How My Laugh Came Back to Me in the Middle of Stress

This past week was a test of "walking what I talk" around laughter yoga. I experienced significant challenges on many fronts - in two of my closest relationships, transportation, finances and work. STRESS ensued.

Because I laugh alot, my attention is more in the moment and I honestly don't stress out much. But when all of these intense challenges happened within 24 hours, did this laughter yoga teacher go ha-ha-ing off to breathe, laugh and smile? Nope. I knew it would surely help. I just wasn't up to it. 

Ironically, at the same time, I was finishing up the advertising for the next laughter yoga event, all about stress relief and how chronic stress is optional when we make a practice of laughing. I wondered how that "theme" was going to be real for me this week?  

You know the phrase, "The more you laugh, the more you laugh"? Here's another observation: The more you laugh, the easier it is to access your laughter when things get stressful. 

Jeffrey Briar, one of my laughter heroes, reported in Yoga Journal that he could laugh himself out of stress in 20 seconds. He's also been leading laughter yoga since 2005 and started a laughter club that meets on the beach daily. That's alot of regular laughter!

My laughter caught me by surprise in the midst of my stress. Jon (my sweetie who is also a laughter yoga teacher), is fascinated by the many uses for milk crates. He gets them for free at work, so has many. So far, he's created a lake fountain, a tiered composting bin, step stools, boat trailer props - the list goes on. This week when Jon and I were reviewing our stressful situations, he also enthusiastically reported a new use for milk crates to help our latest exercise endeavor. I spontaneously busted a gut laughing about it.

That wasn't the end of my stress but it was the beginning of me laughing with it. I found out how the "laugh for stress relief" theme was real for me this week. Even though I was cringing with stress, I could also easily access my hearty laughter from years of practicing laughter yoga. THEN I was able to employ a few laughter techniques I know to help relieve stress. 

One of my favorite mood-boosting tricks comes from research about smiling. You can easily "force" a smile if needed. Here's how: put a pen between your upper & lower teeth, push it back into your jaw, and hold it there for two minutes. Like laughter, your brain doesn't know the difference between a real and "intentional" smile, so you get all of the mood changes as if you'd really been smiling non-stop for 2 minutes. Try it!

Most of my challenges are still there. However, they are no longer causing my body to release stress hormones, my mood to be "fight or flight", my relationships to center around the past, and my perception of the world to be bleak. 

Shameless plug: Come loosen the grip of stress! March 15th - a FREE laughter yoga session about stress relief. You'll learn a few stress-busting tricks, laugh alot and maybe have some soothing hot tea. Click here for information! 

Laughter Yoga "Makes Room" for Us and Others - Then Helps Us Fill the Room!

I was wondering how to talk about the concept of laughter leading to love for the Heart Lifting Laughter Session on February 15th on my drive to Gordon Avenue Library.  I usually wait until just prior to an event to listen for what to relate laughter yoga to as far as a "theme" - it's just received by the group better that way - when sharing an alive concept - or at least I think so. Ha!

So, in the beginning of the class, I was giving my take on how laughter leads to love. The phrase, "You must first love yourself before you can love others" came to mind during my drive. I'm a fan of Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet who wrote poignant and often heart-piercing poems about love. He used 245 different words for love in his poems. In English, we mainly have one word. So it gets used everywhere and sometimes feels diluted or vague, often like that phrase about loving yourself first. How does one do that? What does it look like in real life?

A translation of Rumi's word for one kind of love is, to make room for, like a mother makes room for the growing baby in her womb. This is also the root concept for the ancient Hebrew word, mercy. This is my experience with a regular practice of laughter yoga. Laughter opens my heart, and allows "free space" for others to be just as they are, for me to be just as I am, AND, still feel affection for us all!

One regular participant from our laughter club said that she was amazed about how "naturally" nice she was to everyone after our meetings. Everything people were doing was OK, she said, even good. She was able to make room for them. My guess is, her laughter made room for her during laughter yoga, then she easily made room for everyone else afterwards. This is one way I see the coined phrase happening in real life.

It just so happened that a quite pregnant woman attended the event. We gave her and her beloved in the womb special laughter blessings towards the end of class, a practice Dr. Kataria teaches leaders to do. How neat-o for a living visual example.

Another woman at the event also shared about "filling the room" - taking space for yourself. Giving yourself room, then filling it up! She had been through some recent challenges in her relationships and encouraged her beloveds to go ahead and "take up space!" She was able to provide the emotional room for them - then encourage them to feel free to fill it up with what they were experiencing. 

The laughter exercises and spontaneous comments after that were all about filling the room and making room. Meaning, the literal room we were laughing in. Things became very silly after such abstract and thought-filled talk about love and laughter.

Laughter naturally connects us and makes space for us at the same time. It has lovely boundaries and seems to have it's own wisdom for each of us. Come on and laugh with us and experience this for yourself! Love yourself (first)!

The Waking UP and Settling DOWN Movement of Energy During a Laughter Yoga Session

When I imagine waking up after a long sleep, the image that comes to mind is my arms stretching upward in a "V" over my head, chest lifted and a enjoying a good, deep yawn. This is the energy of waking UP and stretching OUT.

The cheer in laughter yoga after each game that's always a big takeaway for participants is, "Very good, very good, YAY!" Hands are overhead in a "V", chest lifted, and we're enjoying a good cheer - just like my image of waking up. Indeed, that part of the session does wake up our playfulness and gives a loud voice to a sense of celebration that may have been long asleep.

The opposite movement of energy happens during the silent meditation at the end of a session. After five long minutes of non-stop laughing, we immediately stop and (try to) enter into silence. The switch is often dramatic and even cathartic for people. Silence after laughter allows the joyful energy to settle back DOWN and IN - bringing renewed energy, a quiet mind and an open heart. It's as if our non-stop laughter shakes up a snow globe, and our silence allows the snowflakes to gently float and settle back down to the floor of the globe, our being.

Quite a bit goes on in a laughter yoga session energetically. Your voice, your body, your being move in all kinds of ways, sometimes in ways you haven't moved them in years. The process seems more normal and easier the more you do it. Laughter yoga can then be habit-forming once your life is uplifted by such movement. I hope you'll join us to experience it for yourself!

My Monkey Mind Meditation Cheat Sheet

I usually find it easy to slip into stillness when sitting for meditation. However, there are those days, usually the days I need a clear mind the most, when my monkey mind is all over the place. 

I was leading laughter yoga with three groups of high school students at a competitive local private school last week during their annual health fest. The many presenters who showed up had one goal -- to help them find alternative ways to deal with stress. 

My success with "mindfulness meditation" - which feels like thinking my way into another way of thinking - has had very little impact on me other than to make me more frustrated. So my suggestion to them was to get their thinking out of the way altogether. How? Laugh non-stop for 5 minutes before you start a silent, sitting meditation. I called this my meditation "cheat sheet". 

Our minds seriously clear on a physiological level when we heartily laugh (for a reason or not) for 5 - 15 minutes (note: the longer the laughter time, the fewer the mind monkeys). Our brains automatically release natural antidepressants, mood stabilizers, endorphins, and melatonin; our bodies level out stress hormones; our organs are replenished with fresh oxygen -- what could be better prep for a quiet sitting meditation? 

The different groups were different, so had different results. Some of course found it easier than others. This gets so much easier with practice, I said. 

I wonder if I should just start a laughter meditation group on campus or in public without so many exercises -- more of a focus on laughter meditation followed by silence. Thoughts?

Check out the videos on the YogaLaughs site -- there is a clip from a laughter meditation, then another from the following silent meditation. Such a switch! Powerful. http://yogalaughs.com/training/videos.html

Laughter Yoga: The Backwards Step

I led a "play"shop today and began to teach something I've always known but not had words for about Laughter Yoga:  instead of seeking another exercise routine or modality to bring "life change" - the energy of yet again going forward into something new - the experience of Laughter Yoga is about taking a step back into what has been there all along. 

Laughter as communication pre-dates even humanity. We laugh in the same rhythm worldwide, studies show. No matter what the language, dialect, culture... our laughter "ha ha ha" sounds beat in a very similar percussion, so mirthful laughter is rarely misinterpreted, no matter where we are in the world. This points to universal, ancient behavior and communication. Laughter is intrinsically human. And because laughter is so innate, it's easy to overlook. 

Studies show young children laugh about 400 times a day; adults laugh, if we're lucky, 15 times. Then, we laugh only in little spurts. Modern day living stresses the laughter right out of our daily lives. We're preoccupied with going forward, forward, forward, when our laughter is calling us back, back, back - into the wealth of what's been there all along.

Laughter Yoga also reverses typical thinking around mind-body practices. Generally, we begin by quieting the mind, then expect the body to follow. In Laughter Yoga, we begin pumping our diaphragms using laughter simply as breathwork or exercise. Our diaphragmatic pumping stimulates the vagus nerve, consequently the parasympathetic nervous system, and then the mind calms down. Once the brain realizes we're laughing, the happy cocktail of neurotransmitters and hormones begin to be released, and then... we feel good. Laughter yoga is my cheat sheet for almost instantly obtaining a clear, cheerful and calm mind. 

Laughter Yoga flips the cultural norms about how and when mirthful laughter should happen upside down. We usually wait for something to be funny to laugh. The reverse happens during laughter yoga. We start laughing with no comedy or jokes, just as exercise, and because of the humanity of how laughter works, things begin to be funny. 


Why bother? I think we're yearning to step back into the wisdom of our ancient roots these days, especially in diet and health care. We're also wanting duct-tape-like mending for our relationships. Healing that goes deeper than the mind and emotions. Laughter has it's own wisdom and impacts every layer of consciousness, creating health and intimacy. It's a unique part of each of us and common to all of humanity. Take a step back and see.

Smile and Ditch the Pain Pills

LAUGHTER IS CHEAP MEDICINE

I know a couple who works in the pharmaceutical industry. He is a sales representative and she is a pharmacist. When asked what they do for a living, he is quick to reply, "She makes drugs and I sell `em."

I believe it was Lord Byron who said, "Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine." And researchers are finding that to be true – quite literally.

A woman diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis wrote to me and talked about how painful the disease had become. Debra said that no drugs would touch the devastating pain. "At times I prayed to die because I did not think I could go on this way," she said. But in two and a half years she weaned herself from most of her medication, which had reached a high of 21 pills a day. This is how she did it.

"I began seeing a doctor who gave me the most important prescription that I ever could have received," she said. "He excused himself from the room. I watched him walking back and forth in the hall; he seemed to be in deep thought."

The doctor came back in with this prescription: he told Debra to get some funny movies and to begin laughing (the doc was a Norman Cousins fan, no doubt). If she didn't feel like laughing, then she should smile. If she didn't feel like smiling, she should smile anyway. He said that it would increase endorphins in her brain and help with her pain. In other words, fake it until you make it, like they say.

She did just as he suggested. She laughed when she could. She smiled when she couldn't laugh. She smiled whether she felt like it or not. Her children teased her about her fake smile, but she told them that it was going to get rid of her pain.

And here's the amazing thing: it did. Of course, not all of it, but a great deal of her pain eventually dissipated and in time, what was left became manageable – without all of the drugs.

Today, Debra laughs easily and is never seen without her smile. She says that she would not even feel normal without it.

It's true that laughter really is cheap medicine. It's a prescription anyone can afford. And best of all, you can fill it right now.

Submitted by Steve Goodier

Laughter as Meditation: A Pointer to Transcendence

Laughter as Meditation: A Pointer to Transcendence

By Leigh Meredith, Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher. Published: ECHO Monthly, 2011. 

Our modern minds like for things to make sense. We prefer linear, logical precepts we can read up on and become the experts. With so much available to study, gaining knowledge can often become the extent of our experience; simply knowing about something can feel adequate.

Before her trip to Manhattan, a friend studied maps of Manhattan extensively, planning her day trips and walking tours. She “knew all about” Manhattan. Then, she called me from her trip while walking the streets of Manhattan. She enthusiastically talked about “experiencing” everything (what wasn't on the map.) The quicker pace of living, smells in the air, the loud traffic and the way you almost can't see the sky between the tall buildings. Just because she had studied the map didn't mean she knew what it was to actually be in Manhattan. She knew the pointer - the instrument that would help her find her way once she got there. But the instrument isn't the experience. Knowing about something isn't the same as realizing it.

We seem to agree, based on scientific studies and ancient teachings, laughter helps us. However, realizing you truly needed that good, hard laugh just shared with a group of friends is different from knowing that research suggests laughter decreases your blood pressure.

Our society welcomes children playfully laughing together, then we graduate to knowing we need to laugh more as adults. Also, if we laugh, we require a good reason. Laughter is the first language we speak as babies and the first language we stress out of our lives as adults. Our experiences of laughter helping us, long-term, can be sparse.

When we share a mutual, uproarious laugh with a group of people, for that moment, everything falls away. All of our feelings of separateness disappear. We automatically step outside of our hard working minds. When we come back from a guffaw, even though our minds can't quite grasp why – we feel more connected to the group and to ourselves.

Could we observe that again? With no effort but to chuckle a bit, we are endued with the following power: To quickly release separation from others and reconnect with them indescribably; to easily step outside of tired thinking patterns and perceptions; and to instantly access who we truly are.

I've read many spiritual books for “seekers” and stuck with a few beliefs and disciplines to help me, well, transcend. I wanted to be here only if I wasn't really here and felt lonely because of not really being here when I was here. That may make sense to a few people.

Laughter is intrinsically transcendent. When we laugh mirthfully, we can't think. It's not that the mind is at rest. It's simply not present. With practice using laughter as meditation, stress loses it's grip on our day-to-day living. The great tyranny is gradually overthrown.

I started laughing as meditation when I adopted the practice of Laughter Yoga. I really needed to laugh to control depression and anxiety. Thankfully, there were no jokes. Please note: Laughter Yoga wasn't “the cure” for me. Wellness needs to encompass all of my habits.

I received training on how to lead Laughter Yoga through Bharata Wingham of Yogaville and from the founder, a medical doctor from India, Dr. Madan Kataria. I've been holding Laughter Yoga club meetings for almost five years in Charlottesville. Laughter Yoga approaches laughter as breathwork and exercise at the beginning of a session. The group's laughter inevitably becomes naturally funny by the end of the session. The many benefits, including transcendence and deep relaxation, are easy to access after laughing for 30-40 minutes.

Julie, a dedicated Laughter Yoga leader, has been coming to laugh with us weekly for over two years to control stress. She says it's preventative medicine. If she doesn't laugh regularly, anxiety and health problems will creep in again. This “preventative medicine” story is common among the group. Nancy, a retired high school teacher, who helped found the club, loves the sensation of being 7 or 8 again and having permission to play. She's also noticed her youthful energy returning.

Spiritual personalities usually want to be transcendent. Instead of a glowing halo experience, in Laughter Yoga, it's hugely practical and comparatively mundane to what I've been told about transcendence. We step aside and let our laughter do the work. Miracles do indeed happen. Which ones? That depends on what you need. Laughter is part of us as well as something we do. It seems to have it's own wisdom.

I need to laugh as discipline to escape my tired thinking and occasional bleak moods. That's not a big deal. Not complicated. Not a new idea. The challenge: Laughter Yoga doesn't make logical sense. It doesn't follow a complex method of thinking my way into not thinking. I can't become an expert laugher. My laughter, the map, the pointer, can't improve and can't get worse.

Practicing Laughter Yoga – going “on location” – frees me to experience the deeper reality of letting go of the mind and receiving emotional healing. I'm spontaneous. It's quiet. I can see the open sky.