Gareth Edwards joins us to discuss the power of laughter yoga on defeating our nemesis, nursing burnout. I had absolutely no idea what that meant. When I was researching what Gareth Edwards did and read he was the expert on laughter yoga, a very specific story popped into my head. My previous boss, a 60+ year old emergency physician who sported an impressive belly, was treated to a fabulous weekend to Olivia Newton John’s sensational wellness resort, Gaia Retreat, for their wedding anniversary. He’s more of a indulgent lunch, loads of red wine, that morphs into a long dinner kind of guy. He also has absolutely no filter. So you can imagine his disappointment on arrival at this sublime resort that they were alcohol free. Fast forward, 12 hours, and he’s unwillingly dragged to an actual yoga session with his wife at sunrise. As he contorted himself into downward dog, and he turns purple, he twists towards his wife and blurts, “F@#k, Soph, I’m gonna fart!”. Poor Sophie tried to ignore and pretend it never happened, but eventually the both of them unfurled themselves, fell onto the floor fits of laughter. That sounds like laughter yoga to me….. Gareth Edwards, a.k.a. The Laughter Guy is writer, musician and coach who is all about living life less seriously. Take his 1 Minute Laughter Challenge here: https://gareth-edwards.com/laugh/ And this podcast demonstrates how unbelievable the social glue of laughter can be for productivity, wellness and great nursing culture
