8/30 ─ Games That Make People Laugh: A Workshop In Playfulness As A Life Skill (2 Days)

Posted On February 20, 2010 In Category Workshop Descriptions

Sponsored by the Association for Humanistic Psychology

Who: Bernie DeKoven (Indiana), www.deepfun.com
What: Games That Make People Laugh: A Workshop In Playfulness As A Life Skill
When: Monday 8/30, 9am-5pm + 8pm-9:30pm, Tuesday 8/31, 9am-3:00pm (12.5h contact time)
Continuing Education Credits: 12.5h for eligible people (see below)
See Price & Registration Information Here. Maximum 50 participants.

Take your Laughter Yoga Practice to the next level!

Learn tools that will extend your reach as a Laughter Yoga Professional, and provide you entree to many new venues and audiences;
Develop competencies that will allow you to bring more fun, laughter and social solidarity to your personal communities;
Expand your repertoire of laughter games for all occasions;
Give your clients tools they can use to make fun more accessible to them, their families and communities;
Master techniques that will help you serve a wider range of clients.

Laughter Games can be played with large groups, small groups, couples, adults and children. They are games that involve fantasy and creativity, games that require little or moderate physical activity.

After each game session, participants will discuss their experiences during the games, focusing in particular on moments of “deep fun” and on what they and other people did to create those moments. As their repertoire increases, participants will be asked to lead others in any game that we’ve already played or in a game they know that is of similar spirit and focus.

After their games, participants will discuss what the leaders did to help increase their access to the game, and the sheer fun of it all. In this way, we will be able to evolve principles for effective Laughter Game leadership, as well as provide participants with an opportunity to learn and practice Laughter Game leadership skills.

During this workshop, participants will:

Develop a wide repertoire of “Laughter Games” - open-ended, non-threatening, gentle games that can engage almost any audience in laughter and healthy, healing dialog
- Human value: Extend your options for sharing laughter and playfulness with all of your friends, family and community;
- Professional value: Give you tools that will significantly extend your reach as a Laughter Yoga Professional, providing you with entree into many new venues and audiences: business, healthcare, educational and community organizations.

Practice and develop skills in adapting laughter games to the communities and environments in which you are playing – you will learn how to modify Laughter Games to respond to the needs and abilities of almost any audience – large or small groups, old or young, male, female, and differently-abled.
- Human value: Extend your ability to bring laughter and fun to all your relationships, wherever you are. Further extend your ability to engage others – strangers, people of different abilities and cultures – in positive, mutually empowering, community-building experiences.
- Professional value: Help you not only engage a wider variety of clients, but also to give your clients tools that they can use to make fun more accessible to them, their families and communities, regardless of who or where they are.

Practice and develop facilitation skills in leading laughter games – You will learn how to lead Laughter Games to help almost any group become more cohesive, participants feel more involved and invested, and exercise mind and body. This session introduces a significant paradigm shift for most Laughter Leaders. Laughter Games are not led the way most Laughter Leaders work. They are facilitated rather than led, with the emphasis being on sharing leadership (co-leadership) with the group.
- Human value: You will develop skills that will allow you to bring more fun, laughter and solidarity to your self by your being able to extend those opportunities to your personal community – friends, family, neighbors, religious organizations, workplace.
- Professional value: Bring laughter and joy to a wide range of clients

The session, like the games, will be very open-ended and responsive to whatever people seem to find most valuable to their professional passions. Many of the games that will be played during the session can be found here.

Continuing Education Credits

This workshop is sponsored by the Association for Humanistic Psychology who has approved it for 12.5h of Continuing Education Credits ($20.00 per certificate) for the following professions:

National Board for Certified Counselors, for Nationally Certified Counselors;
California Board of Behavioral Sciences, for California LCSWs and MFTs;
California Board of Registered Nursing, for California Nurses;
The State of Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, for Illinois Registered Social Workers.

Faculty:

Bernie DeKoven

Bernie DeKoven has spent over 40 years developing and implementing new ways of playing for groups of all ages and sizes, from singles, couples and families to schools, communities and cities.

In his book, The Well Played Game, he voiced a philosophy of “healthy competition” that formed the core teachings of the New Games Foundation. He became co-director of the foundation, and has developed internationally successful programs in facilitating collaborative games, community events and business meetings. Bernie has designed award-winning games for Ideal Toy Company, Children’s Television Workshop, CBS Software and Mattel Toys.

Bernie earned his Master’s degree in theater from Villanova University where he received a Rockefeller Fellowship in playwriting. He is a lifetime member of The Association for the Study of Play and winner of the 2006 Iffni- Raynolds award for “outstanding achievement in the field of fun” from the North American Simulation and Gaming Association. Bernie is the author of the deepFUN.com website. He calls himself a “funsmith” because it’s the easiest way to define the last 40-plus years of his career. Read his full resume at http://www.deepfun.com/about.html

Listen to Bernie as he is interviewed by Monica Hadley on Fairfield’s KRUU radio (58:53)

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Listen to Bernie as he is interviewed by Pat Prescott on Los Angeles KTWV Radio (59:43)

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