Your Practice Transformation Companion

Monday, April 2, 2018

Split a Gut for National Humor Month



Everyone can benefit from appreciating a little humor. It has been proven to be therapeutic as it lowers blood pressure, improves circulation, stimulates our nervous system while boosting that all-important immune system. Yes, just twenty minutes of laughter has value.

Humor can be especially helpful during the last three months of the year when the pressure of the upcoming holidays cause stress for a whole lot of us. We are adding more and more into our already busy schedules and may have trouble mentally and emotionally assimilating year after year. The holiday blues could use a little laughter to help us get through them.

For those of us with seasonal affective disorder due to the winter blues, laughing (along with light therapy, eating well, increasing activity) can help as we wait for the increased natural light of spring to come back into our lives and make us whole again.

The real world has become an increasingly scary place every day. Sometimes we need a little respite. Turn off the television news or stop reading it on your phone, and turn on a comedian that you enjoy.

What about our jobs? Increased pressures, not knowing what’s coming next, worry about finding the time to do everything, too many emails and thinking about what our future holds. Oh my! I’m stressed just thinking about those stressors!

There is a class called “laughter yoga.” For real. Laughter yoga involves prolonged, voluntary laughter along with some stretching and body movement. Breathing exercises prepare the lungs for the laughter activity. Forcing oneself to laugh turns into real and contagious laughter. Studies have shown that this yoga raises mood and may have some cardiovascular benefits similar to exercise. It may also help people who live with chronic pain.

Let’s start right now and celebrate laughter for all its beneficial purposes. Put a little laughter into your life. Let it improve your morale, well-being and enrich the quality of your life. If you’re lucky, it will have the added benefits of reducing anxiety, stress and depression. Laugh as often as possible and let laughter put you back in control. As is always said, laughter is the best medicine, so I’ll take a boatload. It’s no joke! So laugh it up and see what it will do for you. Haha, hoho, hehe! Okay, I got it. Let’s lift our ailing spirits by splitting a gut. It’s better than any drug.

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