To contact Jamie phone 027 828 9066 or email blessedbybreath@gmail.com for details.
Jamie Chick travels internationally teaching laughter, dance, meditation and hatha yoga. He has a special approach using in depth understanding of the spiritual heart. The results are a greater sense of inner freedom, increased physical ease, sense of wellbeing, open creativity channels, boosted confidence and a truly happy smile! Become more and more alive!
Jamie’s Story
Born and bred on a family dairy farm in the North Island of New Zealand, family values were always important, even without realising that was so. As a student I was competent but always an underachiever. I never felt a part of things, more an outsider looking in. Due partly to my shy nature and low confidence I consequently always struggled a little to communicate my point of view. I had a strong pull towards things creative but lacked the ability to accept it fully, dabbling with it, even doing a degree in Art with a painting major but again without any real commitment to accept it, to put my whole self into it. I always struggled to satisfactorily answer the question “if creation can be about anything what then should it be about?” I felt unsure about myself and life in general.
The first real sniff I had of anything close to the real me was when I worked in a restaurant led by an integral and inspiring businessman, he created an environment that was positive and non-judgmental for all those who worked there. The work itself was secondary to the happiness experienced and shared and as a result many wonderful friendships were formed, true learning of a more real human interaction were learned. It was fun and dynamic and success came easily. In this environment, naturally, I became closer to my truer self. A part that we all have in us but a part many of us just float on the surface of. At this stage I was still only just underneath the surface but it was beautiful and happiness was just a natural state of being – just from heading in that direction, closer to my heart, clearer in my head. After a couple of years of enjoying the personal growth I began to feel the need to stretch my wings, and so it was I began what has now been a decade of globe trotting. As I have gone along I have slowly but surely been coming closer to what I feel is my purpose, and I have been helped greatly by mysterious coincidences and many blessings to be here writing a website about Laughter.
Almost 5 years ago I found myself moving from Japan to Spain. The one thing I really didn’t want to leave behind from my life in Japan at that stage was my Hatha Yoga practice. It was through this practise that I felt closer than ever to my truth which I best describe as an inner fullness and completeness, a real sense of contentment. So before leaving Japan I ‘googled’ Yoga with the name of the place I was headed, the first thing that came up was ‘Laughter Yoga’ – “Do you want more laughter in your life?” it asked… hey-hey, was my answer, I think we all do, right?
So about two weeks later I was in Spain, without a job and only 450 euros left to my name. The morning of the laughter yoga experience I had since signed up for was filled with a string of farcical events. The first thing; we were kicked out of our hotel – as a money saving measure we had snuck an extra person into the room but paying for just the two… So we hurriedly left our room that morning via a Taxi who was late! I grew anxious as we waited around for him to arrive… To add to my anxiety the Taxi takes us to the destination for the Laughter workshop, only to find there were two places on the Island with the same name and we were at the wrong one! The one I needed to be at was hours away, the intended laughter turned into a big frown as I felt an overwhelming sense I had missed out on something important. I didn’t even know much about it at this stage, but a big part of me was really gutted that it had all fallen apart.
Soon after I got online to email Dr Kataria, to apologise for my non-attendance. He said what you need is the trainers training. It went for a whole week though and that was a long time when you have no money and are urgently looking for a sorely needed job. As I said, I only had 450 euros to my name and that was quickly running out. Coincidentally it was also the amount of the discounted rate he had offered me for the full training! My beautiful and very supportive girlfriend of the time reassured me that she would help to support me with her savings and work and so it was I headed to the other side of the island to partake in what has become a hugely life changing experience.
I trained with 35 others from as far away as Guatemala, Israel, the UK, Italy and Spain. By the end of the week the shyness that had held me from being my self for so long was decidedly in dissolution, I felt creative, I talked to anyone without fear or inhibition and I had a deep unshakeable sense that no matter what, I was going to be OK, unconditionally OK. The jobless struggle turned into a jobless joy and although it took even more time than expected to find work and financial pressure increased daily for weeks and weeks I still felt it was all OK. The laughter had given me an ‘inner smile’. A usually stressful reaction was absent and in its place a simplicity and gratitude of just being able to be there at all.
With time the perfect job came along which set in motion many wonderful seasons of work and travel. Since then I have been continuing my Hatha Yoga Practise, even training as a Hatha Yoga teacher… but the thing that brings real joy is laughter. It is a wonderful gift for all who share it. I have taught laughter now in Spain to hundreds of people for the past years at a yoga retreat, also in Australia, and I have toured New Zealand, living out of a van and spreading the laughter at every stop. It has brought many great new friends of all backgrounds, ages and situations. Despite my age getting into my 30s I continually feel younger at heart, more healthy than I have ever been and I am still discovering many gifts that have been buried within me. To laugh is to live fully, beyond our own cleverness and limitation; it provides a magic that is freely available to us all.
Laughter AKL