Humor expands our comfort zone and helps
us adapt to change. — Izzy Gesell

At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a
kaleidoscope of new possibilities. — Jean Houston

If you jumped to this article straight away, interesting aspects of your psyche can probably be revealed on some personality test.  Well, we’re not doing that here.  It doesn’t matter if you searched methodically or if you turned here on a lark to see what the secret sauce was, the desire to experience wild success is surely a powerful motivator.

Maybe you are in debt (you can insert words like ‘eyeballs’ and ‘over-my-head’ here).  Or maybe your friends are hoping you will get serious about succeeding and move on with that project.  Everyone wants to know what will help us get a grip, pull ahead, beat the beginner odds, find our way, bounce back, be healthy, realize a dream. It is serious.  Times are serious.

And the Secret Sauce of Laughter is serious.  No, really, it’s serious business.  The more bottom-line you are, the more you need to keep reading right now.  The results of knowing this information could affect your bottom line positively — financially, health wise, in your professional and personal relationships, in the effectiveness of your communication, in your powers of persuasion, in your quest for education,  in your ability to clean out that closet,   . . . (list doesn’t end here) . . .

And what if you prefer to think of the Holy Grail of human experience as something other than the bottom line? What if resilience-builders such as motivation, positive outlook, and feeling good are your markers of excellence?  Fabulous.  Hearty laughter makes the brain release endorphins, that natural happy-chemical that is responsible for the “runner’s high.”  In fact, the chemicals released in the central nervous system as a result of laughing help eliminate depression and create a more positive mental state.

The effects of a positive mental state are huge.

. . . (make another list for yourself here) . . .

The experience of humor is universal.  Yet try convincing that to someone who is out of practice.  If it’s been too long since laughter has been a common part of your mornings, noons, and nights, consider some of the impressive beneficial changes it produces.  In addition to the effects on our mind and spirits, it helps us physically.  Scientific studies have shown that hearty laughter:

1. produces a general sense of well-being (triggers endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers)
2. powerfully and immediately strengthens our immune system (boosts levels of infection-fighting T-cells, Gamma-interferon, Natural Killer Cells (NK cells), and B-cells which produce disease destroying antibodies)
3. naturally relieves stress (reduces release of stress hormones)
4. is good for your heart
5. increases circulation and improves delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissues throughout the entire body
6. has been found to lower blood pressure
7. increases muscle flexing
8. massages the lymph system
9. aids breathing by disrupting normal respiration patterns and increasing respiration rate
10. has no known side reactions (as do mood drugs)
11. can be done as a physical exercise
12. . . . (once again, list doesn’t end here) . . .

Let’s catch that item about laughter as a physical exercise. This might be especially encouraging for those who don’t feel like laughing.  To be able to get the strengthening effects of laughter without involving our minds, to get the biochemical and physiological changes and benefits which laughter brings, without focusing on anything humorous — well, is that possible?

Evidently, it is.  There are both scientific studies and reported stories of many people doing just that.  Some call it laugh therapy, or laughter therapy, and some have combined laughter with yoga and claim a special niche, practiced in many places around the globe for over a decade.  Laughter Yoga developer, Dr. Kataria, teaches students to train their diaphragm and abdominal muscles to breathe deeply by combining laugh exercises and yoga breathing techniques.  There go those increased levels of oxygen again!

Participants have reported that laughter yoga helped them counter or eliminate depression, create a more positive outlook, and improve overall quality of life, partly because of the laughter exercises, and partly due to the strength of their emotional responses when working within a group of peers.  The power of practicing with a group of cohorts appears to heighten the positive effects.

Those group dynamics must work in all kinds of settings, not just in Laughter Yoga groups, because Laughter Clubs have started popping up in many cities and towns.  One website reported that in India and other countries, laughing clubs are as popular as Rotary Clubs are in the U.S.  There, as well as in the United States, people gather (often in early morning) for the sole purpose of laughing.  One Midwestern U.S. community has a Laughing Class every Friday at 6:00 P.M.  What a great alternative to the many less healthy ways of kicking the work week into the past.  And it’s free.

When difficult circumstances or depression make it hard to respond to things that are intended to be humorous, laugh yoga or a laugh club may be a natural way to build resilience. Laughing is contagious.  Group practice has the potential of breaking down the barriers of resistance and fostering a sense of shared purpose:  to experience benefits and improvements.

Maybe Norman Cousins‘ famous quote belongs here.  He described the wild beneficial effects of hearty laughter on our bodies by saying, “Laughter is inner jogging.” Of course.  And if you have ever seen the energy of small children running around until the adults are exhausted, you have probably also noticed many, many laughs, giggles, and joyful snorts.  Children laugh an average of about 400 times a day. Seems unbelievable.  Yet even more unbelievable is the fact that the average number of laughs per day observed in adults is only 15.  Surely we can get that number a little higher.

Whether you find a group willing to practice “inner jogging” with you, or whether you practice laughing by yourself, or with your pets, find out for yourself what it feels like to let the exercise bring you into new states of confidence and well being.  Experience the big reduction in stress which occurs after only ten minutes of laughing.  Like the other resilience-building skills, it takes a decision to begin, and practice to develop the new habit. Go for it! The Secret Sauce for Wild Success is waiting for your immediate consumption.  Enjoy to taste.

Watch a 5-min Video on Laughter Yoga (Discovery Channel):