B.C. seniors credit 'laughter yoga' in their enduring love story
As Sarah Kendall and Gene Furbee look back on their enduring love story, they can’t help but laugh.
“It seemed to fit,” 84-year-old Gene says. He became a "laughter yoga" teacher more than a decade ago. “It‘s what we both needed at that time.”
They discovered through the practice that if you start to laugh deliberately, you will eventually find yourself unable to stop laughing genuinely.
“You let go in that moment,” Gene smiles. “And just let the body take over.”
But letting go physically can be a challenge when you’re carrying around so much emotionally.
“It was an aneurysm, a stroke in my brain,” Sarah says. After she was hospitalized in a coma for months, she was left partially paralyzed. “It was a thoroughly horrible thing.”
The situation often felt hopeless, until the couple happened upon a public "laughter yoga" demonstration and tried to give it a try.
While the positive benefits for immediate for Gene, it was more of a struggle for Sarah.
“I said I will just fake it until I make it,” Sarah smiles. “And then I would [really] start to laugh.”
For more than a decade, whenever they find themselves stuck in a moment, either Gene or Sarah will start laughing, and strive to transform the situation.
The couple were also inspired to stop resisting life’s challenges, and start learning from them.
“You realize this is the way it is,” Gene says with a laugh. “And here I am.”
They also began searching for the potential gift in even the most adverse of moments.
“I decided I wanted to love the most I could in every day,” Sarah smiles.
Which is why Sarah says she’s learned to feel grateful for her stroke, because it’s inspired them both to live a more loving life.
“[Sarah] is a bright light,” Gene smiles before laughing. “She shines!”
And Sarah says Gene is genuinely joyful, before bursting into a genuine laugh. “We love each other!”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus
Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.