Written by Angela MacKenzie
Staff Reporter – Coquitlam NOW
Florence Rita Rickards, a certified laughter leader, teaches workshop participants the benefits of a good chuckle.
Laughter really is the best medicine, says Coquitlam resident Florence Rita Rickards. Rickards is one of eight certified laughter leaders in B.C., and is trained in the laughter therapy techniques developed by Dr. Madan Kataria, the “guru of giggling.”
Using yoga principles, Kataria gave birth to the global laughter movement in Mumbai (Bombay), India, more than 15 years ago to help his patients overcome stress.
Since then, thousands of laughter clubs have popped up in the United States, Australia, Switzerland,
Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Singapore and Malaysia.
During a typical workshop, Rickards says participants engage in laughter exercises — no jokes — that help to “reduce stress, increase respiration, increase heart rate (three to five minutes of hearty laughter is equivalent to three minutes of strenuous activity on a rowing machine), decrease high blood pressure, boost the
immune system, reduce hardening of the attitudes” and make them feel and look younger.
“People leave the workshop feeling they’ve had a workout,” Rickards says.
Demonstrating the aloha laugh, Rickards reaches for the person’s hand and says, “Aloha-ha-ha-ha.” Giggles are inevitable.
“It’s contagious,” Rickards says. “It’s kind of like enthusiasm – when someone is enthusiastic, it makes others enthusiastic.”
According to Rickards, there are four different types of laughter: the quiet laugh in someone’s head, or the “hee, hee, hee” behind the hand; the laugh that comes from the throat; the “ha, ha, ha” chest laugh; and of course, the full-out, “ho, ho, ho” belly laugh.
Laughter, Rickards says, is also the key to longevity.
“I’m going to laugh my way out of this world,” says Rickards, who has dubbed herself the Laffter Lady.
A personal and business coach, Rickards uses laughter therapy in her work to bring a smile to the faces of a broad range of age groups, from older teens to seniors.
Laughter therapy is just one way in which Rickards tries to inspire others to realize their full potential.
She recently recorded a CD, “Ignite Your Passion! Realize Your Dreams!,” on which she shares her struggles toward success in the hope they will inspire others to overcome their own obstacles.
When Rickards was a young girl, her father told her women didn’t need an education: “You’re a woman and Grade 10 is plenty for you. You’re just going to get married and have a bunch of kids anyway.”
Rickards had to set aside her dream of becoming a psychologist, and got a job as a waitress at a Greek restaurant instead.
But she would face even greater obstacles. She finally ran away from her impoverished and abusive home life, and ended up pregnant at the age of 17, standing at the door of a Salvation Army shelter.
The father of her child had deserted her, and she had no money and nowhere else to go. It was the 1960s, and pregnant, unwed teenage girls, Rickards says, were considered social outcasts. Refusing to listen to advice that she give her baby up for adoption, Rickards rented a small housekeeping room furnished with only a bed, a dresser and a hot plate.
She added a tiny crib to the room to prepare for her baby’s arrival.
“Probably one of the darkest, loneliest nights of my life came the night that I got the labour pains and went all by myself to Grace Hospital,” Rickards says.
“I still remember walking through the doors of that hospital at 3 a.m. I felt so alone, so afraid and so ashamed.”
After spending a few days in a separate maternity ward for unwed mothers, Rickards was sent home with her healthy son.
When he was three weeks old, she started work at a fish stand at the PNE, but the money she earned wasn’t enough to support them both.
After upgrading her education to a Grade 12 level, Rickards received job training through a government-sponsored program. She had a better job, but struggled to find adequate childcare, and eventually quit working to take care of her son.
On welfare, Rickards says she lived from hand-to-mouth with no food banks to help. Depressed and frustrated by her life, Rickards says she finally turned her anger at the world into resolve.
“I became determined to make a better life for my son so that he would have opportunities that I never had.”
Rickards now has more initials after her name than will fit on any business card. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from Simon Fraser University, and is a certified human resources professional, a certified vocational rehabilitation counsellor and a registered social worker.
“I’ve cried enough in my lifetime,” Rickards says. “I want to laugh.”
