Let's Laugh Together

Dec 21, 2021

By IBA Office

"Laughter is wine for the soul – laughter soft, or loud and deep, tinged through with seriousness – the hilarious declaration made by man that life is worth living."
- Sean O'Casey

We've all heard many times that laughter is the best medicine. The great American poet Robert Frost has said that if we couldn't laugh that we'd all go insane. Despite this seemingly common knowledge, it is overwhelmingly easy to take life and all its minor or major roadblocks far too seriously. But our hope this holiday season is that we can all experience a lessening, or perhaps a softening, of the gravity of life. And one of the best ways to do so is through laughter. So, the holiday message from the IBA to you this year is to laugh with us. This newsletter is dedicated to laughter. We hope that you find plenty of laughter for yourself this holiday season and that we all enter the New Year with hearts that are a little lighter and merrier.

With love, smiles and giggles,
John, Esther and the IBA Team
Did you know?

Laughter has been scientifically studied and has been demonstrated to improve many aspects of health. Here are just a handful of laughter's physiological benefits: it improves cardiovascular health, lowers cortisol levels, increases pain tolerance, improves cognitive functions, decreases inflammation in autoimmune conditions, and significantly enhances immune system function. It even decreases the spike in total glucose levels if you watch a comedy right after eating. The mental benefits tend to be more obvious; laughter reduces agitation and anxiety, increases happiness, and improves self-esteem and mood.

For healthcare practitioners like BodyTalkers, simply mentioning to clients that laughter, humor and fun are incredibly beneficial can help them make changes to incorporate more of it into their lives.

Laughter Yoga is a growing therapy that relies on laughter, clapping, breathing and chanting. The amazing thing about laughter is that you do not have to feel the urge to laugh to derive the benefits of laughter. In fact, many Laughter Yoga activities have participants begin by pretending to laugh in various ways. Typically, real laughter comes somewhere during the experience. But, even if it doesn't, your body doesn't know the difference. Even with "pretend" laughing, the body follows suit, and you start to feel the emotion connected to laughter.
A patient walks into a healthcare clinic, dreadfully anxious.

Patient: Nurse! Please help me! I'm shrinking. I am losing an inch of height every few minutes!

Nurse: I'm so sorry, but all our doctors are handling other emergencies.
You'll just have to be a little patient.
Here's a one-minute video to help you laugh more at yourself. We recommend you try the exercise several different ways. Try it on your own, try it in front of a mirror, try it in your MindScape workshop, and try it together with a loved one. 
Our favorite laughter quotes

"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come."
-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
 
"If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don't bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he's a good man."
-- Fyodor Dostoevsky
 
"The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter."
-- Mark Twain
 
"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. "
-- Bible, Proverbs 17:22
 
"Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine."
-- Lord Byron
 
"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning do to do afterward."
-- Kurt Vonnegut
Try a little laughter

The following Laughter Yoga exercise had us in giggles pretty quickly. Try it yourself.
  1. Say the names "Mississippi Tennessee."
  2. Now laugh with the same cadence you used to say those words: "Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee Hee."
  3. Repeat ten times.
Did you notice anything? Many people discover that the exercise soon strikes them as funny enough to induce real laughter.
And some Christmas riddles
to leave you with ...


This might be more brain-twisting than laughter-inducing, unless you can laugh at yourself for getting stumped!

Riddle 1. When does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?
 
Riddle 2: In what year did Christmas Day and New Year's Day fall in the same year?
 
Riddle 3: Who is always full and never hungry on Christmas?
 
Riddle 4: On Christmas Eve, what question can children never answer yes to?
 
Riddle 5: How many presents can Santa put in an empty bag?
 

 
Riddle Answers

Stop scrolling now if you want to try to figure them out for yourself. 
...
...

Come on, did you even try?
...
...

Okay, you you can look. We hope you can read small print.
...
...

Answer 1: In the dictionary.
Answer 2: It happens every year.
Answer 3: A stuffed turkey.
Answer 4: "Are you asleep yet?"
Answer 5: Only one, after that, it's not empty anymore!
What did the left eye say to the right eye?

Between you and me, something smells.

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