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Laughter is contagious
A little
audience participation, and soon the Tavern by the Sea was rolling with
laughter. Sam says, “The ultimate objective is to bring good health, joy and
world peace through laughter.”
One would think there was a lot of merriment at the April
3, 2011 meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club at Amari’s Tavern by the Sea
Restaurant from the loud laughter spreading out onto Beach Road. But, was it
real or faked? Does the body know the difference? Why was everybody
laughing?
This
guy’s a hoot! And he didn’t even have to crack any Caucasian jokes! Sukhbir
Singh Sethi (otherwise known as Sam) told PCEC members about laughter clubs,
and the benefits to be derived from “laughter yoga.”
It was because the Club’s guest speaker Sam (Sukhbir
Singh Sethi) was telling everyone about laughter clubs and the benefits to
be derived from “laughter yoga.” Sam said laughter yoga started in India
when Dr. Madan Kataria, an Indian physician from Mumbai, started the first
laughter club in a park in March of 1995, with just 5 people in attendance.
Today, he said, it has become a worldwide phenomenon with more than 6,000
social laughter clubs in 60 countries. Laughter yoga combines unconditional
laughter with yogic breathing (Pranayama).
Sam said that anyone can laugh for no reason, without
relying on humor, jokes or comedy. Laughter is simulated as a body exercise
in a group but with eye contact and childlike playfulness, it soon turns
into real and contagious laughter.
MC
Roger Fox updates all on coming activities for Pattaya, and concludes with
the usual warnings for Songkran.
The concept of laughter yoga is based on a scientific
fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter. He
said that one gets the same physiological and psychological benefits whether
real or faked. The ultimate objective is to bring good health, joy and world
peace through laughter.
Laughter is universal with no language and cultural
barriers. Laughter yoga clubs are fast developing into a worldwide community
of like-minded people who believe in unconditional love, laughter and
fellowship.
A further benefit is it reduces stress. Clinical research
on laughter yoga methods conducted at the University of Graz in Austria, in
Bangalore (India) as well as in the United States has shown that laughter
lowers the level of stress hormones (epinephrine, cortisol, etc.) in the
blood. It fosters a positive and hopeful attitude. One is less likely to
succumb to stress and feelings of depression and helplessness if one is able
to laugh away their troubles.
Laughter yoga is beneficial to all groups and in all
circumstances. It is being used by businesses, by cancer hospitals, and even
by prisons. Sam said that one minute of hearty laughter burns the same
number of calories as one hour of physical exercise.
At this point, Sam invited everyone to join him in a
series of exercises and not to be shy, but to join in. Several joined Sam in
the front and others formed groups around the room. He started by having
everyone clap to a rhythm and while doing the clapping to say out loud in
the same rhythm, “ho ho ha ha ha.” This was followed by a breathing exercise
where everyone raised their arms - breathing in, and then lowered them -
breathing out.
This was repeated several times then followed with Sam
asking everyone to greet their neighbor as they would normally such as by
shaking hands. But, at the same time, they were to laugh out loud. With this
beginning, Sam followed with several similar exercises involving going
through certain motions while laughing out loud such as making a milk shake
or talking on a mobile telephone.
The exercises were periodically interrupted to perform
the breathing exercises. The loud laughter came to an end when Sam asked
everyone to sit down, close their eyes, and concentrate on a part of their
body and then follow a path through other parts. Upon conclusion of this
meditation, everyone agreed that it was quite an experience and they did
feel better.
Master of Ceremonies Roger Fox then updated everyone on
upcoming events and called on David Meador to conduct the Open Forum, which
is always informative and often humorous; where questions are asked and
answered about living in Thailand, Pattaya in particular.
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Alois Wine Dinner - no April Fool!
Dr. Iain Corness
Friday April 1 was more than just April Fool’s Day for some
of the gourmets in Pattaya, as they descended en-masse to the Alois Restaurant
and Wine Bar for a Wine Dinner.
Natthachai
Chaiyaprom of BNK Pattaya Wine Gallery sponsored the wines.
With the wines sponsored by Natthachai Chaiyaprom of BNK
Pattaya Wine Gallery, and the Alois kitchen brigade on high alert, it showed
much promise, and indeed there was no disappointment registered by the end of
the function.
The cocktail wine was an Italian Pinot Chardonnay, “Extra
Dry”. Made from 100 percent Pinot Chardonnay grapes, it was certainly dry, but a
pleasant start to the evening.
The first course was a crispy duck with a bean
sprout/capsicum salad and Balsamico dressing, and although well presented, I
felt the Balsamico overpowered the duck. The wine was a Margaret River West
Australian Barwick Estate Chardonnay 2007, which was very popular, with many
requests for another glass, always the yardstick for popularity.
Delicious
Norwegian salmon.
The following course was a Norwegian salmon dish teamed with
a Chilean Gewurztraminer “Malvilla” 2009, which had people talking before it was
even poured, with everyone expecting the sweet, fruity wines that Gewurztraminer
tends to be. Amazingly, this wine was not sweet at all, and blended very well
with the delicately flavored salmon in the saffron cream sauce.
The main course was a very tender grilled Australian beef
tenderloin, which was accompanied by a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere
Reserva 2004. Lacking a little in ‘nose’, it, however, washed the steak down in
fine form, and noticeably improved as far as the aroma was concerned after 10
minutes of sitting after pouring.
For the next course, a baked Gorgonzola dish, the wine chosen
was an Argentine Malbec Dulce Natural “Jean Bousquet” 2009. Sampling the wine,
everyone said “Oh, this is a little sweet.” However, when the Gorgonzola
arrived, this was a perfect match with the sweetness of the wine contrasting
with the sharpness of the cheese. Brilliant!
The final course was a parfait and the dessert wine chosen to
go with this was a French Abeillon Muscat Moelleux 2005, a light wine to just
clean the palate following the Almond and Zabaglione parfait.
At B. 1,900 net, this was an excellent value for money
evening, and the combination of the Argentine Malbec and the baked Gorgonzola
cheese had everyone talking well into the night. In my opinion, the wine of the
night and the dish of the night.
The only sad part for me came from the question posed by a
young man from a TV media group at our table who asked if “Alois” came from the
Thai word “Aroy (aloy)” because the food was good. When I asked him had he never
heard of “Mr. Pattaya” Alois X Fassbind, he admitted he had not. After a short
lecture he was appraised of the reasons behind the name, but I was left with the
sadness that only age can bring. There was much talk after Fassbind’s death of a
statue, or naming a street or a park. We should not let the past deeds of men
such as Alois X Fassbind be forgotten - but it is obvious we have.
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Hard Rock staff rocks hard
themselves for an evening
Hard
Rock GM Gorge Carlos Smith (right) presents the Manager of the Year award to
Joseph Gee Hin Fook at the Hard Rock’s annual staff party.
Pratchaya Kerdthong
The staff of the Hard Rock Hotel took a night off from
hosting musical extravaganzas to enjoy music and good times themselves as
management threw its annual dinner and dance party.
General Manager Jorge Carlos Smith and Hard Rock Cafe
Manager Matt Carley hosted the staff party, which included drawings for
100,000 baht in prizes.
Smith said the annual party rewards staff members for
another year of hard work and is good for morale.
The theme for the evening was that of an “old time fair”
that emphasized period costumes and folk games. Costumes were judged in four
categories and awards for work performed were handed out as well. Prizes
included a notebook computer.
Of course, there were copious amounts of Asian, European,
Mexican and Japanese food and beverages for all. Employees also put on a
half-dozen shows to entertainment their co-workers.
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