Yoga Laughter

Imagine this happening to your body… “rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary actions” — Fifteen facial muscles contract and stimulation of the zygomatic major muscle occurs. Meanwhile, the respiratory system is upset by the epiglottis half-closing the larynx, so that air intake occurs irregularly, making you gasp. In extreme circumstances, the tear ducts are activated, so that while the mouth is opening and closing and the struggle for oxygen intake continues, the face becomes moist and often red (or purple).”

The event I have described is better known as laughter.  Realizing all that body goes through kinda makes you want to laugh.

These days it may be hard to laugh.  It’s difficult to find what is happening in the world up lifting.

I had a friend call me recently to tell me a very short story to make me laugh.  It worked by the way and was a great jumping off point to our talk.  She said that hearing my laughter made her feel better.  I thought, that is powerful.  This energy is contagious.  Is that true for you?  When you are out in the world, do you smile when you see someone else smiling?  Do you feel the flow of someone’s else’s laughter into your life?  Or is that channel cut off?  How much awareness do you bring to your own laughter?  Is it something you take for granted?

Sometimes it feels like work to let yourself go and just laugh – Laughing at yourself for tripping, laughing with each other in the follies of life.  Granted, there is a lot to be serious about in the world.  You have things to do, accountability at your job , a family to support. And in pursuit of accomplishing each task, you narrow your focus and make a beeline for the future.  If your not careful, marking off the to do list can be a practice in living in the future.

Do you ever notice people walking and their torso is slightly tilted forward?  In yoga, people tend to reach with their forward hand in Warrior 2.  This is partly a sign of body awareness, but more a state of mind.  Leaning in, often denotes the mind leaning into the future. If you felt present, your perspective is bound to change and what you see might startle you or even make you laugh.

You might have forgotten how healthy it is to laugh.

In 1979, a groundbreaking book by Dr. Norman Cousins was published, Anatomy of an Illness, the first of it’s kind to link the health benefits and laughter. In this book, Dr. Cousins described how watching hilarious Marx Brother movies helped him recover from a painful disease.

Did you know that laughing actually increases circulation and improves the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to body tissue?  Humor evens lowers blood pressure and aids the immune system in doing its job properly and also wards off respiratory problems. Think of it as an aerobic workout for your lungs.  Laughter reduces stress hormones, helps control pain by increasing endorphines and by allowing a person to set aside aches and pains, the body can relax.  Try tickling yourself with a funny thought right before you dip into Corpse pose and you might feel a whole new world open up.

So if laughing often is a way to improving health and part of laughing more means opening up your present perspective, then this becomes part of your daily practice.

Your senses are a big indictor of your expanding consciousness.  Close your eyes just listen.  Here the pulse of your own body and then the subtle sounds the emanate from the room.  It might just be the hum of the refrig or the streets noice outside, but it’s their if you listen.  This basic practice of hearing will help you widen perspective in your daily life.  Pick a sense a week and in a short time you will find that the road you have traveled most is new again.  The dust is cleared and your step has lighten.

When you come on your yoga mat and are in the midst of challenging posture, the effects of the lightness on the inside will dramatically change the elements of the muscles and the minds grip.  As one of my gurus reminds me, just turning the corner of your mouth upwards is enough to find more depth in a pose.

So take stock in where you might be caught in a telescopic focus that is making your tense your muscles. Find your own inventive way to inject laughter into your daily life.  My partner and I have come up with new nicknames for each other and they make us laugh – they lighten the moment when we catch ourselves taking things too seriously. Instead of texting someone and typing LOL, pick up the phone and share your laughter.  It’s part of the human condition to laugh. Be conscious when you are laughing and enjoy every rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary actions of it.  Your body will be thankful you did.