The Amazing Benefits of "Practicing" Laughter

Hello enChanters and enChantresses!


Laughter Yoga is not the type of yoga most people think of but rather it is the actual 'practice' of laughter for highly therapeutic benefits.

This means that one who 'practices' does not necessarily have to start out in a good mood, rehearse stand up comedy or don a clown suit! At the most basic level, it means very simply that you make the sounds of laughter for a sustained period of time. The time could be one minute, ten minutes or as long as you like. The benefits of actually practicing ARE the benefits of this exercise.....the more you practice, the more significant and lasting the rewards you will embody......no matter what shape you start out in physically or emotionally.


William Fry, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Stanford University Medical School and expert on health and laughter, reports the average kindergarten student laughs 300 times a day. We don't stop laughing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop laughing.
Louis Kronenberger explains: "Humor ... constitutes inner growth......and those who possess and honestly practice it make themselves more through a willingness to make themselves less." The benefits of laughter are too numerous to ignore.

Now is the time to resolve that we will consciously make an effort to laugh.

Of course, as we do so, we will laugh with people - not at them. We will laugh at what people do, not at what people are. We will laugh not only to lighten our burdens, but those of everyone we meet.


Here is just a tiny fraction of what is to be gained from the mindful practicing of laughter;


Laughter dissolves tension, stress, anxiety, irritation, anger, grief, and depression. After a hearty bout of laughter, even making the sounds of laughter such as in a practice, you will experience a sense of well-being. Simply put, he who laughs, lasts. Remember, a person without a sense of humor is like a car without shock absorbers.

Humor helps integrate both hemispheres of our brain, for the left hemisphere is used to decipher the verbal content of a joke while the right hemisphere interprets whether it is funny or not.

Laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, adrenaline, dopamine and growth hormone. It also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and neurotransmitters. Laughter increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the efficiency of T-cells. All this means a stronger immune system, as well as fewer physical effects of stress.

Our muscles are more relaxed after we laugh, and we just feel better in general. Laughter makes us temporarily forget about our pain, both physical and emotional. Norman Cousins discovered that 10 minutes of laughter allowed him to be pain free for 2 hours.

Normalize blood pressure and respiration. Frequent belly laughter empties your lungs of more air than it takes in resulting in a cleansing effect - similar to deep breathing. Especially beneficial for patient's who are suffering from emphysema and other respiratory ailments.

Social advantages - Develop your sense of humor and you will find you are more productive, a better communicator, and a superior team player.

Everyone loves someone who can make them laugh. The more you share your sense of humor, the more friends you will have.

Laughter is even equivalent to a small amount of exercise. It massages all the organs of the body, according to Dr. James Walsh. Laughter is aerobic!
It has been compared to internal jogging. A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders. William Fry, a pioneer in research about laughter, found that it took 10 minutes on a rowing machine, for his heart rate to reach the level it would after just one minute of enthusiastic laughing.

Recent studies by cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, indicate that laughter may prevent heart disease. One of the most interesting findings was that people who had heart disease generally laughed less at situations in their lives, (even positive events), and they were also more outwardly angry and hostile. Laughter can lessen anger and anxiety.

Have you ever felt like you had to laugh or you?d cry? Have you experienced the cleansed feeling after a good laugh? Laughter provides a real boon to physical and emotional release due to it's internal cleansing effects.

Do you know anyone who seems to live in a continual state of grace? Researchers found that our response to stressful events can be altered by whether we view something as a ?threat? or a ?challenge.? Humor can give us a more light-hearted perspective and help us view events as ?challenges,? thereby making them less threatening and more positive.

What?s even better is that the more you smile, the more others will too. Seeing a smile creates what is termed as a ?halo effect,? helping us to remember other happy events more vividly, feel more optimistic, more positive and more motivated.

According to some recent research published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, elderly optimistic people, those who expected good things to happen (rather than bad things), were less likely to die than pessimists.


And Last but Not Least on this very abbreviated list!!

It feels like eating 2000 chocolate bars !!

That?s right ? according to The British Dental Health Foundation, a smile gives the same level of stimulation as eating 2000 chocolate bars.



Plan to join us in either VA, DC or MD starting this coming Friday or for synergistic benefits come to ALL 3 meetups to kickstart the warm weather season with a higher vibration!

We'll be doing a number of other sounding exercises before the final Laughter sounds.


RSVP at; www.energyhealers.meetup.com/214 Feel free to bring your friends or significant others!


As always, Happy Thoughts! ;-)Sheila

"Let the Sunshine In!"