Remember when you used to laugh like this?!
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Or at this?!
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“What is this precious love and laughter budding in our hearts? It is the glorious sound of a Soul waking up!”
~Hafiz
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Catch an infection that can HEAL your body, mind and spirit!
GET YOUR LAUGHTER ON!
Valerie and ImprovCity performing the skit, Split Decision
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Laughter is a natural part of our beingness. We’ve had the ability to laugh from the moment we were born. By the time we were a few weeks old, our parents were marveling at us smiling, and within months, the laughter had begun. Studies show that children laugh as much as 300 times/day, yet adults can barely eek out a dozen laughs in the same timeframe! This is such concern, that laughter movements have begun all over the world to help people reconnect with humor, take themselves less seriously, and build laughter back into their lives in mega-doses!
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THE YOGI AND THE PIZZA
The Yogi walked into the Zen Pizza Parlor and said: “Make me one with everything.”
When the Yogi got the pizza, he gave the proprietor a $20 bill. The proprietor pocketed the bill.
The Yogi said “Don’t I get any change?” The proprietor said, “Change must come from within.”
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You’ve experienced it, right? Someone starts laughing, often at we-don’t-know-what, and before we realize it, we’re hooting right along with them. We’ve caught their bug, and the longer we have it, the more we’ll be healed by that little contagion in our midst. Laughter is contagious – perhaps more than any dis-ease that ever was. And what a gift there is in that – because it’s also incredibly healing. Several sources share the many benefits of laughter on our physical, mental, emotional and societal health.
| The Benefits of Laughter | ||
Physical Health Benefits:
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Mental Health Benefits:
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Social Benefits:
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So give yourself permission to laugh! Laugh often and laugh well. Open your mouth and let it rise up from your belly like a tidal wave. Giggle, snort, lose your breath, drool, let the tears stream down your face!! Go ahead and LAUGH!
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“I think the next best thing to solving a
problem is finding some humor in it.”
~Frank Clark
One of the most important things we can do to lighten up our lives is take the weight out of everything. Release the need to make everything so critical. Be more flexible in your strength, like sea grass, which has roots that hold it firmly in place despite the constant motion of the ocean. Monitor your language to hear how “heavy” are your words. For example, stop characterizing things as ”do or die” situations, or “must-haves.” Most importantly, stop taking yourself so seriously. Laugh more at your own foibles, foul-ups, and freak-outs. A little levity can go a long way in helping you find solutions and feel a lot better about whatever situations you face.
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Whenever you realize you’ve gotten stuck in thoughts of “it’s so important,” or feelings of doom and gloom, anger, fear or sadness … start to move the energy …
GET YOUR LAUGHTER ON!
Who’s Line Is It Anyway? with Richard Simmons:
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Here are some easy ways to add more laughter into your life:
- Make it a practice - set aside time to incorporate playful fun and humorous activities on at least a weekly basis.
- Turn off the news, eliminate violent programming, and shift to light-hearted and heart-warmingly fun programming instead.
- Read comic strips.
- Have a game night – focus on the play and not on the points or winning.
- Resurrect your favorite fun activities from childhood, like making snow angels, finger painting, doing canonballs off the pier or side of the pool, swinging, food fights, coloring, etc.
- Take up laughter yoga.
- Play with a pet.
- Read a silly story aloud to children and act out the different characters.
- Take an improvisational comedy class and/or go see live stand-up or live improv comedy.
- Practice smiling 100 times/day.
- Host a joke-a-thon and have prizes for the most laughter-inducing jokes.
- Just start laughing spontaneously and see how long you can keep it going!
“As soon as you have made a thought, laugh at it.”
~Lao Tsu
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“It’s time to take humor seriously, and seriousness humorously.”
~Swami Beyondananda
Steve Bhaerman, a.k.a. Swami Beyondananda, is on a mission to promote awakening and laughter through his company, Wake Up Laughing. Like us at the Heart of Living Vibrantly, Steve wants you to awaken to an understanding that we are all aspects of one “super-organism” called Humanity and that it’s time to wise up to our ”true human potential,” by engaging in the adventure of the evolution of Consciousness. Swami Beyondananda’s comedy is intended “to heal the heart and free the mind, to offer incisive insights into inconvenient truths (and convenient lies), and to do so through the eyes of love.”
“May we all wake up laughing … and wise up loving.”
~Steve Bhaerman
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“The greatest prayer you could ever pray, would be to laugh every day. For when you do, it elevates the vibratory frequency within your being such that you would heal your entire body.”
~Ramtha
Additional Laughter Resources:
Laughter Club International & Dr. Kataria’s School of Laughter Yoga: Launched in 1995 as a totally new modality, this practice has spread to more than 60 countries with some 6,000 groups practicing! Laughter Yoga combines Unconditional Laughter with Yogic Breathing (Pranayama). Anyone can Laugh for No Reason, without relying on humor, jokes or comedy. Laughter is simulated as a body exercise in a group; with eye contact and childlike playfulness, it soon turns into real and contagious laughter. The concept of Laughter Yoga is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter. One gets the same physiological and psychological benefits.
“If we can learn to laugh unconditionally, our happiness too will become unconditional.”
~Dr. Madan Kataria
World Laughter Tour: This website is the International clearinghouse for information, ideas and news about therapeutic laughter and laughter clubs.
Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor: Therapeutic humor is defined to be: any intervention that promotes health and wellness by stimulating a playful discovery, expression or appreciation of the absurdity or incongruity of life’s situations.
“At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.”
~Jean Houston
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“When you have a heartfelt belly laugh, all parts of your being – the physiological, the pyschological, the spiritual – they all vibrate in one single tune. They all vibrate in harmony!”
~Osho
“We don’t laugh because we’re happy - we’re happy because we laugh.”
~William James
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REVERSE the SEQUENCE of LIFE!
“I want to live my next life backwards:
You start out dead and get that out of the way.
Then you wake up in a nursing home feeling better every day.
Then you get kicked out for being too healthy.
You enjoy your retirement and collect your pension.
Then, when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day.
You work 40 years until you’re too young to work.
You get ready for High School: drink alcohol, party, and you’re generally promiscuous.
Then you go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, and you have no responsibilities.
Then you become a baby, and then…
You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in spa-like conditions: central heating, room service on tap, and then…
You finish off as an orgasm.
I rest my case.”
~George Carlin
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“Laughter is an instant vacation.”
~Milton Berle
Funny Dog Clips:
I Love Lucy – Vitameatavegamin:
Robin Williams performs a whirlwind of accents:
Funny Cat Clips:
Two Dogs Dining in a Busy Restaurant:
Frostie the Bird Dances to “Shake Your Tail Feather:”
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We will update this page periodically to share the latest clips, tips and resources to help you GET YOUR LAUGHTER ON often! Feel free to share your favorite jokes, techniques, or tools that can help others lighten up and claim their vibrant lives!
