Kate Mason (00:00):
How often do you find yourself laughing, whether it's intentionally or unintentionally through your day? Is it very often, oh, not at all. Have you ever tried using laughter as a way to relieve stress or lift your mood? And if you did, what was the experience like? Did you really want to try and fake in a feeling that you didn't have? But did you know that fake laughter can have the same positive effects on your mind and your body as real laughter? And if you knew this, would you try it again? Now, what's one situation in your life where laughter's helped make you feel better and it's actually changed your perspective on the situation that you're in? And are you familiar with mindful practices? I'm not really, I must admit, but do you think that laughter could be a form of mindfulness? Well, guess what? Today you're going to find out. I'm Kate Mason, and welcome to Parenting and Personalities. This is the podcast that connects you to the ones you care about the most.
(01:08):
Now today we have an exciting laughter filled episode for you. We're taking a look into the world of mindfulness and laughter with Annie Harvey. Annie is a motivational keynote speaker supporting workplace performance plus productivity for leaders and teams. And she's also a mindfulness coach, a laughter yoga practitioner, and an all around joy bringer. We're going to explore how laughter and mindfulness can transform your emotional resilience even in the toughest situations. We're going to take a look at that fascinating science behind laughter and the impact it has on your brain and your body. So stick around until the end of this episode because you're going to see why laughter is truly the best medicine and how you can bring more of it into your life.
(02:06):
Hi Annie. I'm really excited to talk to you today. Hello. Nice to be here. Yeah, well listen, we were just talking about your work and how it's touched many lives and you bring a lot of joy and mindfulness and maybe sometimes people who are a little reluctant to laugh. But I know that this is going to be a really fun and inspiring chat for a lot of people. So what I'd love to know is could you just give me a bit of background on how you led up to becoming what you do today to doing what you do?
Annie Harvey (02:36):
Yeah, it's even hard to describe what I do. It's a good conversation starter. Sometimes I say I'm a otologist at networking events and people have to stay and ask what that is. It's not the study of jello as some people think it is. So I speak on stages, but I also practice mindfulness and laughter yoga and teach that to people. Originally, you may know this or not, both my parents had different forms of dementia. When mum was diagnosed in 2012, I took her to her gp, who happened to be my gp. And halfway through the doctor said, so how are you looking after yourself, Annie? I remember not even hearing the end of the sentence. So she asked again, and I haven't got time for that and way too guilty to do anything for myself. And she said, why don't you try this thing called mindfulness?
(03:27):
I'm not really sure what it is. Apparently it's quite good. That's pretty much what she said. And I downloaded one of the only apps around at the time Headspace app, and I learned to sit with myself or maybe stand, maybe walk, not always sit for three minutes, three times a week. That's all I could manage without feeling more guilty. And I'll explain a bit later about what gift that gave to me. And as a carer, it also to my parents. And in the same year, so I was obviously searching for things but not really realizing. I was searching at the time. I went to see the Dalai Lama speak in Melbourne
(04:04):
And before he came on we had these breakout areas. We could go and try something new and one was power napping. I'm really good at that. So I didn't know how to try that one. And the other one was this crazy thing called laughter yoga. And my friend literally dragged me and said, come on, what's the worst that can happen? We can just leave. And half an hour later I felt just incredible or high. I dunno what being high on drugs feels like, but there was something that had changed me and I had to really calm myself to go back to see the Dalai Lama come onto stage. So both of those from 2012 onwards. So I've been practicing between 10 and 12 years. Both of them really gave me some great life skills, but at the time really helped me with my role of being a carer.
Kate Mason (04:51):
How did it help you in that role? What did it give you?
Annie Harvey (04:54):
So I think with mum in particular, she was the first one diagnosed. Dad was a few years later. Dad was in complete denial and very angry about it all. And obviously now I know extremely scared about it, but I didn't kind of take that in at the time. So with mom's dementia, she quite often went back to when she was nine years old and repeated this story 20 times in one conversation. And as I was listening to her and observing dad's fear and anger and everything else, I had all these big emotions, grief, frustration, anger, racing through my body, feeling pretty yucky. And after learning this skill only for three minutes, three times a week, I still had all those big feelings. And I think that first surprised me. I thought it'll just make them all go away. You actually become more aware of them with that practice. But I had the skill, the knowledge of what was going through my body, and I knew it wasn't going to be there forever. And I had the skills just to ground myself and be present for mum. And it's the present I gave her effectively. I think I gave her the gift of listening. And because of that, I suspect that dad was kind of reading my nervous system, which was much calmer. So it made him calmer. He never learnt meditation obviously, but
(06:11):
It was a real gift. I think that's what I gave it. And we all want to give the gift of listening to people.
Kate Mason (06:17):
We do, we do. And it is really hard. And I know that most of us will be touched by someone with dementia or unfortunately maybe even ourselves in the long run. And it is a really sad disease and it robs the people that we love the most of that memory. And my mom is going through a similar stage right now, so I really understand that need to listen and to hear and to not be frustrated by the repetition and like you say, be there for them through that time. So what happened after the dementia and your parents passing? Did you do with the workshops while that was happening?
Annie Harvey (07:02):
Yes, bizarrely, I had to run a laughter yoga club in the community near Riley the day after mum passed. And it was all of course, I'm going to cancel everything. And then I wanted to show up for the community, but also I knew it was probably a really great thing for me to do, partly because, and I use it a lot more recently about processing those big emotions so they're not kind of stuck in your body. Laughter is a really great way to do that.
Kate Mason (07:28):
So
Annie Harvey (07:29):
It was actually the best thing I could have done the next day is go and laugh with a lot of people for an hour and not feel guilty about it.
Kate Mason (07:38):
And that worked. That helped.
Annie Harvey (07:40):
Yeah,
Kate Mason (07:41):
That
Annie Harvey (07:41):
Was amazing.
Kate Mason (07:41):
Wow, that's
Annie Harvey (07:43):
So good. And because it worked, then I knew that this is something I always want to continue.
Kate Mason (07:48):
How much work had you done with laughter in businesses and places like that as a therapy? When did that all start, you actually going around and working with other people?
Annie Harvey (07:59):
Well, it kind of started after my TEDx talk, which
Kate Mason (08:03):
Let's talk about, let's talk about your TEDx talk. Why did you do your
Annie Harvey (08:07):
Tennis talk? So in my 50th year, as many people do in big birthday years, I decided I wanted to do 50 new things, but I didn't have a bucket list. So I have to say yes to everything effectively for the year running up to it. And that got me into a bit of trouble now ago, and I had to say yes to jumping out of an airplane, which was a gift my friends bought me. And that definitely was not on a bucket list. And actually, there's a funny story about that. I decided to be the world's first meditating skydiver, and I was very calm going up in the airplane. This guy is attached to me. And the further I got up, my breath got faster, and this is the most ridiculous thing. Of course, I'm not going to be calm and meditate, and I actually swore all the way down, so,
Kate Mason (08:59):
Oh, well, you're calm on the way up. At least
Annie Harvey (09:01):
It doesn't always work. No. And I said yes to eating crickets in Thailand, for example, I taught myself to swim because someone asked me to be in this wonderful Marilyn Monroe fundraiser that we have in Adelaide, and somebody said, you've got this laughter thing now. Why don't you apply to be a TEDx speaker? And I'd watched a few TED talks and thought, well, I'm obviously not going to get the part, but I'll apply because I've said yes to it. And I think I said, I bet I can make a thousand people in Adelaide, a town hall laugh out loud in three minutes and press send and laughed at it. I'll never hear again.
(09:41):
And then a few weeks later, I got the call to say, you've got a spot on this famous red dot. And I said, fantastic. Have I got 10 or 12 minutes what Telex talks are? And she said, well, you've got three. You asked for three minutes. Oh, okay. Because it was all a bit of a joke when I sent it off and through. I mean, doing a telex talk was an incredible experience. And by the end of it, they said that we're going to bring you on a particular spot. We're going to call you the pattern interrupt. You're going to come after quite a triggering talk for the audience, so you can have six minutes instead of
Kate Mason (10:15):
Three. Oh, thank goodness.
Annie Harvey (10:17):
And that's kind of become my calling card, I guess it explains a little bit about what I do in front of big groups and yeah, it's taken off since then.
Kate Mason (10:27):
That's great. And so how do people find your TEDx talk? It's just under your name,
Annie Harvey (10:31):
How would, yes. So if you do TEDx Annie Harvey, there's a TA website and a YouTube link as well. And it's really quick. Yes,
Kate Mason (10:39):
It is. And it's fantastic. Definitely. I've watched it and it's great. So it really is the essence of what you talk about, which is fantastic releasing those emotions through laughter. So you've worked with children and adults to improve the emotional resilience through laughter and mindfulness. So how do these practices differ? What kind of children have you worked with and what kind of adults have you worked with and how does it all change with different age groups?
Annie Harvey (11:13):
So my bio says that I work with people from four to 94. It's actually from three to 99 now.
Kate Mason (11:19):
Oh, there you go.
Annie Harvey (11:22):
And the science is the same behind it all. It's really more about how you introduce it and what kind of activities you do. So if I do it in care homes, then it's seated. For example, it's normally seated with three and four year olds, otherwise they just go off and race everywhere. But some kids in our local school, eight, nine year olds use it in fitness. So they're moving. So the science and the product itself is the same. And there is, I dunno, hundreds if not thousands of us around the world that are trained in L yoga. My product is quite unique as I've added mindfulness to it. And the reason I've done that is as an ex-school teacher, many people say, can you just come in and teach the kids mindfulness? And I normally say two things. First I say, I'll teach the staff first please, because I want them to role model it or parents to role model it.
(12:17):
And ideally those kids then join their calm rather than you join their chaos. And I also say that some kids just can't lie down and still and listen to their breath or feel their breath. I've discovered that a lot as being a school teacher with particularly young kids. So the laughter almost runs off all that energy first and then they're able to, they've got something to listen to or feel in their body because when we've been laughing so much, our breath is faster and we might be hot. And that's one thing that's kind of been quite organic with this program if you want to and it's
Kate Mason (12:57):
Product
Annie Harvey (12:58):
Or program is we want kids particularly to learn lots about emotional literacy, really important that they know the words. There's a thing called interoception where they learn when they're full or went to work when they want to go to the toilet and things like that. Or when they feel angry or when they feel sad, I'm like, why can't we encourage them to find where do they find the joy in their body? I call it greet the giggle.
Kate Mason (13:23):
So
Annie Harvey (13:24):
Even if it's starting at three or four year olds, it might take them a couple of years to learn that language, but every day at least you are getting them to tune into the good feelings in their body, not just listening out for those big, what we call negative emotions.
Kate Mason (13:37):
So what's the neuroscience behind laughing and what it does to the brain then?
Annie Harvey (13:42):
So there's lots of things. Basically if you do deep breathing and deep breathing isn't mindfulness, really normal breathing is mindfulness. We encourage you to breathe out longer than you breathe in. So if you breathe in for three and exhale for six, for example, that X, the breathing in creates more oxygen, especially if you smile. So if you smile, your nostrils flare a little bit, that means you're actually taking in more oxygen. And when you do that longer exhalation, it calms our nervous system. It turns on what we call our parasympathetic nervous system, which is our rest and digest. Sometimes it's cool. It doesn't mean that we're lying flat sleeping at the end of it. And it turns down our sympathetic nervous system, which I always think has a strange name. It doesn't feel sympathy when you feel that. And that's again, it's turning it down.
(14:39):
It's turning the volume down in your stress. We don't want to turn it off because we need that oldest part of our system to be there when we really need it. But for many of us children, all ages in this world that we live in, it's kind of switched on all the time. So once that's calmed, the bizarre thing about laughter yoga, so you feel great, we call it laughter's the best medicine. You feel great after a good laughter with your friends or a movie or whatever. What this is voluntary laughter. It's spontaneous laughter, it's laughing on purpose. Your body doesn't know the difference between real laughter and fake laughter. If your body is moving like it's laughing, or even if you're just smiling, it sends a message to your brain that you are happy and you're okay and you're safe. And then it will flood your body full of these wonderful, happy hormones, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. And if you do it long enough, melatonin as well. Lots of people sleep really well after the laughter sessions and just to have those happy hormones flood through our body every day is something that we don't all have access to except we do have access to because we can all force that laughter and still get the benefits.
Kate Mason (15:54):
The old fake it till you make it bit. They used to say it one time that wasn't really true about certain things. So really about this, it is the truth that you can fake it till you make it.
Annie Harvey (16:05):
Yeah. I have a next door neighbor in her fifties who used to come to my weekly live to club, and she only told me last year that I never actually laughed for real. I faked the entire hour. And she loves it. She tells everybody about it.
Kate Mason (16:19):
Isn't that? There you go, isn't it? So it must have made her feel good at the end of it. You did, as you and I were discussing earlier, I find it very hard to fake a laugh, and I know you're going to have a play with that afterwards. But I mean, because laughing naturally comes to me, I think quite a bit anyway. But it does feel really good. And I have been in one of your workshops where you do create that laughter in a really large crowd, and I watch the people and they genuinely are, and I'm really interested. I like that idea of knowing that fake it till you make it, because very often you don't think it's worth it. Do you get to do something like that? So that is, that's very interesting. So interesting for our listener because just fake it till you make it.
Annie Harvey (17:08):
Things
Kate Mason (17:08):
Might turn out.
Annie Harvey (17:09):
Absolutely. If you ask people that are trained in this around the world. Lots of people in Australia as well will work with one-on-one as well in groups or people with depression. There's some great work being done in kid and dialysis wards at the East Coast where those people go in every week and sit for a long time in that chair, don't have a huge amount to laugh about,
Kate Mason (17:29):
But
Annie Harvey (17:29):
For some reason they join in these live geo sessions. And physiologically that would have a great effect for them as well.
Kate Mason (17:36):
It would because to tell the truth, and you're the only person I know about laughter yoga, I would never have sorted or looked for it. So there's obviously a lot of people out there running these type of sessions. So where do they run them, like you're saying in hospitals, et cetera? Are they in the local community for
Annie Harvey (17:55):
People? So there's a few in this. I mean, they're all across Australia. There's probably 6,000 of us across the world. I used to have a regular club now I pretty much just do the corporate things, all the programs with the schools and aged care. But yeah, if you Google Laughter Yoga Australia, you'll find them across the country.
Kate Mason (18:13):
Brilliant.
Annie Harvey (18:14):
We even do them online every night on Zoom, which was obviously that came out of the pandemic, and it was
Kate Mason (18:20):
Something
Annie Harvey (18:21):
We did not think would work at all on Zoom. And it does work. We do it quite differently, but it definitely works, which is for the world that we live in around isolation at the moment and what has been caused by the pandemic, which it's a great thing that we can now get it into people's homes as well.
Kate Mason (18:40):
That's a fantastic idea. Now, another way that you are looking at getting it into homes, tell us about your transgenerational trauma program for a start and then we'll lead into what you do for children and games.
Annie Harvey (18:56):
So the Transgenerational program in Rwanda, is that the one you mean?
Kate Mason (19:03):
Yeah,
Annie Harvey (19:03):
Yeah. That actually is quite bizarre. I only discovered this last year that Rotary International donated quite a bit of money for someone from Perth to go to Rwanda. And it was at the time where 12 years ago, it's the time when the perpetrators from the hideous times that happened in the nineties were coming out of prison and going back into their communities.
(19:26):
And they wanted something to bring the two communities together. And remarkably, they've done it through life to yoga. So they've probably trained 11, 1200 people across the country. And those two groups of people, the victims and the perpetrators come together and they laugh. So it doesn't fix it, obviously, but what it does with the trauma side of it is it lifts your mood immediately. And actually if you do it for about an hour, people can access the subconscious a little bit more. So what they do is they bring in therapists, particularly art therapists after those laughter sessions, and then have much more effective therapy sessions around healing that trauma. So it's quite an incredible thing. No one really knows about that around the world. So I had a couple of clinical psychologists talked to me last year about this program, and I said, well, what's happening with the kids?
(20:23):
We know that trauma can be passed down through generations. We certainly know that through our aboriginal communities in Australia. So they said, well, no one does anything with the kids. In fact, there's a lot of problems with those kids at home, at school. No one's asked about what happens with the kids. So I donated lots of my giggle game across there, and one of the clinical psychologists has just run a summer program across 12 schools, and they sent me all these incredible videos and pictures and he said, it's working. We need to get more of this.
Kate Mason (20:58):
Fantastic.
Annie Harvey (20:59):
So it's a legacy that I didn't think I'd be leaving, and I think it's a great one. As I said, it was not in my business plan originally. No,
Kate Mason (21:08):
No, no, no. So can you tell us about the giggle game and what it does?
Annie Harvey (21:12):
So originally I was asked to take this to a preschool down in Keith about four hours from Adelaide during Covid for stressed out educators and stressed kids who were hand sanitizing. And they said, we've tried yoga, hasn't quite worked for them. Can you bring this, I don't even know how they found out about life yoga. So I went down three times and went online in that first year of the pandemic and originally just left them some photocopied things and set some outcomes on what I thought might happen over the year. And each of the educators took three or four children each to observe them and keep records. And the changes, the things that happened were just way beyond what we thought. And a great example of that is two little girls with selective mutism, which means they don't speak at school at all. They ask, they still do.
(22:07):
They ask for the giggle game, they laugh out loud, and then they go back to not speaking for the rest of the day, but that was a real wake up call to, this has got some magic to it, which we didn't envisage. So I created a proper set of printed cards, and they've got the alphabet on them so teachers can use them in literacy. One of my friends uses it for spelling. So if they spell, they write the word elephant on a whiteboard and the foot sound in the middle, then they do the elephant laugh. And that's because of that subconscious thing. It helps that spelling go into long-term memory against something I didn't think
Kate Mason (22:45):
Would happen.
Annie Harvey (22:46):
And so that was the original thing is get that to teachers. My big thing was stopping teachers from burning out. That's one of my passions, having been a burnt out teacher myself, right? I'm going to help the teachers. I'm going to help the kids. And great feedback across schools in Australia. I've taken it to the uk and I launched it in Canada earlier this year. And then the next step was, again, not really in my business plan, just thinking about it was, well, when my parents had dementia, they were very smiley, funny people. They lost their life to completely. So I thought, could I get four year olds, young children to get people with dementia laughing again? So we started this incredible program with ka, which is an age care home near me. It's where mom spent her last couple of weeks, and they literally bust the oldies. The oldest is 95. I just went to her birthday party with the kids. They bust them away from the age care every Wednesday morning, and they start and finish the session with the giggle game, and they join in with everything. They're seated, but they join in and then they do some mindful breathing, and then they might paint and sing and dance and finish with the game and go back.
Kate Mason (24:02):
And this is all with young children,
Annie Harvey (24:05):
All with preschool, three and four year olds.
Kate Mason (24:07):
Beautiful.
Annie Harvey (24:08):
And a lot of people know about the A, B, C, wonderful series with the kids and the older people. I actually had the privilege of going to the original old care home in the uk, which is actually in my hometown in Bristol. And I visited it early this year, and they happened to have the local kindie coming up to visit them. So we played it there as well. So,
Kate Mason (24:30):
Wow.
Annie Harvey (24:30):
Yeah, it's a great thing.
Kate Mason (24:33):
And isn't it amazing what interaction between our oldest generations and our youngest generations can bring to each of them for the young children,
Annie Harvey (24:44):
That
Kate Mason (24:44):
Beautiful time with older people that they might not actually get themselves in their
Annie Harvey (24:49):
Lives? It is. And we go away from the game. So we might say, especially the people with dementia. What's one of your memories of childhood? And this lady said last year, oh, I remember going in the back of my boyfriend's Harley Davidson. So I said, do you remember what that felt like? Oh, it was amazing. And we didn't have to wear a helmet, so we all did the Harley Davidson laugh. We all pretended in our chairs that we were on Harley's and the wind was floating through our hair, and we just laughed on our Harleys.
Kate Mason (25:18):
That's amazing. You must have the most wonderful way of setting out people's imaginations like that and going with that flow. That's fantastic.
Annie Harvey (25:30):
You can pretty much put it to anything. Anything that people are frustrated about. You can just turn it into a laughter to release it.
Kate Mason (25:37):
And have you found that has gotten easier and easier as you've gone along? Do you find that now it's just a natural part of you and you just do it? Or do you still have to think about a little
Annie Harvey (25:46):
Bit? Well, it is. So I only did one yesterday, and someone, I often say in the groups, what's something that's frustrated you in the last 24 hours on the Richter scale of one to 10 is maybe one to five. So we don't get anything too heavy in a group. And this guy said, oh, the cricket result at the weekend,
Kate Mason (26:06):
Right?
Annie Harvey (26:07):
So I just went, oh, okay. How's it make you feel? Ah, so angry. Can we pretend to be angry? Cricket players? Go and find a partner and we'll bat and bowl together. So to still, you never know what's going to come up.
Kate Mason (26:19):
No, no, you don't. You really have to be able to go with the flow. But
Annie Harvey (26:23):
I think for me, that's good because it keeps it fresh all the time for me.
Kate Mason (26:26):
Yeah, it does. It does. That's amazing. That is. That's so good. So tell me, what's the next thing that you are going, oh, let's talk about your book first, because your book's amazing as well. The little book has still come for busy lives. Tell us that's on sale, on what areas is that on sale, and tell us about what you do through that book as well.
Annie Harvey (26:50):
So it's on Amazon, it's on Kindle. It's an audio version which people like as well. And this came out of, well, it was again one of those 50 new things when I left the tab X talk. This is a true story.
Kate Mason (27:02):
The
Annie Harvey (27:02):
Guy who you'll see in the video, he's at the front laughing so much, I actually have to ask him if he's okay. Halfway through, he stopped me at the end and said, that's really great. I want to take it back to my family. Is there a book about what you do? And there was no book at the time, but I had to say yes, I was saying yes to all the challenges. So I literally came home and Googled, I think had a self-published at 50 or something. Wow. And created a book of 30 ways that you can learn or practice mindfulness without having to meditate, because meditation isn't for everybody. So I put 30 of my favorite quotes in 30 very simple things because most people will say, I understand that the skill could give me more patience or focus or creativity, but I haven't got time for it. And I'll often say, have you got a kettle,
Kate Mason (27:52):
Right?
Annie Harvey (27:53):
Yep. What do you do when you kettle's boiling? You're probably on Instagram or you're looking, unpacking the dishwasher. You can be creative with how you carve that time out. And the kettle is actually the most popular meditation out the book,
Kate Mason (28:07):
And that's a really good, most people boil a kettle. Really great thought of what you do with that bit of time. And the thing is too, it's very true. Everyone says, oh, you should meditate or You should do this, do that. And nobody has the time to. That's a really nice thought. But if you can do something like you talked about your three times a week at that time, if you do something that's really simple, then you can get on board. It's all about baby steps really, isn't it, in this type of thing.
Annie Harvey (28:34):
Yeah, absolutely. And people do want a quick fix nowadays. And the next generation's coming in, there's nothing that's going to keep them sitting very long,
Kate Mason (28:42):
Unfortunately. No, sadly not. No. So what's your next step in life? You've had a pretty cool, interesting run in the last few years.
Annie Harvey (28:53):
Yeah. I'm taking my business overseas, so I plan to spend some time at the UK each year. And I have just done this quite incredible training, and I'm trying to think how I can link laughter to it. So I'm now, well, will be very soon as certified dementia doula. And this is another conversation. We can obviously have another day, but I think it's a gift that I need to give people because of my parents. That's my driver for is it's about supporting families, not the person with dementia.
Kate Mason (29:30):
And
Annie Harvey (29:30):
That was something that, because of the stigma of it, and that was something that was missing for me. So now there's this wonderful way of training to be able to work very, very closely with families, with carers in care homes, et cetera. I've just got to be really clever and correct about how I can use the laughter in it as well.
Kate Mason (29:52):
Yeah. But you'll work that out. You'll work it out. Now before we go, I'm going to be very good, and I'm going to let you have a try at making me laugh, which we are halfway there anyway. So what are you going to do? Let's do it.
Annie Harvey (30:05):
Alright, so we'll work out where our laughter muscles are first.
Kate Mason (30:08):
Okay.
Annie Harvey (30:09):
Okay. So I want you to put your fingers on your throat, and we're going to breathe in. And then as we breathe out, we're just going to make the he sound to the very end of your outbreath. So it's not laughing you, you're just doing He. He, he. Okay.
Kate Mason (30:22):
Okay.
Annie Harvey (30:22):
Breathe in. Smile.
Kate Mason (30:32):
Awesome.
Annie Harvey (30:33):
Hand on your chest this time. It's the ha hahaha sound.
Kate Mason (30:38):
Breathe
Annie Harvey (30:38):
In and smile. Awesome. Last one. See, you're doing it already. Alright. Easy hands on your belly. So this is Santa Claus is coming. Then you've going to do the ho, ho, ho sand. You'll see if you can get your belly to move as you laugh, as you make that sound at. So you're breathing in. Excellent. All right. Last thing. You need your mobile phone.
Kate Mason (31:17):
Got it.
Annie Harvey (31:18):
We're going to just do a really quick version of this. So you stick it on a camera and then video
Kate Mason (31:26):
And
Annie Harvey (31:26):
Then reverse. So it's like you're taking a selfie, but it's a video.
Kate Mason (31:30):
Yep.
Annie Harvey (31:31):
And what we're going to do is we're going to do maybe the world's first laughy on a podcast. Normally it's for 60 seconds. We're going to try and do it for 30 seconds, which is still a long time.
Kate Mason (31:41):
It is.
Annie Harvey (31:42):
So we're going to just laugh with ourselves. So I encourage you to maybe think about something that has made you laugh in the past, if that helps you laugh. But you can remember, you can also fake
Kate Mason (31:55):
It.
Annie Harvey (31:56):
And we're just going to see where it goes. She's looking terrified. I am. I'm
Kate Mason (31:59):
Absolutely terrified. Okay. I can't think of anything that funny right now. So
Annie Harvey (32:06):
Can you make the laughter sound? Ha ha.
Kate Mason (32:09):
Right. Just going to do that. Alright. And so while I'm filming it, am I filming it? Just looking at myself? You're just going to look at yourself and then what you
Annie Harvey (32:17):
Have then
Kate Mason (32:18):
Is, which is a laugh anyway.
Annie Harvey (32:19):
It is your daily dose of looking at it each day.
Kate Mason (32:22):
Okay. Alright. Cool. All right, I'm ready, right? Yep.
Annie Harvey (32:26):
So I'm going to do 3, 2, 1, start.
Kate Mason (32:40):
Great. Thanks. How much more? Halfway. Halfway. Oh my goodness.
Annie Harvey (32:57):
3, 2, 1, and stop. Now that didn't sound like fate laughter to me.
Kate Mason (33:02):
No, that was pretty genuine. I was thinking about how I looked laughing and that made me laugh even more. So yes. There you go. Well done. Woo. So there we go. It's easy to laugh. It is easy to
Annie Harvey (33:15):
Laugh and just check in. Now you felt really awful. Check in with how you feel now.
Kate Mason (33:20):
Oh no. Good, good, good. I know that my brother will probably listen to my podcast and give me a load of shit after this, but that's the funniest thing, so that will make me laugh even more. So that's the interesting part is it's always worried about being judged, aren't we? Yes. It's a terrible, terrible thing. But thank you so much for being on today. I think this is a really different thing and I think that people should definitely use this and it takes such a short amount of time to get a laugh out of someone, and especially at this time of the year when everyone's racing around, because we are just before Christmas. So thank you for being my guest. That's wonderful. Pleasure. And then we might meet with a dementia doula podcast at some time. It does affect a lot of us, and that'd be fabulous to know what kind of support will be out there for those people. Beautiful. Now where can we find you? So
Annie Harvey (34:13):
My website is the still effect.com au. And you can watch my telex talk. Look at the giggle game. Look at my book. Yeah,
Kate Mason (34:22):
Just cool. Keep
Annie Harvey (34:23):
Smiling if you can't laugh.
Kate Mason (34:25):
Still trick the brain.
(34:26):
Alright, beautiful. Thank you so, so much for joining us. See you later on. Bye bye. Well, I'd certainly been taken out of my comfort zone today. And do you know what it actually felt? Okay. I did find within moments of that fake laughter, I was genuinely laughing. So take it from skeptic, give it a go. Use Annie's technique and force yourself to laugh. It really does work, but do do it alone. If you're feeling a bit nervous about it, it's not actually something I would try first up him in public. Before we finish today, there are three key takeaways from today's episode. Number one, you know what? Laughter is just more than fun. It's actually a science backed way to boost your mood, reduce your stress, and it can even help your body heal. Number two, mindfulness doesn't have to mean hours of meditating. Thank goodness.
(35:28):
Small practical practices like mindful breathing can do that job too. And whether you're working with kids, adults, or older people, bringing laughter and mindfulness into their lives can improve their emotional resilience, connection, and overall wellbeing. So remember, just a smile or a small laugh, even if it's fake, can start changing your day. Thank you for listening to Parenting and Personalities. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love it if you could leave a rating and a review that would help others learn about this podcast. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might benefit from Annie's insights. If you are interested in discovering more about you and your family's personality types, you'll find my book, who is this Monster? Treasure My House on Booktopia or Amazon. Many thanks to our producers at Stories and Strategies and we'll see you next time.