reduce stress using laughterThis morning I’ve been preparing to shoot some more video footage. I’d put it off a few days because I had several nights of not-the-normal amount of sleep and didn’t want to look like some bedraggled, exhausted bag lady while teaching nice positive stuff.

So what did I do for an instant fix? How did I get myself perked up, vibrant and sharply focussed?

If you immediately thought of coffee, apples, drugs or good hard slap; I found a much more fun way to do it.

Laughter.

Working by myself today means laughter can’t be bounced off someone else. Thank goodness for YouTube! When you force yourself to laugh and can hear others laughing with you, even though they’re in a video, it automatically raises your vibe.

“Fake it till you make it” in this sense is absolutely perfect because your brain and nervous system assumes you really are laughing. Then they kick in with the appropriate positive biological and physiological responses.

Medical research has proven frequent laughter causes your stress levels to drop and all sorts of wonderful things happen such as raising your immunity, suppressing pain, oxygenising your muscles and bringing your focus sharply back to the present moment for great clarity.

Law of Attraction wise, if you raise your vibe or mood in this way every day, you open yourself to the solutions to your problems.  People are more helpful to you, your health improves, you notice the great opportunities around you and you come up with the brilliant ideas that shift you towards your desires. Life becomes more fun!

Here’s a few videos to take a look at.

  • Some are press articles.
  • Some show exercises you can do in your own laughter club which I highly recommend for your office or neighbourhood.
  • Some you can laugh along with which I suggest you set as your default browser page. It’s the perfect way to start your working day.

CNN Report on Laughter

John Cleese TV show featuring Mumbai Laughter Club

Laughter Club exercises with Vishwa Bhargava

Exercises from a Hong Kong Laughter Club

Laughter Yoga exercises with Robert Rivest

This one is lovely to just listen to in the background while I do other work because it’s nothing but laughter. I cannot help but smile.

Laughter chain on Skype

Classic Clowning

I think I’ve seen the blonde guy on a Cirque du Soleil Tour. If you can tell me who they are I would love to give them full credit.

Australian Laughs with the Umbilical Brothers

TIP OF THE DAY

Make your own YouTube playlist of the silliest videos and some Laughter Club videos to watch as a montage when you’re feeling down.

Laughter Challenge for the week

Ten to twenty minutes of laughter a day will make an extraordinary difference to your life if you’ve not been laughing enough lately.

Try it every day for a week and keep an eye on how it has changed in your health, career and relationships – even your libido.

Comment below or email me with what you discovered. 🙂