Laugh your way to health and healing

MANILA, Philippines - Following our two-decade-old yearly tradition, I and my daughters Nina and Bunny visited National Children’s Hospital (NCH) and Quezon Institute (QI) to distribute big-as-a-pillow-breads especially for the patients. To give the distribution a unique and jubilant twist, I asked the DSWD coordinator at NCH, Nimfa Joloca, to gather able patients and guardians for a Laughter Yoga session. It was Laughter Yoga’s way of reaching out to the patients and parents/guardians, to help boost their immune system. To teach and share the wisdom of Laughter Yoga — its joy, happiness, healing, and emotional expression. To guide them to hearty laughter and other kinds of laughter that they can resort to anytime, even alone . . . to perk up their emotions when at their lowest ebb. For “a merry heart, doeth good like a medicine!”

Children and old alike, mothers and babies came, with some patients bringing along their dextrose stands. As always, the children, though initially shy, readily and excitingly laughed. As children’s laughter comes straight from the body, they produce an engaging, spontaneous, hilarious laughter. On the other hand, the adults still have to look for reasons to laugh. Their brains make use of their intellectual capacity to process the comedy movies they watch, the funny stories they read, or the jokes they hear, then understand what is funny and amusing before they laugh. Laughter Yoga’s unique advantage of laughing at anything or nothing can come handily to the rescue! A person with a light and happy spirit lives longer!

After introducing the Laughter Yoga clap, the participants were told how such a way of clapping could help energize them when they feel weak or tired or their “batteries are low.”

Repeatedly enumerated and emphasized to the amazed-and-wondering participants were the multi-health benefits of Laughter Yoga. As we went along doing some kinds of laughter, I interspersed them with yoga-based stretching and breathing exercises. To highlight and stress the importance of proper breathing, I quoted Dr. Otto Warburg, a two-time Nobel Prize awardee in medicine who talked about the oxygenation in the cells of the major organs of the body. According to him, people get sick because of stress. When a person is under stress, three things happen: The breathing becomes shallow, irregular and is held back. Breathing is connected to our state of mind, which directly affects our health.

The participants were advised to learn as much as they could from the Laughter Yoga session, to reap and maximize the healthful effects of Laughter Yoga.

Violeta Tutor, whose son Joseph Tutor suffers from acute lymphocytic leukemia, related that “she and other participants felt lighter and better, and learned that no matter how difficult a situation is, they must laugh it off. That after the Laughter Yoga session, they felt whole, alive and hopeful.”

Novartis Healthcare Philippines, Inc. sponsored a Laughter Yoga session for 500 cancer and leukemia patients at the Philippine Heart Center last March 6.

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Let’s laugh for a healthier and happier us. For updates on Laughter Yoga’s sessions, log on to www.laughteryogaphils.com.