b) LAUGHTER A GIFT OF NATURE
The best things in life are free and
that is never more true then the gift of laughter. From the moment a child is
born, every child is blessed with the “laughter gene” and it is very sad that
by the time a child is a mature adult, laughter seems to have evaporated from
their lives.
Why is this the case? Why something
so beautiful and profound is swept aside as we get older? Do we as humans enjoy being miserable???
When we see children, they do not
take life so seriously and their wonder and delight of the world is something
we human beings have forgotten in many ways, which is quite tragic. Maybe that’s why people have children to
remind us what we have “lost” in our journey to adulthood. We can learn a lot
from children and there simple
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Way of viewing life and in the The
Third World people seem happier, which is interesting in the fact that here in
the West we have so much materialism and yet most of us are not happy.
Life gets
serious as we get older and especially when we start school at the age of 3 or
4. As school progresses, exams and study becomes a serious business and then
when we begin our working lives, making money becomes serious. Settling down
with a mortgage and family for most people is important and by the time we
reach our senior years we seem to have forgotten even what laughter is or how
unique it can be.
The world too in the 21st
century seems a “laugh less” zone. We have a constant daily diet of reports of
terrible things going on around the world where access to bad news is always
available whether it be on tv, radio, newspapers, magazines and of course the
internet and mobile phones. With all this negative stream of mass information
and news surrounding people everyday of their lives, what hope do we have of laughing
in the future? In fact it is no laughing matter to be honest. This is the world
humans have built and this is the world we live in today or do we?
Some may argue that we do laugh
occasionally with our friends, family and work colleagues or we may laugh at
something we have read or a comedy we have seen. However they are neither frequent
nor as often as we hope for.
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SUBRATA SAHA STUDENT NUMBER 3319593
Scientific evidence has suggested that laughter
is good for you on various levels. A lot of research done over the years, have
shown that laughter is beneficial for one’s health and can be very powerful. A
gentleman called Norman Cousins wrote a book called “Anatomy of An Illness”. He
was diagnosed with a crippling illness where he was told by doctors that he was
on borrowed time while in hospital. He discharged himself and decided to take
charge of his own health. He planned to take daily exercise, eat healthily and
to laugh a lot. He would watch comedy programmes or funny stories and laugh out
loud. Amazingly he lived another 15yrs and managed to get well.
It has been proven that our body
cells need an optimum environment in order to function properly and keep us
alive and well. Laughter helps the diaphram to move which promotes the flow of
oxygen to these the body cells and help them function at full capacity. When
cells are “happy” so are we! Laughter moves all parts of the body from the
stomach, face, heart, and lungs and in this way the body gets a full workout
and this reduces stress and lowers blood pressure. Laughter is not only free
and universal but it cheaper then going to the gym!! Laughter also triggers the
release of endorphins which makes us feel good and confident. When we are in a
positive frame of mind we can face our day to day challenges better.
Dr Raymond Mood has done a lot of research in
laughter and its benefits. His books
“The Last Laugh”, “Laugh after Laugh” is well worth
reading.
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SUBRATA SAHA STUDENT NUMBER 3319593
The most famous laughter yoga/leader/teacher is
of course Dr Kataria from Mumbai India. In 1995 Dr Kataria was
treating patients in Mumbai, at his hospital and wanted to develop a technique that was available to
his patients for free and aid them in their recovery. He took a group of
patients to a park in Mumbai and developed the first Laughter Club. At first Dr
Kataria started his Laughter Club by telling jokes but after a while the jokes
dried up. He then did further research and found that the body cannot
distinguish between fake laughter and real laughter but the same results could
be seen with both. He then developed a series of laughter exercises to help
stimulate the body to laugh and it worked. Today there are over 6000 laughter
clubs in the world and Dr Kataria laughter movement is spreading. He is even
developing a Laughter University in India.
So what happens at a Laughter Club? A person
joining for the first time may find it very intriguing, unusual if not slightly
bizarre with a touch of eccentricity to it. Laughter classes start with a warm
up session, following by a dozen or so laughter exercises and then a calming
down period. It always advisable to have cold drinks and biscuits to hand as
laughter uses a lot of energy and is like a full work out. The actually
laughter exercises are like role play.
Some of the exercises are listed below:-
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SUBRATA SAHA STUDENT NUMBER 3319593
● Make a funny face and laugh
● Laugh into a mobile phone
● Pretend you have lost your credit card and
laugh
● Apply “laughter cream” on ones face and laugh
● Pretend to stir a witch’s cauldron and laugh
● Walk like a penguin and laugh.
● Sit in a group and laugh for no reason.
● Shake hands and greet each other with
laughter.
Laughing as a group helps people to overcome
their inhibitions and laughing can be infectious. The group move around a lot
and clap their hands to the Laughter Mantra developed by Dr Kataria called “Ho
Ho Ha Ha”. By moving around and laughing
it helps with the blood circulation and helps more oxygen to reach the cells.
When we laugh we take more oxygen into the lungs. A typical laughter group has
many different age groups in the them, ranging from the very young to the old,
regardless of background, culture, creed etc.
Most people after a laughter class leave
feeling positive, energized and above all happy and healthy. They carry on that positive feeling to their
workplace, family, friends and home and in time everyone around will feel
laughter, happiness, health and a positive attitude to life.
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SUBRATA SAHA STUDENT NUMBER 3319593
Today a lot of people who have been
inspired by laughter and it benefits have trained to be Laughter Leaders or
therapists and have started there own clubs. Others train to be Laughter
Teachers and train others to become teachers. Laughter teachers and leaders
have tried to bring laughter therapy into the workplace, elderly homes,
schools, hospitals in fact anywhere to brighten up people lives. In India work
colleagues go out to a local park and laugh just before they begin work.
One of the concepts of Laughter Therapy is to
go back to either being a child when laughter was abundant or go back to a time
in one’s life when one is happier.
With the recession and the cost of medical treatments
on the rise, hospitals are interested in laughter and its health benefits. In
fact more research is being done to find alternative therapies and laughter is
one of them.
In all respects Laughter is nature’s gift.
So do try and visit your local laughter club
and more details can be found on Dr Kataria’s website at www.laughteryoga.org.
By Subrata Saha
30-30-30
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