There's many things going on at the moment that aren't ones we want to laugh at. I've become a big fan of the idea that we can laugh because we can, not because life around us is necessarily all that funny (although of course we can still laugh then too!). And perhaps, after my lesson today which looked at the many health benefits of laughing, that we should laugh right now, to help improve our immune health, along with our mental and physical health.

I did some massive processing of shame over the last week, and whilst I won't go into the story here, enough to say that my newly found laughter practice, I'm very sure, helped with my resilience and ability to move through, process and deal with life in perhaps a more constructive way than hiding in a dark cave. 

I won't waffle on much more, just to say that I'm a huge Laughter Yoga advocate, albeit not yet a teacher (it's in my life goals). I'm sharing these sessions as a friend, not as a practitioner. They are all free. If you wish to attend and want to make a donation, I'm sure there's someone you know who would appreciate a gift, some flowers, a cup of tea making for them, a random act of kindness. There is no need to do any of these - the sessions are freely given, but if you'd like to, you're very welcome. I'm a big fan of the pay it forwards concept. At the end of this blog, there's a list of conditions/situations you shouldn't join us if you're experiencing, but as long as those aren't the case, you're very, very welcome to come along and laugh.

As one participant from Friday's session said:

"it should be on prescription. What a lovely way to spend some time. Thank you to all who participated. Hahahahaha xx"

I've added a session on the 3rd and 5th which should be online school friendly, in case school age folk, teachers or home educators would like to join in after their school day is done (that's if you're stuck to a timetable). They'd be very welcome, as they would to the other sessions if they'd like. I may offer child focussed sessions in time, but for now it's a free for all. Everyone welcome.

Sessions are as follows:

Monday 1st February:
Topic: Laughter Yoga session
Time: Feb 1, 2021 10:00 AM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79061900389?pwd=VUFRUzV3M0MwNnlIYUxGS1ZUTFkxdz09
Meeting ID: 790 6190 0389
Passcode: Y3aydw

Wednesday 3rd February:
Topic: Laughter Yoga  
Time: Feb 3, 2021 04:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76920325154?pwd=aS9XSVU4QWNGN2VpTTBkWEhtTHdrQT09
Meeting ID: 769 2032 5154
Passcode: dQMiZ1

Friday 5th February:
Topic: Laughter Yoga session
Time: Feb 5, 2021 04:00 PM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74691561045?pwd=Q0czQXBvQURmSmNTeUZCTWpwbXJEUT09
Meeting ID: 746 9156 1045
Passcode: VLn73X

Might see you there! 

Have a wonderful weekend, week, time ahead. I love Wim Hof's saying at the end of his breathing exercises on YouTube.

"Have a good night, or a good day, and a good life.

All the love, all the power."

With love,

Em x

Here in the UK, The Telegraph, rapidly becoming NOT my favourite paper, has been at it again. The distortions of this type are impressive I suppose. The, what I can only assume to be, intentional omissions to entirely twist the tale, were, well, huge. 

To give a little insight. They reported on a story shared on the 4Homeopathy Facebook page, which was as follows:

Cuban COVID-19 Prevention Study Gets Spectacular Results Using Homeopathic Remedy in 1 Million People
​
Cuban officials have been using a homeopathic remedy for the prevention of COVID. At first almost 46,000 health workers received the remedy yet only 62 of those persons developed COVID. Then 953,416 families received the remedy. 

“The HP [Homeoprophylaxis] campaign started on 1 April, and a total of 45,914 individuals from the included health facilities received PrevengHo®-Vir until 30 April (97.8% of this universe), with only 62 persons positive to COVID-19.”

“The medication was distributed to 953,416 families in 43 municipalities when Cuba accumulated 1537 patients positive to COVID-19.” Then…4 patients from Plaza de la Revolucion municipality in Havana tested positive to COVID-19 after its completion (0,002% of the population from these 3 municipalities)”.

https://homeopathyresource.wordpress.com/2021/01/04/cuban-covid-prevention-study-gets-spectacular-results-using-homeopathic-remedy-in-1-million-people

and turned it into:

Homeopaths have 'crossed the line' peddling 'dangerous' vaccine myths
Advice that duck extract is as effective as a Covid vaccine is putting lives at risk, says the head of NHS England
ByJustin Stoneman24 January 2021 • 12:01am

(It's behind a paywall so I've shared it here)

Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS medical director, said the findings were the "latest in a long line of disturbing and potentially dangerous online myths" 

The head of NHS England warned homeopaths had "crossed the line" after a Sunday Telegraph investigation revealed some were peddling myths that taking duck extract was as effective as the coronavirus vaccines.

Sir Simon Stephens warned people taking their advice from homeopaths were putting themselves at greater risk, and warned they would slow down the nation's vaccine efforts.

His calls were echoed by Professor Stephen Powis, the NHS medical director, who said the findings were the "latest in a long line of disturbing and potentially dangerous online myths".

On Saturday Facebook began removing the posts by 4Homeopathy, a banner organisation representing 11 leading homeopathic organisations and charities. Their Facebook page has 164,000 followers.

A post dated January 5 stated that a diluted duck heart and liver extract, had been distributed to "953,416 families".

The content headlined the Covid-19 prevention study had received "spectacular" results using the remedy in one million people.

The purported success of the product provoked excitement from users, with some asking where they could get the treatment, while others backed up the high efficacy of the product.

"My homeopath says it takes less than two days to be rid of Covid!," wrote one. Another publicly stated: "I've been using this for my family for months."

A separate post from the Facebook account promoted the "Covid Homeopathic Data Collection Project", linking users to a webpage containing a table of "remedies" for Covid-19.

It says the project's aim is to show homeopathy as a "viable modality in the treatment of Covid-19" and describes the coronavirus as a "unique opportunity to use the current crisis for strengthening the foundations of homeopathy."

Sir Simon told the Sunday Telegraph: "It's one thing for homeopaths to peddle useless but harmless potions, but they cross a dangerous line when making ridiculous assertions about protecting people from Covid infection.

"Anyone who took those seriously would be putting themselves at higher risk of coming to harm from Covid infection."

Prof Powis added: "Spouting claims on social media about Covid cures that are not backed by scientific evidence and accurate public health advice is the latest in a long line of disturbing and potentially dangerous online myths. We urge everyone to ignore misleading claims and get vital protection against Covid when they are invited for their vaccine.”

Professor Karol Sikora, a former director at the WHO, described the content as "deeply disturbing". "If homeopaths view the pandemic as an 'opportunity' or if they are suggesting that unverified homeopathic products can save patients' lives then they are confused."

4Homeopathy is described by the Society of Homeopaths as a banner outfit for 11 combined homeopathic groups to "campaign and lobby" on behalf of their users.

The Faculty of Homeopaths is among the group. The 4Homeopathy Facebook account is manned by UK-registered charity Homeopathy Action Trust. They did not respond to this newspaper's requests for comment.

Helen Earner, operations director at the Charity Commission, said the findings were being examined as "a matter of urgency". She added: “Any claims that a charity may be providing misinformation during this time of national emergency is a matter of serious concern to the Commission."

She added that a regulatory compliance case had been opened into the matter and that the commission will be liaising with other agencies as part of the investigation.

The Sunday Telegraph investigation located the duck extract product being sold to UK users online via eBay. The MHRA, the Government's medical regulator that approves coronavirus vaccines and treatments, said it "cannot be legally sold or supplied within the UK."

The World Health Organisation approached Facebook to take down the posts, the Telegraph understands. Andy Pattison, Manager of Digital Channels at WHO, said: "When health-related misinformation travels further, faster and sometimes deeper than the truth, there are real life consequences that cause real harm."

Facebook said they remove Covid-19 misinformation that could "lead to imminent physical harm, including false information about approved vaccines".

"We have removed violating posts on the page brought to our attention by The Sunday Telegraph and are continuing to investigate," a Facebook spokesperson said.

You may notice, if you paid careful attention to detail, that there is no mention of Cuba in The Telegraph post. There is no mention of vaccination in the 4Homeopathy post. Cuba has opted to use something called homeoprophylaxis, which they have used successfully in the past. Particularly interestingly in 2007-2008 where there was an impending leptospirosis epidemic, and with an awareness there was not enough time to produce a vaccine for the people at risk, a homeopathic remedy was made and distributed to the public. With great success..

Homeoprophylaxis involves taking a remedy/combination of remedies to ideally help boost the immune system and cope better with the circulating whatever. In 2007/2008 that was the leptospirosis bacteria. It is my opinion that homeoprophylaxis is not an alternative to vaccination, it's a different thing. Again, absolutely no suggestion in the original post, that there was any desire for anyone to not go down the vaccine route. Also, perhaps alarmingly too, there was also absolutely no suggestion that the homeopathic medicine used was as successful/more successful/less successful than the vaccine. Which would be because a - who knows without an extensive trial and b - IT WASN"T EVEN MENTIONED. So to create a whole headline based on this? 

The 2007/2008 study is here if you'd like to find out more. I think it's fascinating.

I also think it's fascinating that in Cuba they're using a combination of remedies - ONE of which is Anas berb, the one that The Telegraph takes and runs with. There is absolutely no mention of a combination of homeopathic medicines, which was what was reported to be happening in Cuba in the original post.

What is being used is in fact a combination that consists of:

Anas berberiae 200
Baptisia tinctora 200
Bascilinum 30
Pyrogenum 200
Eupetorium perf 200
Influezinum 200
Arsenicum Album 200

NOT just one remedy, and no one is making claims of better than, worse than anything, except that in CUBA, it appears to be helping the population there.

My good friend and colleague Gill wrote a blog on the recent use of homeopathy in Cuba, which is here if you'd like to read more on the topic: https://magicpillsmovie.com/cuba-the-country-that-dares-to-be-wise/​. I think what they're doing is utterly intriguing and I'll be eagerly awaiting to see more results. I'll also be expecting the results to be suppressed - as those were from the leptospirosis study and not to be shouted from the Mainstream Media rooftops. Sadly I'm learning that's the name of the game with homeopathy. 

Once again, the UK press has shown itself to be incapable of reporting on a hopeful, positive story from around the world, instead driving terror and doom, which it has done for most of our pandemic days. Similarly to my daughter's experience with BBC's Newsround, where they took what she told them and told her to speak into their cameras with the absolute opposite opinion (which was then aired to all the other kids who watch Newsround and take it as truth), they have twisted and changed this story beyond belief. She now understands, at age 14, that the news is not the truth. Whilst I'm sorry she had to learn it that way, I'm grateful that she knows it. In this case, the author of the cobbled together Telegraph article certainly appears to have missed out on any kind of fact checking department.

I've loved hosting the sessions this week for friends. It's part of my homework to laugh daily with friends or family and so in these more secluded times I created a couple of zoom calls to connect and laugh on.

I've spoken to several people about Laughter Yoga who've thought it was yoga-yoga and this it is most certainly not. It's laughter exercises, combined with some breathing exercises inspired by yogic breathing. Hence Laughter Yoga.

I'm currently doing the Basic Laughter course (more info here if you'd like to do it too) taught by Dr Madan Kataria the 25 years ago founder of the Laughter Yoga movement. My plan is to continue training and eventually become a Laughter Yoga teacher, but for now, my current plan? To share laughter exercises that I've been learning with friends and family. 

I think it's very possible there's not enough laughter in the world. Not least living through our current times, there is so much stress out there. So much anxiety. So much worry being streamed into our homes constantly, discussed on the streets, broadcasted out there. So perhaps not many reasons to laugh.

But what if laughter helped raise your immunity? What if it helped your body to heal? What if it helped turn an anxious mind set into a positive, joyful one? Does it do all these things? Studies would say so yes. The positive impact of laughter on our lives is being researched and found to be, well, positive.

What if it connected people? Amused people without needing to be anything funny out there at all? I think there are many reasons why it could be a good thing. And so after having had two lovely sessions last week, I'm putting on another two for the week ahead. They'll be about 20 minutes long, with an optional chat afterwards, and are on Tuesday 26th at 7pm, and Friday 29th at 2pm.

​If you want to read more about the idea please have a look at my last blog on the topic. Important to check out the reasons why not to do Laughter Yoga (no, it's not one of those 5 reasons why you shouldn't do it but actually you should lists) and so you can make sure you're good to go.

I'd love it if you'd like to laugh with me.

With love,

Em x
​

Laughter club
Time: Jan 26, 2021 07:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75656629575?pwd=aG5VQlo1aythaVRsbm1ZOStsdWJhQT09

Meeting ID: 756 5662 9575
Passcode: i2jUk0


Topic: Laughter Club
Time: Jan 29, 2021 02:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/72060354368?pwd=R2E5V1NnRTBvdUdUNFp6L1hTL3UwQT09

Meeting ID: 720 6035 4368
Passcode: ZJAT19

I've had a few people offer to help with my homework - that is to laugh with me. So I thought the easiest way might be to put a few words together here.

Becoming a Laughter Yoga teacher has been on my to do list for a while. I do think we don't laugh enough in general. Today I learnt again that children laugh 3-400 times a day. And adults - on average 10-15 times. How did it get so serious? When did we stop playing - and laughing?

This week on Wednesday and Friday, I'm going to host two zoom calls to practice the exercises I'm learning. They'll be on Wednesday 20th January at 1.30pm and Friday 22nd January at 2pm. The course has requested that we video ourselves/friends/family laughing and send it in as homework, so if you're happy to be on video to the group, then do say - if you'd rather not that's fine too and I'll video another time at home. My feeling is the world needs laughter at the moment so I'm happy to adapt.

6 people have said they'd like to be involved and I think that's likely enough for now... though if you've said you want to come along and the timing doesn't work - do let me know when might work for you and I'll try and sort something next week to suit.

I do want to share the list of conditions that the training group I'm working with have recommended people not to undertake Laughter Yoga if they're experiencing - or at least to seek medical advice first. If you've any of these please don't join me!

I want to be clear here that I'm not a Laughter Yoga teacher, I'm doing a beginners course and offering this to friends and family, not as an expert. I plan to add more training as time allows and hope to share it lots more over time.

Wednesday meeting 1.30pm - 1.50pm 
Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73175690967?pwd=R0laSVBBZVIwM1VSUU9HS2h4SnlkUT09
Meeting ID: 731 7569 0967
Passcode: LUM3ab

Friday 2pm-2.20pm
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75572549860?pwd=Vy9yb1BOSDltNDVmVENwamdZaUJiUT09

Meeting ID: 755 7254 9860
Passcode: z35XYp

Have a watch of this TEDMED Live talk with Dr Madan Kataria - the founder of Laughter Yoga, who explains about Laughter Yoga. I'm happy to be being taught by Dr Kataria on the course currently.
​

Taken from my Laughter Yoga workbook:
People with following conditions must take medical opinion before doing Laughter Yoga exercises: 
Hernia: Hernia is very common in elderly people and in those who have chronic cough and prostate enlargement. If you notice any swelling in the groin area while laughing or experience any pain, you must consult your doctor before doing laughter exercises regularly. Hernia normally needs surgical correction. 
Incontinence in women: This is most common in women. If there is involuntary passing of urine while laughing or coughing you must consult your doctor. This may be due to sagging of the uterus or weak ligaments. 
Bleeding hemorrhoids: Those suffering from bleeding from any part of the body must be very careful while doing laughter exercises. 
Heart problem with chest pain: If you experience any chest pain while doing any exercise you must consult your doctor. 
Pregnancy: Women with history of miscarriage and those in the last two months of pregnancy must take precaution and see the doctor before doing Laughter Yoga. 
Major surgeries: One must wait for at least three months after any surgery before resuming any strenuous exercises. 
Epilepsy: Those with a history of epileptic seizures must be careful as change in any emotional state can trigger an epileptic attack. Take expert opinion. 
Cold & flu: In case of severe attack of cold & flu, wait for some time as the virus might spread to other members. 
Severe backache: If someone has prolapsed inter- vertebral disc (slipped disc), one should not do laughter and other exercises, unless advised by their physician. Any forward and backward bending can aggravate the symptoms of slip disc. 
 
Hopefully see you there! And if not now then soon :)

With love and laughter, 

​Em x
​