The Healing Power Of Laughter
Laughter Is The Shortest Distance Between Two People - Victor Borges
Laughter, I believe has a much deeper purpose to humanity than simply being about having a bit of a laugh or having fun. Laughter is how we heal. Maybe you’ve had a hard day with a demanding boss, and after the end of it, you have a good laugh (privately!) at their expense with a friend and it eases the stress. Or you, find yourself feeling frustrated at something your children have done, and then end up laughing at their sweet cheekiness. Or you catch up with an old friend, and leave a meet-up feeling your spirits lifted, because you’ve laughed so much.
Laughter shifts moods and makes you feel better. It has physical and emotional health benefits (reducing stress and lowering blood pressure to name a few) and I think that just as we carry our frustrations, traumas and stresses in our bodies, they can also ‘come out’ when we have the love and connection to talk freely, to laugh, and cry.
I’ve been reflecting on laughter the last few days, as it will be the focus of one of the modules I’m planning for Healing Conversations. I happened to tune in to watch Roseanne Barr, and JP Sears having a conversation where they discuss the importance of comedy, and they made me laugh quite a bit. It also made me think. Where has the laughter been these last few years? Face to face meetings have been reduced. We’ve probably spent more time at home scrolling and getting angry at the news/alternative news and having thoughts of doom.
The thing about life, is it gets awfully serious. Even if you don’t feel the need to take the COVID restrictions too seriously, you may have been feeling serious about all the other challenges of these times, employment difficulties, injection injury, difficult relationships or what the future holds. Where are the comedians making fun of all the restrictions etc?
Whether or not we are afraid of COVID or afraid of the mandates/human rights restrictions, there is so much fear, so much suffering?.
How could we laugh when it’s so dark and we need to take it all so seriously?
But that’s the beauty of laughter. To me it’s like a reminder, that life is short, that ultimately none of what happens on this earthly plane really matters. No matter how much we protect ourselves from COVID, or any other risk we perceive whether it’s 5G rays or GMO foods, none of us are going to get out of here alive.
So lets remember, to have fun, to laugh. To have the mind of silly conversations that make us giggle, and forget about the narrative.
I don’t know about you, but I feel utterly confused at the moment. Every time I see a news item I feel like, are we still doing this? I can’t believe it’s still going on. I feel like I’ve lost my stamina, but maybe I just want to focus on being human again, and having a laugh and a conversation.
This morning, I was sharing listening time with one of my partners, and I started to cry, with grief, at just how easily humanity was able to give up being human. To stay at home. To shut the doors. They did it out of love for humanity, as well as fear, but to me, I already felt that we were living in a society that was in grave danger of becoming disconnected. I really didn’t feel that we as a society can afford to embrace more disconnection.
Screens are not the same, and I found myself boycotting events when they were online, because I just couldn’t bear the loss of that face to face connection. Now I wonder if it will ever come back.
I was listening to an interview with a Pastor from the North of Scotland who described how he did not shut his church and refused to do online sermons, as many churches have done. He described lockdown restrictions as unbiblical, and now he says the ‘flock has scattered.’ Not everyone has returned to the churches and prefers to stay at home, scrolling through online meetings. And I see the same happening in other groups like yoga, book clubs, whatever it is. We are creatures of habit and the flock has scattered, pandemic habits etched on us as if they are permanent.
I wonder how we can recover from the last two years, and the poor disconnected habits, we’ve been taught.
What if laughter is the way?
A few years back I trained as a Laughter Yoga leader, and discovered quite an amazing fact – that the health benefits of laughter are the same, whether it’s fake laughter or genuine laughter. Dr. Madan Kataria, the founder of Laughter Yoga, developed exercises to evoke laughter (fake it till you make it), when he decided to explore the health benefits of laughter with a group in a local park. After a while the jokes got more and more offensive so the exercises helped keep things non-controversial. You can try out some Laughter Yoga exercises here. There are also phone lines you can subscribe to where everyone laughs together at a regular time. It may sound bizarre, but it’s like a workout for your belly muscles, and can be incredibly uplifting.
This morning, I looked on Youtube, and found I had this hilarious video in my notifications from Catzmagik, the husband of psychic Magenta Pixie. He is taking the piss out of new age spirituality. In recent months I’ve stopped following anyone who channels information, as I felt that much of what is being put out there may be deception, but Magenta is the one channel I haven’t given up, yet. The warmth, love and good humour of her and her partner, are a big part of what keeps me subscribed. I also found more links to funny Catzmagic ‘channelled’ transmissions, that made me laugh out loud. What I also found interesting it as the beginning of that video Magenta Pixie mentions laughter being a part of the ascension process, and that we can ‘laugh our way to ascension.’ My beliefs are shifting, and I’m not sure I believe in the concept of ascension anymore, but one thing I think I do believe for sure is that laughter goes deep, it is spiritual. It may appear silly and frivolous, but this is the point. As spiritual beings, we cannot take ourselves, or this life too seriously.
I wrote a post a few weeks back and was given some comedy suggestions, and will put some links below for anyone who needs to laugh. Some mentioned JP Sears, and I must admit I found him more funny when he was poking fun at spirituality, than making fun of those who believe the narrative. Because I think comedy works better when it humbles us, when it teaches us not to take ourselves too seriously rather than making fun of others. Also Russell Brand, who was a comedian, but I’ve never laughed once while watching his videos. Anyway, our sense of humour may be personal taste, which is why it’s always so amazing when you really click with someone and know just what to say to fall into fits of giggles.
So if you’re feeling low, here are a few ideas for Laughter Medicine.
And if you’re interesting in exploring the healing power of laughter more, through the art of listening time, with some laughter yoga bonuses, then we’ll be covering it in my Healing Conversations course, starting 21st March.
Some Awake Laughter Suggestions, please let me know in the comments if you have any more!
George Carlin on Germs 20 years ago
And if you are a parent, follow the link here to find out why laughter is actually the best parenting tool we have!