[Caption: Participants enjoying a Laughter Workshop session hosted by Laughter Coach, Bronwyn Kilroe]

“Everything you want is because you think you will feel happier if you had it. So why don’t you go straight to feeling happy by just laughing more because laughter instantly makes you happy.” ~ Bronwyn Kilroe

This is the lesson that Cape Town’s Laughter Coach, Bronwyn Kilroe wants participants to take away from her Laughter Workshop. Based on the concept of ‘fake it till you make it’, the Laughter Workshop encourages participants to laugh ‘without intellect’ and teaches people the skills to achieve sustained hearty laughter without involving cognitive thought.

“Laughter assists with stress management, health promotion and happiness development, enabling teams to perform at high levels, maintain their composure in a crisis and take better care of their organisation, leading to long-term business success,” says Kilroe.

A Forbes study[1] indicates that for business success, laughter is an asset with happy employees reportedly being up to 50% more productive. Regine le Roux, Managing Director at Reputation Matters notes, “an organisation’s productivity and employee engagement are dimensions that we take into consideration when measuring an organisation’s reputation. Both play an important role in the overall reputation of an organisation..

“A workplace that feels fun and friendly increases team morale and engagement levels and reduces absenteeism caused by illness. Finding humour in everyday situations is an excellent antidote to stress and encourages teams to work together to ultimately contribute to the bottom line and improve the company’s overall reputation,” says le Roux

Employees are the greatest contributors to a company’s reputation and Kilroe wants to help build happy and productive teams. “I want to help people find their smiles again,” adds Kilroe. The science based methodology of the Laughter Workshop empowers teams with practical stress management techniques which can be employed at work and home.

“Seeing the transformation in the business and corporate teams I work with, before and after a Laughter Workshop is pure bliss for me,” says Kilroe. “They arrive stressed, anxious, depressed and then to see their frowns turn into smiles of joy and happiness, and to hear the roars, shrieks and chuckles whilst doing some good belly laughs together is a pure delight.”

Laughter, whether real or simulated, releases endorphins and serotonin into the bloodstream and encourages ‘real laughter’, which is hard to stop once released. These happy hormones trick the body into bypassing the intellectual system, which normally acts as a barrier to genuine laughter.

“Isn’t it funny that something as simple as laughing could be the secret ingredient to take your business’ reputation to the next level, creating a win-win scenario for the company and your colleagues’ general health. You could say that with the help of Bronwyn, you could be laughing all the way to the bank!” concludes le Roux

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/12/13/promoting-employee-happiness-benefits-everyone/#59695eb5581a