When Palma invited me to come out to a workshop titled 'laugh & grow rich' my first response was 'will they try to MAKE me laugh?' because no one is worse at doing things on command than I ("dance, monkey, DANCE!!"). So when I signed up a couple of days later I did it for the experience. The adventure of trying something so off my activity grid will be interesting no matter what. East West Yoga near Union Square is a clean and inviting space and having taken off our shoes we waited by the door for our guide to set up the room. He peeked his head out and invited us in where approximately ten mats were arranged in a circle, each with a towel and cushion. Laraaji NadAnanda, an amicable ex-comedian turned holistic guide, shared with us his journey of discovering and customizing laughter as a tool for grounding oneself in one's own body and we proceeded to take part in several exercises focusing on vibrating the pituitary, heart, and spleen.
As far as wholistic medicine goes, the positive effect of vibrations on organs that are responsible for production of hormones and red blood cells makes sense and if something as simple as deliberate laughter can help in stimulating them, heck, why not. [insert me laughing wild for no particular reason here]
The best part of the day, however, was a visit to East West's bookshop next door (Cat Yoga) where I purchased a portable wooden utensil set (no more using & discarding plastic forks from takeout) followed by a walk to Chelsea Piers where a rave party raged on the water to which we were not admitted for lack of tickets. We looked out over the crowd, letting the beat reverberate through us and reflecting on how tame and non-bouncy the audience appeared to be under the circumstances and after observing the beautiful sunset, we bounced back toward the meat packing district for a fine dinner al-fresco.
Note to all: goat milk cheese with marmalade of cherries & apples is a joy everyone should partake in at least once before dying.
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