Tag-Archive for » Healing Humor «

AHeart4Clowning TalkRadio Show Encore: All This Fun Takes Training and Preparation!

A real blast from the past on AHeart4Clowning TalkRadio Show! Encore presentation of our all-time MOST popular broadcast — ENJOY!

From our very first broadcast season, Becky Cortino explains:

  • Need for training and continuing education for all
  • Different levels of proficiency, to gear necessary training
  • Types of training, to make any training program more effective

Listen to internet radio with A Heart 4 Clowning on Blog Talk Radio

 

SHOW NOTES:

The Healing Humor Program discussed in this show is now available as an online multi-media program. For more details and to enroll, click here: Healing Humor: Live Happy – Be Healthy

Online Training and Mentorship Programs and lots of Resources are available via AHeart4Clowning.com. For more information about programs and resources, click this link: Training from the Heart

 

You’re invited to receive our FREE Hospital Clown/Healthcare Family Entertainer/Applied Humor Therapist/SmileMaker e-Newsletter… by signing up to receive FREE Hospital Clown e-Newsletter (click on this link here)

Top 10 Most Popular AHeart4Clowning 2011 Articles


AHeart4Clowning.com Readers Top 10 2011 Article List!

AHeart4Clowning.com Readers Top 10 2011 Article List!

  1. TIP: How to Promote Your Hospital Clown Group Quickly, Easily at Little Cost
  2. Laguna Woods Caring Clown Senior Clown Alley Entertain Children of All Ages, with Heart
  3. Fun Hospital Clown Musical Stethoscope Idea
  4. Most Memorable Clown Moment: “Robbo’s” Humanitarian Clown Trip with Patch Adams to Russia
  5. The True Heart of a Clown
  6. A Heart 4 Sharing Humor Through Clowning, Interview with Kathy “Piccolo” Keaton
  7. Hearts and Noses Clown Troupe
  8. Hospital Clown Caring Clown and Healthcare Family Entertainer Performing for Children of All Ages
  9. Top 6 Hospital Caring Clown Healthcare Entertainer Training Articles/Resources
  10. Therapeutic Clowning Heals with Laughter: Jumpa and Sparkles At the Alberta Children’s Hospital

 

>>>5 Related articles you might find helpful on Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting, are listed below this blog post (click on the title of this article, if you don’t see topics listed below)…

>>>You’re invited to receive our FREE Hospital Clown/Healthcare Family Entertainer/Applied Humor Therapist/SmileMaker e-Newsletter… by signing up to receive FREE Hospital Clown e-Newsletter (click on this link here)

>>>AHeart4Clowning Books and MultiMedia Programs, click this link AHeart4Clowning Books and MultiMedia 

 

Hospital Humor Programs: Healthcare Professionals Need to Take Time Out for FUN, too!
Click here for MORE: Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting

Click here for MORE: Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting

We all know the work that goes on in the healthcare setting, the conditions all efforts seek to care for, are serious business.  Long hours and highly-stressful situations greatly compound on-the-job pressures.

This is why injecting Healing Humor in the healthcare setting is essential for healthcare professionals, as well as for the patients.

Not unlike the health and immune system-boosting benefits of humor for patients, healthcare professionals also benefit in similar ways.

 

Here are a few reasons why it’s important for healthcare professionals to take out a little time for fun during their day, and some implementation strategies…

 

On-the-job Benefits of Humor:

  • Resilience for dealing with the minute-by-minute occurrences, boosting care quality
  • Maintain a clearer perspective, with an increased sense of control
  • Positive attitude to frame up daily events and activities, lessening the feeling of burnout

 

A handy-dandy Humor “Tool Kit” for every healthcare professional to be kept close by at all times, that’s waaaay easy-peasy to use:

  1. Discover your own brand of humor, and treat everyone with generous doses of FUN
  2. Look for the existing humor in everyday… Laugh!
  3. Learn to laugh at yourself!

 

How to administer this Healing Humor in the healthcare setting?!

  • If there is an established Humor Program in your facility (we hope so!), make use of it, and enjoy it! If folks come around to share some smiles and jokes — play along!
  • Establish some strategies to share humor and smiles with others that work for you: telling jokes, wordplay, something FUN
  • If there is NO established Humor Program in your place of work — SERIOUSLY — do something about that! Click link (here) for: Recommended Resources

 

FROM: Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting for Healthcare Professionals, presented by Becky Cortino

 

>>>5 Related articles you might find helpful on Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting, are listed below this blog post (click on the title of this article, if you don’t see topics listed below)…

>>>You’re invited to receive our FREE Hospital Clown/Healthcare Family Entertainer/Applied Humor Therapist/SmileMaker e-Newsletter… by signing up to receive FREE Hospital Clown e-Newsletter (click on this link here)

>>>NEW: Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting: Entertaining Effectively in the Healthcare Venue: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/injecting-healing-humor-in-the-healthcare-setting/17288626

Dr. Steven Eisenberg: Music Therapy and Humor Helps Cancer Patients

Dr. Steven Eisenberg specializes in Medical Oncology and Hematology, is a strong proponent of using music therapy and humor, as part of helping his patients…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If video player doesn’t work, view vid by clicking this link: Music Therapy w/Onologist Steven Eisenberg: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41743465/vp/43793404/

 

 

Dr. Eisenberg is founder of EnlightenMed, LLC: http://enlightenmed.com/

Lyrical Life: Healing through Connection, also established by Dr. Eisenberg: http://www.lyricallife.org/

Watch for upcoming interview on AHeart4Clowning TalkRadio!

>>>5 Related articles you might find helpful on Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting, are listed below this blog post (click on the title of this article, if you don’t see topics listed below)…

>>>You’re invited to receive our FREE Hospital Clown/Healthcare Family Entertainer/Applied Humor Therapist/SmileMaker e-Newsletter… by signing up to receive FREE Hospital Clown e-Newsletter (click on this link here)

AHeart4Clowning Books for Hospital Clowns and Healthcare Family Entertainers

Our AHeart4Clowning “Books and MultiMedia” page has been redesigned, to make browsing easier, with our ever-growing collection!

Click here for More about Injecting Healing Humor...

When you click-through the links provided on our page, you will get more details about the books, be able to make your selection, and purchase directly from our Publisher.

 

TIPs:

>>>When you arrive on the Publisher’s book site, be sure to note any delivery advisories (in the case of Holiday Deliveries as an example), for your planning purposes.

>>>From time to time, our Publisher also offers special promotions like: “FREE Ground Shipping” for orders (specifics vary), or offers a “Special” or Coupon CODE for a particular promotion. While on the Publisher’s book site, if you click on their logo (in upper left corner), you will be taken to the main page, where any current special promotional details are listed (as available). These special offers are random, varied, not ongoing, and not under our control — but when we have enough advance notice about them, we will let you know by sharing the information.

Thank you for your interest in our books — Happy Reading!

To see our Books and MultiMedia Programs, click this link AHeart4Clowning “Books and MultiMedia” page

ThanksLiving: All in How You View It
Happy ThanksLiving!

Happy ThanksLiving!

At this time of the year, grateful hearts often turn inward to reflect on the days and years past, with thankfulness for many things that have transpired in the journey that got them to the arrival point called today...

I too, am thankful for so many wonderful things, but also thankful for things that while not as I would have liked — positively paved the way, shaped, and affirmed the direction and perspective of my work. These influences trained me up in the way not to go — most likely, in the opposite direction (as inferred) — but in the right direction, for me.

Daily, I am thankful for those who provided excellent and inspiring training. For those who allowed me to do the work that I knew I was destined to do — and did — and still do. Granted there aren’t a lot of folks who fall into this category, but thankfully there are fewer who were actually not supportive.

But I am sincerely thankful for those who were persistently not supportive of this work, of my unwavering Grassroots Perspective, and heartfelt desire to freely encourage and inspire as many folks as possible to engage in this wonderful work that only looks like play, from Day One. Were it not for you, perhaps I might have otherwise stopped my quest to learn and be so much more than I was (I never stopped trying), and to share my experiences with others, to help them.

Had you not so influenced me early-on, I might not have otherwise made such a big deal about spreading the Truth that all of this is really NOT “Rocket Science.” I might not have actually gone to such great lengths, and spent tireless hours to show those who were hungry to know more.

Had you not made it all seem like it was such a big, exclusive Secret that only the real Insiders could know and do, and if I — and all the others — were lucky enough, maybe we too could share the inner sanctum with you. Maybe I could have become mesmerized with the possibility. Perhaps I then would have just waited for that day ever to come. “Waiting” would have kept me too busy, preoccupied for anything else.

Then, I probably never would have written my first book, or my second book, or my third book, or my 4 online training programs, or established Humor-Bit TV or AHeart4Clowning TalkRadio, along with maintaining a half-dozen websites about Healing Humor, reaching so many, with encouraging messages and inspiring information they need to hear and want to know. 245 hospital clowns would not have received L-I-V-E training from a caring heart. The world would be a bleaker place, without the Miles of Funny Smiles now encircling it. If I believed at all in luck, and was anxious to be inducted into your inner sanctum, probably I would be waiting, still

Had you not stressed your rigid requirement that all things fit neatly into a One-Size-Fits-All Approach, and I totally accepted that myth as fact, I might have never have realized the truth that One Size never fits all actually needed to be amplified far and wide — and so I did just that. “One Size” never works, especially in relationships, or in effectively injecting Healing Humor in healthcare. Afterall, that’s what we exist to do…

Your teaching helped me to understand the Truths that needed to be presented, so more hearts could be touched by compassionate others;  more healthcare Humor Programs could be established, and improved. That’s what it’s all about, for me. I knew it was the Right Thing to do.

So thank you, my Naysayers of Days Gone By. I appreciate the fact that you challenged me! I whole-heartedly accepted that challenge. Had you not influenced me in the ways you did, and I did not feel compelled to run with this, we would not be having this conversation today.

Because of your influence, armed with unfaltering dedication, and a very clear understanding of my purpose, we made a positive impact in this world during the last 8 years! 


But wait! There’s more…

 

Laughter Yoga: Free of Reason and Laughing for the Health of It!

Great video-explanation of Laughter Yoga, from the Laguna Laughter Club!

MORE: The Laughter Yoga Institute (To read more, click here)

From the Heart: Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting – Now an eBook!

While it is said the longest journey begins with a single step, the adventures of a hospital or caring clown into the Great Clown Unknown may comprise the most incredible experience of a lifetime, in every step taken by those funny shoes and in the true heart behind that nose. This book is written based upon personal experience, explorations and interest-directed research serving in the trenches, as a hospital or caring clown since 1997.

Presented as an inspiring collage from my clown heart as a grassroots volunteer community-based hospital clown creative ministry coordinator, this book is well-seasoned with insight, served up with the purpose of providing a dose of encouragement to active healthcare venue performers and creative arts entertainers; those with a heartfelt desire to inject healing humor into the healthcare setting; or those simply interested in taking a peek into the joy-full existence, a part of the blessed journey of hospital/caring clowns and creative arts family entertainers!

 

The Print Edition of From the Heart: Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting (the basis of this eBook), was one of my 2 books selected by my publisher to be featured on the Amazon.com Marketplace.

NOTE: If above “preview” feature doesn’t work, click this link to preview book on our Publisher’s site: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/from-the-heart-injecting-healing-humor-in-the-healthcare-setting/4475595

This eBook is available in Adobe PDF (format) – Adobe Digital Editions

 

5 Related articles you might find helpful on Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting, are listed below this blog post (click on the title of this article, if you don’t see topics listed below)…

You’re invited to receive our FREE Hospital Clown/Healthcare Family Entertainer/Applied Humor Therapist/SmileMaker e-Newsletter… by signing up to receive FREE Hospital Clown e-Newsletter (click on this link here)

What Happens: When a Hospital or Healthcare Facility Disbands a Humor Program?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 That’s right! Absolutely NOTHING… and it’s pretty drab, boring, downright cheerless, and probably depressing — for everyone. Don’t let this happen! Add color, smiles and cheer to the healthcare setting near you — TODAY.

“Healing Humor is NOT a Band Aid — it’s a Way of Life.

It’s for EveryBuddy!” ~ Becky Cortino

REMEMBER: A Smile is a terrible thing to waste.

===

Resources and other Great Stuff to help you:

5 Related articles you might find helpful are listed below this blog post (click on the title of this article, if you don’t see topics listed below)…

—-AND—-

Resources – Guides on: How to Establish a Hospital Clown or Healthcare Family Entertainer Group, and Entertaining in the Healthcare Setting, click this linked text (here)

—-AND—-

You’re invited to receive our FREE Hospital Clown/Healthcare Family Entertainer/Applied Humor Therapist/SmileMaker e-Newsletter… by signing up to receive FREE Hospital Clown e-Newsletter (click on this link here)

Share Miles of Smiles: Funny Smilemakerz Kit for Smiles on a Stick and Endless Smiles

Think Not: My Way or the Highway?!
My Road or the Highway?! Entertaining Effectively in the Healthcare Setting...

My Road or the Highway?! Entertaining Effectively in the Healthcare Setting...

I would suppose from the other side of the clown nose, in the healthcare setting, things look a little differently than as to those of us entertaining children of all ages, behind the world’s tiniest mask, as a hospital clown.

Now as I think about it, probably it also seems counter-intuitive that we are in fact performing as a family entertainer, sharing laughter, cheer and applying generous doses of humor wherever our meandering trail leads us that day in the hospital or healthcare setting, in the midst of all the sickness, sadness, uncertainty and death.

Ahhhhh! Such is the divinely topsy-turvy world of the hospital clown, caring clown, healthcare family entertainer! How perfect a setting, especially due to the very nature of the clown, where inside-out, upside-down, and what is — in actuality — is quite apparently not. See…?!

 

“Flexibility” is the name of The Game, as those clown shoes meander into each room and public space of the hosting facility:

  • Each situation encountered is always entirely different from the last or the next, making profuse applications of “Improv” absolutely essential. (Expect this and you won’t be so surprised lol)
  • With varying patient’s conditions and ongoing staff intervention of treatments and procedures, it is not always possible to complete each schtick or sight gag performance in its entirety. (Remain flexible, and you won’t disappoint.)
  • Procedures and policies change, and new ones are often implemented, changing things-up for hospital clowns and healthcare family entertainers. (Deal with it — roll with the changes.)
  • It is not appropriate for the hospital clown, caring clown or healthcare family entertainer to set about their work that looks like play with a mind only focused on their “work.” The true goal or mission of what they’re about isn’t really the ‘work’ at all — it’s all about the audience. (Keep the audience in focus, always in mind, as you entertain.)

 

We know it is said “For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required,” and truer than true this could not be, for those of us so blessed with the privilege of spreading goodhearted laughter, cheer and Joy in the hospital or healthcare setting.

In the process of what we do, we are often allowed into a space where few are allowed or tread. That is hallowed ground indeed, where we cast away all that is, ignore our cares and fears, leading those who we meet right there to a place of Joy and Wonder of what might be — could be — is.

 

All very counterintuitive, you might think?

Thinking not: it all depends upon your perspective.

5 Related articles you might find helpful are listed below this blog post (click on the title of this article, if you don’t see topics listed below)…

NEWly-published book especially for Hospital Clowns, Caring Clowns, Healthcare Family Entertainers, Applied Humor Therapists and SmileMakers, about entertaining in the healthcare setting (click on this linked text): Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting: Entertaining Effectively in the Healthcare Venue

You’re invited to receive our FREE Hospital Clown/Healthcare Family Entertainer/Applied Humor Therapist/SmileMaker e-Newsletter… by signing up to receive FREE Hospital Clown e-Newsletter (click on this link here)

 

Last Call: Clown Soup and Healing Humor
Click here for More: Clown Soup + Healing Humor!

Click here for More: Clown Soup + Healing Humor!

Now serving up the last round of “Clown Soup” best practices hospital clown training video program and “Healing Humor: Live Happy-Be Healthy” audio program!

These 2 popular programs will no longer be available (in their current form) after October 14, 2011

Unfortunately, our supplier will not be providing the services we’ve  enjoyed in producing these video and audio products.

Although we  plan to offer these products in a new presentation in the future, nothing is set at this time…

If you would like to have these physical products to use and enjoy, we highly recommend snagging your copy now!

Click here for a Last Serving of: Clown Soup!

Click here for a Last Serving of: Clown Soup!

There’s a Clown in My Soup! “Best Practices” Video Training Program 21 Key Questions Every Healthcare Family Entertainer should be able to answer… There’s a Clown in My Soup is a ‘Best Practices’ EduTrainment Clown Rounds module especially for hospital/caring clowns and healthcare family entertainers. Presented to integrate universal concepts for performers in the healthcare venue, this program makes effective learning enjoyable in a fresh, fun and new, memorable way. Details are included for registering product purchase to receive “Clown Soup” Facilitator Guide, Participant Question Booklet and corresponding Answer Sheet for this training program.

Click this linked text for: a last serving of Clown Soup (Video Training Program)

 

 

Healing Humor: Live Happy-Be Healthy (Audio Program CD)

Click here for Last Serving of Healing Humor (Audio CD)

Click here for Last Serving of: Healing Humor (Audio CD)

The world is growing increasingly gray; the need for humor in daily life is paramount… Recognizing the need for humor in the everyday and seeking out ways to enhance your life by adding your own special blend of humorous ingredients offers health-boosting benefits, as well as making your world brighter! This audio program discusses the world’s growing need for Healing Humor and how to apply its simple principles to live a happy and healthy life. Healing Humor is for EveryBuddy! No specific claims or promises as related to health, well-being, healing or financial wealth, but research findings and ideas are presented to inspire and encourage you make your life and the world brighter! Written and recorded by author Becky Cortino, based on her forays into the world of holistic humor and Applied Humor Therapy experience since 1997. To Encourage & Inspire Touching Hearts thru the Arts!(TM) AHeart4Clowning.com

Click this linked text for: a last-call serving of “Healing Humor: Live Happy-Be Healthy (Audio Program CD)

 

Starting October 15th our Menu of Products changes!

Clown Soup and Healing Humor will not be served in quite the same way — we’ll stir up the pot and dish it out a little differently…

We will continue to support and encourage you and those in the trenches, with new recipes!

Know someone who might be interested? Please share this with them! We appreciate your referrals and support. Thank you!

MORE: About all AHeart4Clowning Books and MultiMedia currently available (click on this link here)

NEW Book! Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting: Entertaining Effectively in the Healthcare Venue

The newest work published by A Heart 4 Clowning Press, is a book especially for Hospital Clowns, Healthcare Family Entertainers, Applied Humor Therapists, and SmileMakers on the topic of entertaining effectively in the healthcare setting, written by Becky Cortino.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Click here for more: "Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting: Entertaining Effectively in the Healthcare Venue"

Click here for more about: "Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting: Entertaining Effectively in the Healthcare Venue"


“I’ve written this book to encourage those in the trenches, wanting to dispense generous doses of Healing Humor through performance in the healthcare venue,” the author said.

The third book in the AHeart4Clowning series, formatting of this guide is slightly different from the others. While topically-presented, versus traditional chapters, Becky describes it as “written like a conversation, inviting the reader’s participation. It is not intended to be an exhaustive resource of entertaining bits, but rather savvy solutions and ideas for active Healing Humor performers in healthcare wanting to be more effective.”

Written from the grassroots perspective of a volunteer and coordinator of what is believed to be one of the oldest all-volunteer hospital clown/family entertainer groups, this guide is based on Becky’s hands-on experience as a Hospital Clown and Applied Humor Therapist beginning in 1997. It is the second book in the “Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting” series.

This book includes material Becky has written and presented in 10 consecutive training programs since 2004, training 245 hospital clowns and healthcare family entertainers (at this writing) in service at other healthcare facilities as well as her own group, those performing in other states, regions and countries.

 Included in this inspiring guide are:

  • Pointers and Tips for Entertaining in the Healthcare Setting
  • Inspirations and Ideas for Putting Your Best Foot Forward
  • Actionable Steps to be an Effective Healthcare Family Entertainer
  • Journaling and List-keeping Section
  • Special Reader BONUS Gifts ($45 Value)

 

For more information and to purchase: Injecting Healing Humor in the Healthcare Setting: Entertaining Effectively in the Healthcare Venue guide, click this linked text (here)