Recently, I became a certified laughter therapist. I took many hours of training and, I hope the following tidbits will help you, because, when you find the funny in a difficult situation, you win!
When I was going through cancer treatment, I truly believe that it was the laughing and humor that got me through some of the darkest days.
Laughter leads to bonding because it makes us feel good and want to return to the source of our amusement again and again.
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Laughter and humor are different. We assume that someone who laughs a lot has a great sense of humor. The process is of one ,seeing the funny side of a situation and then experiencing the physiological reaction of laughter.
Humor is the trigger while laughter is the reaction to it. When people are going through difficult times, the relief theory is often used as a way to release emotional tension which is often psychologically draining.
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The mind and the body link are so close that emotions are believed to originate in the body as well as the brain.
I bet you didn't know there is a science to laughing!
And, did you know that laughter treats the muscular system to an internal stress relief? Have you ever laughed so hard that your stomach hurt? When we find something really funny, we work the facial muscles, abs, along with every muscle in the body. Everything becomes super relaxed and, this relaxed muscle state can last for hours.
The basis of laughter therapy is to teach people resilience through humor and to help people learn enough about themselves, their thought patterns, lifestyles and belief systems that they can make lasting positive changes to their mental health and become more aware of it.
The following are a few examples of laughter therapy benefits:
1) Stress relief, almost immediate. Laughter is perfect as the first step to lasting change.
2) Laughter is associated with pain reduction via the trigger of endorphins that occurs through serious laughter.
3) Laughter lowers blood pressure.
Laughter diffuses tension in most circumstances and can create a good scenario from a potentially terrible one.
One of the deeper sides to laughter therapy is to find humor where there appears to be very little. It's easy to laugh at things that are supposed to be funny, yet, what about the times we are diagnosed with cancer, fail a test, lose a job, or, back our car into the garage? < Yes, I did this!
It's all about perspective, one that is deep rooted in our psyche and involves mindset and belief systems that we have gathered over the years.
I will be touching more on this in future posts. In the meantime, if you have questions, need some laughter therapy, need a speaker at a meeting, conference, or, breakout session, feel free to reach out to me at, bkdp01@gmail.com
Find some funny today, if you can't find it, I'll find it for you! I promise, you'll feel better.
As you can see, I laugh hard, and a lot!
Laugh Hard, Laugh Out Loud,
Beth