Wearing heels, masks and.. books?

"Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine."

Lord Byron

On Wednesday, we had three workshops: laughter yoga, etiquette and massage therapy, all of which were very enjoyable. We were exhausted after our trip to Carlingford (find out more about that on my last post: "Tunnel Vision"), and were in good need of some relaxation, so it was great that we had Massage therapy first, and gave each other neck and head massages, although at one point I was so relaxed I found it hard to keep my eyes open... (I did though, I promise ;) ). 

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After that, we had an etiquette workshop and learnt about deportment (basically walking in heels with books on our heads!), what to wear for work experience and what suits our various body shapes. They showed us the new dove campaign, which shows that all body shapes are perfect, and I think its really important that people know that. It must have been funny for Brenda and Kate to watch us all with books on our heads!

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The last workshop was laughter yoga with denise, which was good for relieving stress. We had to put on masks and laugh at each other basically. She told us that when you laugh, all you focus on is laughing and you forget whatever is on your mind for that brief moment, which I think is amazing. That is the psychology behind laughter yoga. Dr. Kataria discovered that if you laugh for no reason, it then turns into real laughter and can relieve stress. A study has shown that adults laugh about 17 times in a day, whereas children laugh about 400 times a day. I'd say I'd laugh nearly as often as a child, which is a good thing I think.

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Until next time,

Lauren 

Workshops, Wigs and Minions

Since I posted on Tuesday, I have been really busy. We have come up with Junk Kouture ideas, planned our Mini Company, done our fitness test and three workshops. Phew! Every Wednesday that we don't have work experience, we have workshops or we go on a trip. This Wednesday, we had three workshops and the first was about social development. We were taught how to behave in a confident manner, even when we feel a bit nervous. These skills should help in the coming weeks when we begin work experience and need to step outside our comfort zones and into the world of work. 

The second workshop was about reflexology, massage therapy and relaxation. It involved a lot of pair work and I think we got the hang of the massage after a while. Although this would not be everyone's cup of tea, it was a worthwhile experience and I think its fair to say we were all rather relaxed afterwards. 

We had great fun a the positive party, with sweets, dancing, joking and having a really good time. I think it was a really good icebreaker for our class to get to know each other. Some of the girls dressed up in wigs and acted as a famous band! It was great craic and left everyone in a great mood. In the spirit of the positive party, here's a feel good song Mrs L showed us, and it gave us all a great laugh so enjoy!