By Klaus Döring
What do you do when you’re ‘not in the mood’ for something? Avoid it or do it anyway? Laughter yoga is a brilliant case study for getting on with it.
Laughter produces positive emotions that lead to this kind of flourishing. These feelings – like amusement, happiness, mirth, and joy – build resiliency and increase creative thinking. They increase subjective well-being and life satisfaction.
When I turn up at meetings as a guest speaker or at a group laughter session, I’m often met by people who’ll tell me they’re “not in the mood” for laughter.
And I answer that with “Great! Let’s get to work”. Because (almost always) those same people leave the session looking radiant and uplifted.
What happened to them?
They reap the benefits that have hundreds of thousands of people in more than 100 nations worldwide turning up for daily or weekly laughter club sessions. A friend of mine contacted me yesterday. Another said, “This is hardly the time to do so.” Understandable, if I consider his very personal situation.
Anyway, it seems we have no more time and no reason for laughter if we look around. That can wait until tomorrow or better until the day after tomorrow. Anticipation is better.
Our enemies laugh up their sleeves, and most of the time we miss to recognize the fortune still smiling at us. But hold on: he who laughs last laughs longest. Remember?
American neurologist Henri Rubenstein says, laughter lowers high blood pressure while aiding digestion and fostering sleep. Well, give me even a simple smile and believe in what experts say: “Good humor can help the gravely or terminally ill to hear their ordeal”.
Of course, if we look around us these days, we might really not roar with laughter or split our sides laughing. Or even more than this! Have you heard about the incident at the Danish Imperial Theatre in Copenhagen/Denmark sometime during the 1980s, when a spectator died of a heart attack while watching the movie “A Fish Called Wanda” starring John Cheese of my favourite Great Britain’s Monty Python Comedy Team? Sure, a heart attack is indeed not funny, and honestly, I still love to watch this movie on VHS.
Well, even if we think we don’t have reasons to laugh,we should try to express mirth spontaneously, and we should try to be merry or gay. We still have reasons to start with the softest form of audible laughter – the vocalized smile. This is what I learned and experienced from the first moment on while travelling in Asia since 1978, and being an expat living in the Philippines since 1999 for good. Keep smiling – even you are overloaded with huge problems.
Experts also say good humor works because it helps people feel easier in mind. The French psychotherapist Sylvie Tenenbaum stressed that, in her patients, laughter often signals the dawning of a wholesome awakening to reality. Gallow humor might be dubious in the eyes of others. But try to sing out loud, try to cry, but try to laugh!
Stress relief from laughter
A good sense of humor can’t cure all ailments, but data is mounting about the positive things laughter can do.
Short-term benefits
A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn’t just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can:
Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.
Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.
Long-term effects
Laughter isn’t just a quick pick-me-up, though. It’s also good for you over the long term. Laughter may:
Improve your immune system. Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. By contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.
Relieve pain. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.
Increase personal satisfaction. Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.
Improve your mood. Many people experience depression, sometimes due to chronic illnesses. Laughter can help lessen your stress, depression and anxiety and may make you feel happier. It can also improve your self-esteem.
Are you afraid that you have an underdeveloped — or nonexistent — sense of humor? No problem. Humor can be learned. In fact, developing or refining your sense of humor may be easier than you think.
Put humor on your horizon. Find a few simple items, such as photos, greeting cards or comic strips, that make you chuckle. Then hang them up at home or in your office, or collect them in a file or notebook. Keep funny movies, TV shows, books, magazines or comedy videos on hand for when you need an added humor boost. Look online at joke websites or silly videos. Listen to humorous podcasts.
Laugh and the world laughs with you. Find a way to laugh about your own situations and watch your stress begin to fade away. Even if it feels forced at first, practice laughing. It does your body good.
Consider trying laughter yoga. In laughter yoga, people practice laughter as a group. Laughter is forced at first, but it can soon turn into spontaneous laughter.
Share a laugh. Make it a habit to spend time with friends who make you laugh. And then return the favor by sharing funny stories or jokes with those around you.
Knock, knock. Browse through your local bookstore or library’s selection of joke books and add a few jokes to your list that you can share with friends.
Know what isn’t funny. Don’t laugh at the expense of others. Some forms of humor aren’t appropriate. Use your best judgment to discern a good joke from a bad or hurtful one.
Go ahead and give it a try. Turn the corners of your mouth up into a smile and then give a laugh, even if it feels a little forced. Once you’ve had your chuckle, take stock of how you’re feeling. Are your muscles a little less tense? Do you feel more relaxed or buoyant? That’s the natural wonder of laughing at work.
As a devout Christian I love reading the bible. Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 say: “There is a time for everything… a time to be born and a time to die, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh!”
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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook, X – Twitter or Linkedin or visit www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com .
