I am Lotte; I pronounce it Lottie, so it is easy in English. Otherwise, people call me Lott, who is more of a boy’s name. Native Danish girl living in the UK for over 23 years. My background comes from years in corporate technology companies, which, in a way, seems an ancient memory now, but it really is what inspired me to start my own business after moving from Denmark to the UK. I first experienced Laughter Yoga in Copenhagen when World Laughter Day happened for the first time on a Sunday in January 2000, and almost 10,000 people got together to laugh. I was gobsmacked when I arrived there because I thought I was going to a friend’s little gathering of friends and family. It changed my mind about certain things in my life and I knew I wanted to share laughter. With my corporate background, I understand the stress and pressure people on all levels in any organization may feel at times, so I want to share these empowering practices with the world. During all these years, my daughter has been incredibly supportive, and although we all have our moments when life is not particularly fun, I know laughter has got us through serious matters.
Lotte Mikkelsen, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer
What inspired you to start UnitedMind Ltd., and how has the journey evolved since its inception?
I felt inspired at that moment on that first Sunday in January 2000, and when I moved to the UK the following year, this was still on my mind. Sometimes things take time, though, and with my family and a ‘normal’ job, I was trying to work it out. This country, the UK, is an amazing place for learning skills that are, let’s say, a bit different from business skills and left-brained learning, so when I was looking for laughter training, which was not available in the UK at the time, I found things like Reiki, Crystal Healing, Reflexology, and many other practices I learned. But I wanted to share laughter, and in the end, I had the thought that at some point in history, someone started without training for any practice, so I started with the mentoring of my friend in Denmark and connecting to the Founder, Dr. Madan Kataria, who told me to read his books and watch his videos.
How do you see the role of laughter therapy impacting mental health in today's world?
I don’t mean to say that laughter solves everything, but it really helps to distance from challenges and go for solving them from a different angle. and with this in mind I honestly believe that if we all took ourselves and life a bit less seriously, we could find solutions instead of often looking at the hurdles and problems of life. Laughing does not remove the obstacles, but it really does help looking at things with perspective and a can-do attitude.
In terms of our mental health, there are many influencers and trends that cause mental health to be on a decline, and laughter can help us create a way of accessing our own ability to move forward and our resilience. Laughter therapy is about empowering us all to play with the pain we all experience at times, even if it seems unimaginable.
What do you believe sets your approach apart from other mental health and wellness services?
For me, it is quite simple: we can all laugh, we bring it with us into the world when we arrive, and even if we sometimes forget, laughter is easy. There is no need for additional equipment or methods to memorise, all you do is say ‘hahaha’ and the rest will follow. The workshops and training I run are interactive and fun, they develop emotional intelligence and connection with other people as well as create great physical, mental, and emotional health along with a real sense of belonging.
How do you tailor your laughter workshops to meet the needs of different groups or individuals?
When I speak with potential clients, it is important for me to understand the requirements for the specific workshop they are asking me to facilitate. I tailor the workshop for the specific group of people and the organisation, so they have a special experience. It is important to understand the theme for the session and if there are any challenges the team, I am working with, is facing, so I can bring so moments of laughter that are relevant into the session. I must add though, that in my experience it is the activities with laughter that are most important even if the brief introduction is great, too, people are there to laugh, that is certain.
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
My greatest achievement so far? Well, a few moments jump to mind. When I had been diagnosed with MS in 2008, I started The Telephone Laughter Club where we started laughing every day at 7:00am to 7:10am to counteract the effects of stress, which is one of the key reasons people experience deteriorating health, not just in MS but many serious illnesses. So instead of taking medication I laughed to stop relapses and poor health, and I still do this every morning and still with no medication. To be honest, I count my blessings every day because I know how quickly things can change. Another moment would be becoming the Laughter Yoga Master Trainer in the UK back in 2012, it gave me the opportunity to share laughter much wider because it enabled me to train Laughter Yoga Teacher who could then go and train instructors who then shared laughter with others. I think one moment I really cherish, because it is my own creation through and through, although based on existing theories, was bringing Laughter Therapist Training to the market in 2016, and following this to get accreditation for the course I deliver along with accreditation for teachers I train. That was a real landmark moment in terms of taking laughter seriously. And there is much more to come, just watch this space.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
A repeat of what I said earlier, if we can take ourselves less seriously to create a growth mindset and of course, start viewing laughter as a professional and personal development tool, not just as a fun thing we do in laughter clubs. Laughter really is serious business, and it makes an enormous difference to people who are willing to take it on as a daily practice, or even just try laughter yoga and laughter therapy in a one-off workshop or in training courses. When you understand laughter therapy and laughter yoga as serious practice you can more easily understand the true value to everyone involved.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
World Laughter Day January 2000. I have nothing more to add to that one, it was incredibly special.
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