Adolescence was a challenging period of my life.
The ever-changing developments in my body and mind were difficult to calculate.
A pre-internet era, inadequate library resources, an absence of anyone I felt comfortable to talk to, and guidance counsellors whose best suggestions were rehearsed Bible scriptures.
Hence, my independent nature led me to tackle my personal challenges, with my own resources:
I discovered the benefits of laughter.
Laughter Was My Emotional Response To Stress
As a little girl, I was keen on simple arithmetic. So, at the tip of my tongue, my response to my favourite subject in school, was Mathematics.
Arithmetic and Algebra, oh yay!
Geometry and Trigonometry?๐ Holy crap!
"My brain is full!" I'd cry to my teacher.
My head ached disproportionately from trying to compute Math problems.
In my mind, my brain had swollen to capacity for explosion.
This caused me to develop a brain block for Math; sadly, a permanent one.
To cope through my difficulties with Math, I discovered the effective use of laughter for pain.
So effective was laughter, I became addicted to it. I was reliant on laughter for all subjects and teachers who in my evaluation, were extemporary in their preparation to relate their specialised subjects to me.
In front row, always, right behind the teacher, I would giggle at selected teachers first spoken word, followed by uncontrollable laughter.
Hysterically, I would belly laugh and stimulate hilarity in the class.
A train of contagious laughter would disrupt the class, with no intent to subside; all classmates would laugh with, and at me.
With my reputed laughter stunts, I was ranked a grade "A" troublemaker, by my teachers.
Imagine, class detentions for laughing? ๐ ๐
That was a nudge, which made me laugh harder. ๐คฃ ๐
Disgruntled teachers took their frustrations out on my report card.
For my third year of high school, teachers rated my overall performance as "poor", and I was forced to repeat that year of studies.
Accordingly, my repeat year found me laughing less.
I took responsibility, and my performance improved.
Life Without Laughter
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Early adulthood saw me taking a consequential approach to life, and my professional years of high responsibilities made me approach life too seriously.
I lost my ability to laugh and see the humorous side of everything. I became worrisome, anxious, and short-fused in my quest for perfection.
Diffusing tension became a difficult task, and the happy carefree girl I loved had become a straight face, and I didn't like "her".
Without laughter, I experienced stress in different forms: Physically, emotionally, and mentally. I felt like I was existing, and I wanted to live again.
Acknowledging A Problem
There was no denying that I'd fallen prey to misery.
- Negative self talk
- Forcing myself to stay positive, instead of accepting different emotions
- Non-fulfilment in any tasks.
- Demotivated and feeling like giving up.
Regaining Control Of My Life
I feared I'd completely lost myself.
However, I tackled my problems introspectively and objectively.
I was brutally honest with the new over-serious version of myself, which I hated, and I yearned to retrieve the playful, mischievous, light-hearted version of myself, which I loved.
I needed to find my way back to my inner child.
Tracing That Missing Persona
Reverting to live happily like I did in my childhood days, was something I instinctively believed only I had the power to do.
It was like searching for the switch in the dark.
It took effort, determination, willpower, and self belief.
The light bulb moment came on a walk down memory lane:
'Where did I find my inner strength to channel me during my hardest years?'
- Laughter
- Nature
- Physical Activities
Sitting at my desk in the corridor leading to my living room, I stared at my computer screen. Reflecting, I felt my heart pumping like my cardio had kicked in without physical activity. As a big smile formed on my face, and like time travel, I found myself laughing into a tizzy. I was reliving the moments I used my laughter mischievously as a survival tool weapon against my teachers.
I tapped deeper into my childhood memories, and I recalled playing cricket and hopscotch in the streets, cycling through make-shift obstacle courses, my vertical jumps as a goalkeeper, spending days in nature on open fields, admiring the roots of strong trees, climbing fences to pick any fruit in sight, watching birds fly wishing I had wings to go wherever I wanted, and being that charming, notoriously feisty little girl, who everyone loved to hate, and hated to love.
I rekindled my love with nature and the outdoors.
Cycling along the streets of a land similar to the one I grew up, brought back memories of me on my bicycle; Speedily, I often rode hands-free behind my neck, with my knees tucked into to my chest.
I also delved into yoga and identified many of the movements were comparable to ones I did naturally as a child.
Happiness and I collided.
Connecting more dots, I associated my "tizzy stunts" (as my admiring classmates called it), to the uncanny resemblance to Laughter Yoga.
Laughter Therapy.
"A type of therapy that uses humour to help relieve pain and stress and improve a personโs sense of well-being. It may be used to help people cope with a serious disease, such as cancer. Laughter therapy may include laughter exercises, clowns, and comedy movies, books, games, and puzzles. It is a type of complementary therapy. Also called humor therapy."
Source:
In essence, Laughter Therapy is a positive psychology.
Personally, Laughter Therapy and my alternative practices are like coming full circle.
When my world feels like it's upside down, I take it in stride.
Now, I use laughter in a positive way, which enables me to put things into perspective.
I also understand the importance of letting emotions flow, and remember that as the world turns, there'll be bumps, hurdles and rough patches that we will have to face.
Laughter Yoga can be an optional exercise in Laughter Therapy. Laughter Therapy itself involves one-to-one sessions with clients to have an assessment and get to know a client on a level which will allow the client to find their way back to doing things that make them laugh.
What I've Learned About Laughter:
Is laughter always positive?
No!
If laughter is used in a negative way, it can isolate people. If laughter is used against a person in a bad way, it can cause insecurity and make one question their self worth.
Laughter can be soul-destroying if used with malice.
On the positive side:
- The body doesn't know the difference between fake and real laughter, the benefits are the same, so you can fake laughter, and it will still be beneficial to the body.
- With practice, the mind can be trained to have a natural reaction of seeing the humourous side of everything.
- Laughter and humour are different: Humour is the trigger for laughter, and laughter is the reaction to humour.
- Laughter is not about humour, but about communication. Laughter is so important that it evolved with us as human beings, because it is good for relationships, communication, and well-being.
- The relief theory of humour is believed that when we respond to emotional situations with humour, it relieves tension, and helps to alleviate a psychological drain effect that tension can cause on the body.
- Laughter helps to release endorphins (natural pain killers in the body).
- Laughter is linked to our cardiovascular system: The CVS, pumps blood around the body, the reason it's called the circulatory system. Our bodies need oxygen, food, and nutrients to survive. The cardiovascular system or the circulatory system consist of the heart, veins, capillaries, and arteries. When we breathe, and eat, we need to get oxygen, blood, and nutrients circulating around our bodies to stay alive. This is the role of the cardiovascular system, which is all affected by laughter. Laughter regulates our blood pressure. The heart is the central pump of the circulatory system in the entire body, thus when we laugh, our blood pressure rises, then it takes the blood pressure down to a totally relaxed state afterwards. This state of relaxation is good for the heart, veins, and arteries (the entire body on a whole).
This makes laughter the best medicine.
Laughter Yoga has become more popular in recent years, and it is offered in some hospitals, elderly homes, prisons, and for people recovering from series illnesses. The reason is, Laughter Yoga is beneficial for improving circulation, and activating acupressure points. It is good for eye and muscle coordination, and the deep breathing it requires helps to pump oxygen throughout the body. Most importantly, laughter is free, and it's an innate ability of humans, which if practiced regularly, can help to promote better health and well-being.
My Fake, Laughter Yoga Video:
๐ญPlease! Laugh With Me, or At Me
I've always loved laughing.
Once I laughed so hard, I "unhinged" my jaw bones.
I live the benefits of Laughter and would encourage and love to help anyone to incorporate laughter into their healing and well-being practices.
I actually do "serious" laughter yoga sessions that include: clapping, chanting, and deep breathing exercises. This video was created specially for the humour and laughter challenge by the community. (Just for a laugh)๐คฃ
