If you have ever wanted to know if it is actually possible to laugh your way out of sadness and stress and into happiness, there might be something here for you.

A few years ago, I attended a workshop on laughing. I was the most miserable person there. That is no hook line and it was certainly no joke. My workplace had put together a quarterly, whole of organisation, get together and thought it would be interesting to have someone come in and take a 'Laughter Session'.

I wasn’t impressed from the beginning. I love to laugh, I love to be light and joyful and I love to find new ways to enjoy laughter but for a workplace to spring this on us when I was so stressed, so overworked, so undervalued and burnt out it seemed like a slap in the face. It didn't feel like one of those slapstick comedy type slaps in the face, where the onlookers roar with laughter, but a real ‘we want you to turn up and turn on and behave so we can look aspirational’, which I wasn’t buying at all.

I wasn’t going to turn into a corporate muppet. I had just given the worst address I had ever given as an executive, to a crowd that couldn’t see or understand the pain I was experiencing or know just how burnt out I was. Honestly, I didn’t even know how burnt out I was, but here I was having to stand and laugh with the same people that I felt were the cause of the pain!

My unimpressed state went from poor to worse at, my perceived, injustice of the situation. Luckily, before my attitude slipped too far, I noticed that it was one of the staff that was giving the session. I had heard about him from another colleague days earlier and, according to her, he genuinely believed in laughing as a medicine.

I might not have wanted to tow the company line that day but I certainly wasn’t going to let this man down. I didn't want to be one of the tough ones in the crowd or allow him to experience even a moment of the pain I was feeling. So I turned up and I turned on. I listened to what he had to say and I took part in the activities... and things started to change.

 Meditation and deep breathing

During the first few minutes of the session, the young man explained to us that mindfulness helps us be present in the moment and by being present in the moment, we can shut out the noise that stops us from seeing, hearing and feeling what that moment has to bring us. I, personally, don’t believe in the type of meditation he was doing at the beginning so I did what I was comfortable with and allowed my mind to find peace and renewal rather than absence.

I have since learned that the benefits of deep breathing are almost as important as breathing itself since our bodies are designed to release appox 70% of toxins through our breath! I don’t recall if he explained it at the time (and I don’t think he did given this was a laughing session not a breathing session) but I have learned that the parasympathetic nervous system and breathing are connected through our vagus nerve and fight-or-flight response.

When we are feeling stress, our sympathetic nervous system gets activated to help us escape from the ‘danger’ our body perceives that we are in. That’s when you start to notice changes in your body like shallow breathing, rapid heartbeat, and anxious feelings.

But when we intentionally slow and deepen our breathing, we are letting our body know that we are safe which, in turn, activates our parasympathetic nervous system, returning our body to a relaxed state of functioning and allows us to be in the present moment to experience everything it has for us.

 Laughing

With most of the room now in a relaxed state, we were told to start laughing.

If there was anything that would remove me from my relaxed state, it would be laughing into the air at nothing. I mean, most of us spend a good portion of our lives trying not to look like we have lost control but here he was encouraging us to laugh at the air.

He explained that it doesn’t matter if you don’t feel happy, just laugh.

He explained that it doesn’t matter if you feel silly, just laugh.

We had to laugh on our own.

We had to laugh looking at each other.

We had to laugh into the air.

We just had to keep laughing.

The laughing session went on for at least 5 minutes. That might not seem long but when you are feeling a little awkward and laughing into the air or at other people, it is a long time!

 What is really happening when we force ourselves to laugh?

This really likeable young man explained to us that it didn’t matter if we didn’t feel like laughing or were happy. It didn't matter if we found something funny or not as, apparently, the brain doesn’t know the difference between real laughter (from amusement) and the activity of laughter. He explained that the neural transmitters that are activated are the same. These neural transmitters release positive feeling chemicals at the same time as restricting the release of negative feeling chemicals.

 How to do it

There’s all sorts of online help but if you are like me and a little skeptical, then simply laugh. Make a moment in your day to slow everything down and start laughing. Actually make many moments in your day where you just let yourself laugh.

Start with a few seconds and then increase it, little by little. In time, I hope you find that you are laughing more easily at nothing and then a little more easily at the absurdities of the day. In time, let your laugh turn to a roar, let out that positive energy. 

 My hope for you is that through this small activity, a lightness and genuine joy increases in your life.

 Conclusion

Laughter is a medicine*. It certainly was for me that day, and has been ever since, as I realised that laughter had largely disappeared from my life. I have since pursued joy and laughter in my life like a puppy dog pursues a bird in the garden! Eagerly and perhaps a little messily.

Whilst even scientists are saying that there needs to be more study on the effects of laughter to really understand it, one thing is clear is that creating time and space for laughter in your life has a positive impact on your emotional, mental, physical and spiritual well-being.

Give it a go now. Slow down in this moment and laugh… give it 15 seconds, then do it again.

*Not medical advice.

Send me an email [email protected] and let me know if intentional laughing has helped bring a lightness and joy to your life..

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