"When you laugh, shift happens."
Sarah Routman
With degrees in Photography, English and a Master’s in Adult Education, I taught high school and ran two non-profits before becoming an Adjunct Leadership Instructor at the University of Minnesota and a worldwide Laughter Ambassador.
A champion of overall wellness, I inspire and motivate individuals and professionals to engage in healthy laughter for a vibrant, uplifting and transformative shift in all aspects of their lives that leads them towards better health and wellbeing.
I believe life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond. Laughter can help keep everything in perspective, and the more we practice it, the better we get at seeing things in a fresh and more light-hearted way.
Laughter Yoga is a great technique to help you laugh even when you don’t think anything is funny, don’t feel like laughing, or are especially in need of a way to make yourself feel better!
My Specialties
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Laughter Yoga (Hasayayoga)
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Laughter Yoga Leader Certifications
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Keynote Speaker
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Leadership Training
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Personal Coach
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STRENGTHFinder 2.0
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Photographer, Poet, Artist
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Laughter Doodle Coloring Book Artist
Laugh Healthy's global wellness trainer
How did I get to be GELASTIC?
I’M HARDLY WHAT YOU’D CALL A COMEDIAN. I don’t even think that many things are funny, but in 1993 when I was living on the bathroom floor of my daughter’s hospital room, I found laughter. Really.
My husband had come to visit — he was home with our other two daughters in another state. He had Jacqueline on his lap and pointed to the colorful poster on the wall. He read the words to her,“ I love' and when he got to the word YOU, he squeezed her with a delicious tickle. She squealed with laughter that I can hear as I write this. He started laughing, too. And I couldn’t help myself as I laughed with them!
Out that laughter came, peals of laughter that begged me to forget about the seriousness of her illness, the beeping machines and the hurdles we still had to overcome.
She was begging us with her giggles and belly laughs to leave the sterile walls of her hospital room and go outside to the garden. We found fresh air filled with joy — it was the place of the fairies I told her about as we walked in the garden with her sisters when they came to visit. What choice did we have? Imagination in tow, we went with her. It was truly magical.
I WAS TRANSFORMED. In that moment, I recognized something I had never noticed about laughter before. It was powerful.
I bet you didn’t know that laughter is the organic time-travel machine. It never fails. When I allow myself to revisit those moments of laughter in my mind, I’m transported back to that moment, to those howls of laughter, and we instantly land in the garden, filled with a joy and lightheartedness that is hard to describe.
My day was transformed, and my relationship to laughter would never be the same, though I didn’t know it yet. Jacqueline, sadly, did not live to see her second birthday.
We did a lot of laughing together despite her illness, but it could only make the moments magical, not take her illness away.
Finding my PASSION
FAST FORWARD MANY YEARS LATER. I’d been looking for that laughter. It’s not that I hadn’t laughed since then. But it wasn’t easy. I kept my antennas up for the magic that Jacqueline had shown me was possible.
My older daughter’s friend had just become a Laughter Yoga leader. She invited me to support her by attending a session, and so, of course, I went. I had no idea what to expect. I found myself among 40 strangers. We were told to laugh on purpose. What? We all felt uncertain and awkward, but with Molly’s expert guidance through some laughter games, soon, we let our guard down and laughter began to flow. Forced at first, but before long, not only did it somehow become real, we couldn’t stop laughing!
Forty-five minutes later, as I walked to my car, I knew I’d just found magic. The magic of laughter. And I knew I needed to share it.
Since becoming a certified Laughter Yoga leader and teacher, I’ve learned a lot more about the science behind laughter. I’ve let it evolve and grown with it, discovering it’s even more powerful and more compelling than I ever knew.
Let me share it with you. It will change your life. I’m sure of it.
‘Laughter is an instant vacation’, that can cleanse you. As the Yiddish Proverb says, ‘What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.’ -- Milton Berle
What I do for FUN
Walking with my camera
One of my favorite things to do is walk. Always with a camera in my hand, I can get lost for hours being outside in any season and appreciating the wonders of nature through my camera lens.
Traveling to foreign countries and tasting local foods
I love to travel and have been to over 22 countries. Trying the local food is always fun and seeing a place through the eyes of the people who live there is a wonderful experience.
Click image to view Sarah's Photos
Searching for the best chocolate chip cookies
I’m a big fan of chocolate chip cookies and am always on the search for the best ones available. Do you have a favorite recipe or brand? Please share it with me.
Playing with acrylic paint
My most recent passion is playing with acrylic paint – pouring. I’ve been painting on all sorts of things – tea bags, discarded CD covers and even old records. Any creative outlet intrigues me and I have fun exploring new things and sharing what I create.
Click image to view Sarah's Art
Spending time with friends and family
I love being with friends and family especially when everyone brings a favorite dish to share and we play two truths and a lie. Life is short, so I make a point to make every day amazing. It’s always fun to see what lies around the next corner. Finding or making fun is part of what keeps me young.