped me tremendously, but not completely meaning. I had PTSD, and so, you know, if I was walking down the street and a squirrel breaks a twig, I'd be like ready to go type of thing.

And the mindfulness and all those practices really did help me and softened all of that gave me a new way to look at the world, taught me how to respond instead of react, those type of things. Then I was in the Performing Arts Guild, we meet once a month several performers, and I and one of my friends said, well, there's a husband and wife, friend of mine. They just learned something and they want to use us as guinea pigs to practice teaching it.

It's called laughter yoga. We're like okay, whatever, bring them in, so they came in and did a laughter yoga session with us and I loved the feeling of laughter so much and laughing in this way and the eye contact that we made in the group, even though I must admit, I, as a performer and as maybe some things made me uncomfortable, I was kind of goofing around with like, oh, do you know that type of thing? But I loved it so much that I went home and I looked up everything.

 I'm a self learner. If I'm interested in something, not only will I take regular classes, I'm going to read every book I can on it, listen to every CD I can on the driving, watch every DVD practice at home. And so once I felt that experience of laughter from laughter yoga, it felt like I was laughing with my cousins when I was a kid. My cousins would come over. They have a large family, we have a large family.

We'd just laugh our heads off, we'd roll and we can't even tell you why. And I remember that feeling. I remembered that laughter yoga session as feeling like when you just saw a really good play or movie that just made you feel really good.

And I wanted more of it. So I did what I always do. I looked it up, got every book, CD, DVD I could get my hands on started. Using laughter, yoga, everywhere I went at the time, I was doing one hundred and eighty performances a year and at the end I would do a little bit of laughter yoga. So. In one year, that's one hundred and eighty times two or three hundred people sharing laughter, yoga, even just ten minutes at the end of the show without even saying that it's laughter yoga.

And I have set up a series of friends that I would just call and laugh with. And so--

 

Shannon Klenk

I want a series of friends like that. Oh, my gosh, I am totally going to make that my next piece spiritual business as I refer to it.

 

Robert Rivest

I love that idea and set it up ahead of time that when they call and say, let's laugh, no talking, no. How are your kids? How's this boom, boom, three minutes, five, 10 minutes, whatever you can.

And I have a series of friends and at the end of their last name, I wrote ha ha ha. And I can just say to my phone call, ha ha ha, and my Alexa will say, which one 

 

Shannon Klenk

[laughing] I can't wait! I can't wait! I love that idea

 

Robert Rivest

That's really beneficial. It's really beneficial.

 

Shannon Klenk

 Sure, absolutely.

 

Robert Rivest

You know, I think of laughter yoga as the quickest delivery system of the mind body health benefits of laughing. Because, one, when I say to someone, I want you to think about the times you've left in your life, they'll conjure up laughing with friends, laughing with family. It's usually laughing with people you really know. You have a lot of time with and history with but laughter yoga can get us to that place without even knowing each other.

Right, just by doing your series of breathing, moving, smiling and laughing exercises before you know it were laughing together. And the other thing that I like, I created a laughter yoga exercise about it is I start by showing the wall. So for those just listening, I'm creating a mime wall in front of us and I'll say, oh no, there's a wall between this and then I'll laugh.

Oh, and dissolve the walls because I feel like laughter dissolves the walls between us. All the isms disappear. I'm not thinking about anything else other than laughing heart to heart with someone else. Nothing else matters. Where they're from, what their job is. No family history. Just heart to heart, soul to soul laughter  Laughter has been used as a practice for thousands of years, but laughter. Yoga started. Dr. Madan Kataria A medical doctor in Mumbai, India, in 1995, he was writing a paper called Laughter is the Best Medicine, and he said, laughter is so good for you.

We should practice this.  So he went to a park in Mumbai, India, and he tried to get a number of people, you know, laughter. Yoga is laughing. It wasn't called laughter. You'll get that time. Laughing It's so good for you. I want to start a laughter practice, a laughter club where we meet every day. And most people are like, well, are you crazy, doc? You're going to ruin your reputation.

 

Shannon Klenk

Right, You've really gone over the edge now.

Well, I've told people that I want to give myself permission to be so happy that I'm one of those ladies that people look at and go, oh, yes, she's she's a little kooky 

But the truth is like winner, winner, chicken dinner. I'm happy.

 

Robert Rivest

Right. And so that's about that's what it's about. I mean, I remember being a teenager and, you know, I was out somewhere playing pool and I'm just dancing around or goofing around. And and my friend would say, you know, people are looking at you. They're going to think you're strange. I don't care. This is my body. This is my brain. I'm taking care of it the best way I can. this feels good.

 

Shannon Klenk

This feels good.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways, I cut off your story. So he said, let's get together every day and laugh. And people are like, dude, dude you're going to ruin your reputation as a medical doctor.

 

Robert Rivest

yeah so out of like over two hundred people that he invited, he got four other people. So there are five people in a Mumbai park. And at first it started with telling jokes and funny stories. And so you see five people in the park laughing their heads off and then people become curious and more and more and more. So people really started loving this laughing practice. And at first it was just telling jokes. And then it grew and grew and grew to like fifty people meeting every day.

But then the jokes started to go downhill, you know, jokes there. If you get it, they're funny. If you don't, they're not. If it's about you or they're derogatory or their age is sexist or whatever-ist right. It's not funny to you. And so two women came up to him and said, you know, this is how this is helpful. I find these jokes harmful. And he said, OK, come back tomorrow, give me a night, I'll think about it.

And he started looking in the number of books and he came up with that.

The body can't tell the difference between whether you're laughing for real or making the sounds of laughter, meaning that motion creates emotion. And so he said we can just laugh for no reason. So they started laughing for no reason. And some people said, I really like it and  others said, we need more.

And Dr. Kataria, when he was in medical school, he was also an amateur actor. So he said we could do some like improv games and help generate the laughter.

And so they made laughter exercises based on at first everyday life like milkshake, laughter or measuring cloth, laughter or greeting, you know, bowing and greeting to one another with a slightly laughing.

And so it really took off like wildfire throughout India. The next part wanted to do it. The next one. The next one. it spread through India, like you couldn't believe.

And then then other countries said, we were interested in this. And before you know it now it's in one hundred and ten countries around the world. They just said World Laughter Day yesterday. And Dr. Kataria, you said that laughter yoga is a hundred and ten countries around the world

 

Shannon Klenk

 That is so fabulous. It really is so fabulous

It really is so fabulous. And it sounds like it just grew so organically, so naturally. So really was wonderful.

Who's laughing over there? Right. And it is laughter is something that that is attractive. It's something that other people say, oh, maybe I should get some more of that. Yeah.

 

Robert Rivest

Yeah. It's so contagious. I mean, I thought laughter is contagious. Smiling is contagious in a positive way.

 

Shannon Klenk

Very much so. In a good way. Not in a bad way. We know the bad way stuff. We've had lots of that the last year.

You know, I want contagious this day, but just for the good stuff like. Laughter

 

Robert Rivest

Why not.

 

Shannon Klenk

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you are now and correct me if I have the title wrong, but like a master. Laughter Yoga trainer is that correct?

 

Robert Rivest

Let's put it this way. I am a laughter yoga master trainer.

 

Shannon Klenk

Thank you.

Laughter Yoga. Master trainer. The worst part of my coronavirus so far is my foggy brain.  I have a hard time finishing sentences, though. I'm doing a pretty good job in this podcast, so I get a full A for effort

 

Robert Rivest

That's amazing.

 

Shannon Klenk

Yeah, I think it's the laughter, it's the joy, it's all of that, it makes it easier for sure.

So you train other people how to I mean, obviously you offer laughter yoga and then you train other people how to become. Laughter Yoga.

 

Robert Rivest

Yeah,, I do right now, especially during the pandemic, every two months I do a two day laughter yoga leader training where people become certified to become laughter yoga leaders so that they can go out and lead left yoga sessions, laughter yoga workshops, creative laughter. Yoga Club. There are thousands of clubs around the world.

And  it's a great two day training where you get to learn about the history of laughter, yoga, the benefits of laughter, yoga and all the different ways you can use it. Like I've used it in just about every way possible from preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, college seniors, corporations, different groups like Heart Association, Lung Association, bereavement groups, troubled youth, incarcerated folks. You name it, it's used in hospitals and cancer wards, people on dialysis use it.

 

Shannon Klenk

Well, like you and I met, you came and instructed at a fundraiser I was hosting for the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Domestic Violence there is nothing humorous. And so many of the fundraisers in that field just tend to end up being very heavy. And I thought what a wonderful way to get some women together around a topic that is very serious, that is very heavy, but brings some levity, not to the conversation but the moments so that people can hold both in the same space as we had those conversations, which are so, so precious and so wonderful.

And you do a handful of other things, too, in addition to laughter yoga, you do the chi gong and tai chi and you host lots of things online at the moment.

 

Robert Rivest

 the one thing that I'm booked for these days is them is the stress relief. Either the mindfulness or stress relief. Right. Which I have, which I do a little of everything. I do some breathing techniques, maybe some meditation, depending on the group sitting, standing, walking, moving meditation, as well as smiling meditation and laughter and meditation.

So I love that mix. I'm able to do more --- I'm able to bring everything forward and even back to what you said, a lot of this started for me, my wake up call. Once a year, I do the laughter yoga for my sister, Carol Rivest Memorial Foundation, because she she was murdered by her boyfriend. So it started with domestic violence and turned to domestic homicide. And so I do laughter yoga. My younger sister created the foundation and it's a fundraiser and I do laughter yoga for them every year too.

And it's just like you say. We can get through heavy things in our life with laughter. We're not laughing at it. We're using laughter the way we would use anything. If someone has a headache, they use Tylenol. Someone has this. They they do that. You know the laughter friends with that ending with "ha ha  ha" sometimes I'll call them and say, hey, I'm going to, you know, going to the funeral of a teenage kid, another O.D..

And let's just laugh, I'm not laughing at the situation, but I'm using laughter to free my energy, to free my emotions as a man that was brought up in the 60s. I was taught men don't cry, that type of stuff. And so this laughter helps open the valve so that when it's appropriate to cry, the crying could come.

 

Shannon Klenk

Yeah, so, so beautiful. So you had any one thing to share with this community of women who are living with a whole range of different chronic illnesses and showing up and still living their lives? I refer to it as finding this balance between honoring our chronic illness and what's going on with our bodies, but not letting it be the driving force in our lives. And so we still show up for our kids and our jobs and our volunteer communities and our faith traditions and all the things that we do.

What might you want to share with them?

 

Robert Rivest

I think the number one thing that comes up for me is loving yourself completely as you are. For many years, I did a practice of receiving love. I knew that there were people around the world sending loving kindness and different practices, and I would just open my heart to receive it. And then I would do mantras like I am, pure love. And then I realized that those two are different than me loving myself, receiving love or being loved is different than me saying my new mantra.

I love myself completely as I am here now.

 

Shannon Klenk

Uh. My whole insides just soothed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I believe it. I absolutely believe it. Even through Zoom. Even through zoom. So where can people find you? Because everyone should find you.

Well, the easiest place is probably robertrivest.com. And if you're looking for the videos, just hover over a video on my website and you can find the mime videos. The laughter yoga videos are broken up 10 minutes, 15, 20 minute mindfulness videos. I have a whole series on meditation. It's all on the website. The YouTube is great because you see what comes up fresh, but it's not organized like the website so both places are good

 

Shannon Klenk

 wonderful. Robert, I just cannot thank you enough, truly, especially today. I got a positive covid test. As you know, yesterday, as I mentioned earlier. And this has just fueled my day. And it's going to allow me personally to walk through this day, which it's been a very stressful 24, 48 hours with a lighter sense of ease and ease in the effort.

And I just really deeply appreciate you. I appreciate all the work that you're doing in the world. And we will be in touch again soon. 

 

Robert Rivest

Yeah, anytime much love to you and feel the energy.

 

Shannon Klenk

Thank you. Thank you. Yes, Yes

Take care. Thank you again.

 

Robert Rivest

Oh my goodness. Was that just delicious or what. OK, here are a few quick takeaways from today's episode. 1) take time to share with someone who has contributed goodness to your life, how much they mean to you, even if you think they hear it a lot from other people. 2) You can feel both rooted and grounded, yet light and free within every cell. 3) There is stillness in movement, ease and effort 4)laughter yoga is the quickest delivery system of the mind body health benefits of laughing. 5) laughter dissolves all the walls between us.

6). Motion creates emotion 7). Sitting, standing, walking, movement, smiling and laughter can all be meditation 8)we can get through heavy things in our life with laughter. 9)laughter helps to open the emotional valve so that emotions that may be stuck can flow through.

And last but not least, Robert mentioned two other organizations, I want to make sure you can find if you are interested in them, the first one is D.N.R.S that stands for the dynamic neural retraining system.

And you can find them at www.retrainingthebrain.com And I'm reading directly from their website. It says The DNRS is a natural drug free neuroplasticity based program that can assist in relieving symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivities, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme disease, food sensitivities, anxiety, chronic pain. Oh my goodness, I'm not sure if I'm going to pronounce this correctly. Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and many other conditions. Many of these conditions are related to a chronic stress response and limbic system impairment.

Oh, my goodness. For all of you sisters out there who are suffering from any of those, go check out this website. There may be some good nuggets in there for you. And the second thing that I want to share with you that Robert talked about is the Carol Rivest Foundation. Their mission is to bring awareness of domestic violence, raise funds to provide education and to promote healthy and happy relationships. Carol was Robert's sister, and you can learn more about her story on their website at the carolrivestfoundation.org.

Or if you're in the New England area, their next upcoming fundraiser is on June 12th in Munson, Massachusetts, super fun and you might just get a firsthand taste of Robert's laughter yoga.

That just about wrap things up for today.

But first, this is just a friendly reminder that nothing on this podcast should be interpreted or taken as specific medical advice for your condition. Anything specific to you and your condition should be received directly from your professional medical team.

As always, if you found anything in this episode helpful or inspiring, please drop a comment in Apple podcast so more kickass can do women can find this amazing community or better yet, take a screenshot of this episode and share it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me.

You can follow me on Instagram at Finally Effing Happy. Or if you want to hang out with me some more, come join me and my free and private Facebook group. You can get there at bit.ly/FinallyEffingHappyGroup. And if you're in need of a free self care accountability coach, come join me for my Sunday Night Live every Sunday at 8pm to bring some energy and enthusiasm to your self care and to your week. And if you'd like to schedule a free 20 minute discovery session for a little one on one time to focus in on what you are needing the most right now, you can do that at bit.ly/discoverysessionwithshannon

Again all that info will be in the show notes and until we can at next be well and be kind to you today.