Argentina's New Laughter Law

Laughter is now law in Argentine hospitals...inspired by US physician Hunter “Patch” Adams and the health benefits of laughter, Argentina hospitals are now required to hire "Clown Doctors". The Clown Doctors are not actual doctors but rather trained clowns, currently numbering 2,500, and are considered employees of the hospitals.

Clown volunteers have been a part of hospitals for a long time...could this new Argentina law become a trend? Many hospitals have Laughter Yoga groups for staff and patients, how cool would it be to have Laughter Yoga and Clown Doctors standard in ALL hospitals?

Laughing "All By Myself"

                                    

Laughing with myself...or at myself! I suspect many people do not laugh at themselves enough. I know I don't. I laugh when I find myself doing something ridiculous or remembering something funny and I will laugh until I cry watching a funny movie. But I don't do it enough. Yes I laugh with friends, family and Laughter Yoga Fun groups which might, or might not be, every day but my goal is to increase my solo laughter as well.

Laughing by yourself, for no reason, might seem silly. Personally I think that is the whole idea as it brings back the silliness we had as children. And as I am laughing by myself, the only one to see me being silly, is me! Growing up often means we lose our ability to play and act silly, after all, we have to be "grown up". I start by laughing while doing those mundane things I don't like doing. Don't like loading or unloading the dishwasher??? Laugh as you put a dish in or take it out...I can be hysterical by the time I am done. If mowing the lawn is on your list of don't likes, laughing as you go could make time fly, and who knows, you might even start a new trend in the neighborhood!

And if you become really good at laughing by yourself and want to send us a video, check out our Solo Laughter page on Laughter Yoga Fun.
 

Norman Cousins and Internal Jogging

Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.

Norman Cousins

If the name Norman Cousins is not familiar, an internet search would show you an interesting man. I first heard of him in the late 1970's when his book, Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient, W. W. Norton & Company, 1979, was making the news. He was a journalist, author, and was also known as an advocate of liberal causes throughout his career.

In 1964 he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitic, a serious collagen illness that causes disintegration of the connective tissue in the spine. His doctor informed him he had a 1 in 500 chance of surviving so he developed his own solution to help him live, all of which were unheard of at that time. The illness was helping to deplete his body of Vitamin C so he started taking massive dosages of the vitamin. His next step was to laugh. He watched Candid Camera and Marx Brothers movies and had his nurse read funny books to him. According to Cousins, 10 minutes of belly laughing allowed him 2 hours of pain-free sleep.

He passed away in 1990, 16 years after the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitic.

Since then numerous studies have been done related to the health benefits of laughter. A few of the articles related to some of the studies are posted on our Laughter Yoga Fun web site.  A positive attitude, which can be easier said then done when going through hard times, and laughter: a definite jog internally for your well-being!

A Trip To The Dentist

Recently during lunch with a friend he mentioned he was on his way to his dentist after lunch, which brought up the famous Carol Burnett episode with Tim Conway as a dentist and Harvey Korman as the patient. As we know, everyone's humor is different. There are times when friends find something extremely funny and I don't and is probably true in reverse.  For me, and many people, this is hilarious and a classic: Tim Conway, the dentist 

A few years ago I had the pleasure of seeing Carol Burnett in person. She talked about her show and brought clips from several episodes. According to her, Tim Conway's goal was to make Harvey Korman laugh when scripting said he was supposed to serious. They never knew what Tim was REALLY going to do in a skit. I laughed so hard that night my sides ached, eyes were sore from tears of laughter and I definitely got a cardio work-out!

Laughter Buddies

Do you have someone in your life (or is it you?) that is stressed out, has bad days, etc. We all have days that makes us wonder why we even got out of bed. Think about being or finding a Laughter Buddy to help change a days' outlook. 

So what is a Laughter Buddy? Call a friend or relative and ask them to be your Laughter Buddy on the telephone. The rules are:

1. Talking is not allowed.
2.  Laughing is the ONLY acceptable communication.
3. There are no "hellos" or "good-byes".
4. The initial caller determines when the laughter session is over, which might be only after a  minute or two.
5. If either Buddy wants to discuss why the laughter session was necessary, that is a different phone call!

If you are the initial caller, as soon as the phone is picked up at the other end, start laughing. If your Laughter Buddy said hello, laugh over it. Your Buddy will know this is a laughter only call. When you feel your outlook on the day is better, hang up, no good-byes. Your Laughter Buddy, because they know the rules, will not take it personally.

And if a call results in voice mail? Laugh!

Whether A Burst Or Muffled

 

I love this definition of laughter!

Stressed--Are We Or Are We Not?

 

I don't know about you but I have had stress in my life, sometimes worse than others. And I have been burned out. I didn't realize I was burned out at first but exhaustion was my first clue. Once I identified it, I had to seriously look at what was causing my burnout as I did not have the luxury of  not working and heading to an island in the middle of nowhere to re-cooperate. What I realized was my life was unbalanced, not drastically, but enough to cause me to burn out. I am one of those crazy people that loves to work, which is why I graduate rather than retire, so it is very important for me to stay as balanced as I can. I relate life, and the balancing of it, to a table with 4 legs. If all the legs are upright, and solid, the table is functional and can hold a lot. If one leg breaks, everything on the table falls off, and it has a hard time functioning. A balanced life can sometimes be like that, but the more I keep my life balanced, the easier it is to function if one of the "legs" falters.

The Mayo Clinic had an excellent article on stress reduction, Stress relief from laughter? It's no joke.
Over the years if I felt I didn't have enough laughter in my life...even laughing by myself, I would call up friends for a get-together, knowing it would always involve plenty of laughter. And then I found Laughter Yoga, which meant I had regular laughter sessions in addition to laughing with my friends and family. 

Instead of "Stressed--Are We Or Are We Not?" l decided to "Laugh, Laugh And Laugh Some More".

Fake It 'til You Make It!

Laughter can be found everywhere if you are open to it. I remember driving home one night when I ended up stopped at a traffic light. I looked out the window, waiting for the light to change when I saw a sign shared by two businesses: Psychic Cleaners. I started laughing so hard I thought I was going to have to pull over. Luckily it was a long traffic light so I could gain control of myself. I managed to get a good cardio work-out and all over a sign at the side of the road!

Researchers have been studying the health benefits of laughter for years. In 1995, Dr. Madan Kataria of India and the creator of Laughter Yoga, was studying laughter for its' health benefits.  He gathered a few people together in a local park and asked them to share jokes. It only took a couple of weeks for him to discover humor is different things for different people and the joke telling was not working. I know I have seen/read/heard things that people find extremely funny, and I don't, and visa versa. Everyone's sense of humor can be very different.

Dr. Kataria discussed the joke-telling problem with his wife, Madhuri, a yoga teacher. She suggested that laughter did not have to be real to be beneficial to one's health. Laughter could also be faked and be beneficial. The result? The creation of Laughter Yoga!

Laughter Yoga combines laughing exercises with yoga breathing and any number of people can participate. The exercises may start with fake laughter (fake it 'til you make it) but often end with good solid laughter! Sample Laughter Yoga sessions can be found at Sample Sessions.

 

From Belly Laugh To Twitter, Its’ Good For The Soul!

Laughter: a sound of or as if of laughing, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The sound of laughter can be a belly laugh, cackle, chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, hee-haw, horselaugh, snicker, snigger, titter, or twitter. But laughter is so much more than its’ definition. It is enjoying and laughing with family, friends, someone you don’t know and even laughing at yourself. It can help you through the bad times and enjoy the good times even more. And who would have thought, its’ even healthy!

And Laughter Yoga? When I knew I would be graduating from my former life, I don’t retire but move into my next life, I started researching what that next life would be and discovered Laughter Yoga. What a blast! It’s combining easy laughing exercises (no jokes or comedy) with yoga breathing and can be done with a small or large group, or by yourself. My first step was to become a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader and Laughter Yoga Fun was born:. Fast forward and I am now also a Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher, which means I can train others to spread the joy and fun of laughter to others.

I invite your comments or questions. Tell me about laughter in your life.