Pillar of Strength

"Perhaps, rather than thinking I must make my morals, truth, and integrity match another's, I can determine what resonates with my own heart. When it does, I have the strength of a pillar."


There is nothing quite like standing in our own light, resonating with our heart. For me, it evokes a deep knowingness and peace. It brings me emotional strength.

The first step toward gaining emotional strength is to take action. We need to add to our performance appraisal a list of our morals, our truths, and our integrities. We need to do this work... it takes action.

It takes self-confidence and courage to list out these things, and after the preceding stages through which we have been, we are more equipped with these qualities.
Once we have listed out our morals, truths, and integrities, we sift through them to determine which resonate with our heart.

We know something resonates because of the deep feeling of peace and groundedness we have when we read that point on our list.

It's difficult, at least it was for me, to separate out others' influences while making my list. For example, during my 20 year marriage, I took on many of my husband's characteristics and truths. They were not who I was. I took them on to keep peace. I changed who I was to get along, and in the process, I lost myself and what I stood for, what I believed in. 


I found that once I knew my morals, strengths, and integrities, there would have been no need for arguing. I could quietly have stated them, relying on my emotional strength. By the time I learned to do this, however, I had been out of the marriage and sober for about 8 years.

I also found that by being strong in what I stand for, my self-confidence and self-respect increased tremendously. I feel good about myself, which leads me to feel good about you, which allows me to treat you with great kindness and respect. See how this works when we are feeling good about ourselves? It is of benefit to others, as well as ourselves.


You, too, can gain this level of feeling confidence, respect, and peace. Start by doing an evaluation of your morals, truths, and integrities. List out all that you currently believe, as well as how you would like to believe from here-on-in. Ask your Source for help in incorporating these points into your life. Ask for the courage to live them, to be strong with them in your being. Ask for the fear of standing in who you are to be removed. 


If you encounter resistance or ridicule, bullying or criticism from others, perhaps it is time to move away from those relationships, as they are not in your best interest. Try to hang out with people who pull you up, not put your down, those who applaud your emotional strength.


When you are responsible for yourself in this way, you have less need to drown the sorrow of your own betrayal with alcohol or drugs. You will experience a great deal of freedom and self-assurance about who you are. You will know a better feeling than you get with numbing. You will have emotional strength.

Carolyn CJ Jones

- Inspirational Speaker: "from sobriety to serenity..."
- Author and Photographer: "Opening the Gates of the Heart: A Journey of Healing"

Yoga Laughter and 'What it Does'

The impetus to develop Laughter Yoga as a business came from the impressive success of an improvised 5-minute Ice-Breaker Spot she used to turn around a Networking Session that initially had not got off the ground very well. Incentives for Laughter Yoga in Business are increased productivity, trust building, better communication, greater motivation, reduced stress, more goodwill, improved health, and a happier workforce - all leading to increased profitability.

Laughter Yoga is a group body exercise developed by Indian physician, Dr Madan Kataria. It combines eye contact, clapping and childlike playfulness with Yogic breathing - turning fake laughter into real, contagious, health-promoting laughter. As with conventional Yoga, repeated sessions reveal the true benefits.

While merely watching funnies tends to produce positive change by raising people’s mood, we can generate many more benefits by laughing actively. Even fake laughter triggers physiological and psychological benefits identical to real laughter, like stimulating the Parasympathetic Nervous System to help prevent the body from reacting to stressful thoughts. Therapeutic Laughter Yoga applications aim at

•          providing a positive experience with other people in the group thus reversing the tendency to isolation;

•          increasing self-confidence;

•          promoting emotional balance, recovery and maintenance of well-being;

•          alleviating stress, states of anxiety and depression;

•          raising individual pain threshold.

All you need for a Laughter Yoga session is a group of people willing to laugh, at least one enthusiastic person to lead the group, and a room indoors or, where and when the climate allows it, in the great outdoors.

General recommendations are to wear comfortable, loose clothing and bring water because continuous laughter for about 20 minutes dehydrates.

Mobility is not an issue when sessions are customized to specific requirements.

People experiencing severe health problems, e.g. hernias, high blood pressure, bladder problems [laughter loosens!], after recent surgery etc. are advised to check with their doctor.

Laughter Yoga is not recommended for people with epilepsy or current acute states of mania or schizophrenia. Someone experiencing a severe state of depression is unlikely to care for any joyful activity at the time and won’t feel like participating.

The time for a complete Laughter Yoga session is 40 minutes, including a relaxation period to seal in the good derived from the exercise and ground the person again in everyday routine life. Evaluation and Q&A may follow.

Look out for the opportunity to experience Laughter Yoga in a taster session; this first encounter with Laughter Yoga will help you decide whether it is ‘for you’ before booking a series of laughter sessions or joining one of the  thousands of Laughter Clubs evolving world-wide.

Laughter Yoga Expert Angie Lindenau’s background is in Education, Sales, Social Care Counseling and Psychotherapy. When Arthritis made Yoga practice increasingly more difficult, she discovered Laughter Yoga as an enjoyable alternative to stay fit, moving, and happy. Angie hasn’t looked back since she started facilitating Laughter Workshops to groups of people in community, health and business settings a number of years ago!