Since my diagnosis in May I've heard the "Let me know if there's anything I can do" a number of times. Because I was mostly feeling good (ok, not after the abdominal surgery) and had a capable, supportive significant other, there wasn't much I could say. A few folks just decided they were going to do something to help and did it (and some continue to do it - thanks, Misty!). For the others...pay my medical bills? So I just said let's get together - make me laugh.
Laughing is good for you. It's been scientifically shown to make you relax, release stress, and even decrease pain and boost immunity! Plus it's free, not to mention fun (>8. With those principles in mind, Dr. Madan Kataria invented laughter yoga, which combines laughter with yogic breathing (pranayama). The body cannot tell the difference between real and fake laughter, so laughter is simulated in a group, with exercises that hopefully make fake laughter turn into real laughter.
Since July, I've been going to various classes and sessions offered at Pathways, a holistic health center in Uptown (I've been meaning to write a post about Pathways for a while now). Tonight I went to a laughter yoga class. There were just three students and the teacher, Linda, who led us through different "exercises" that were just silly enough to make me laugh without much help. We pretended we were lions and roared with our tongues out. We made a conga line. We looked through tiny binoculars made by making loose fists. All while laughing at different pitches (think high-pitched "heeheehees," and low-pitched "ho ho hos"). The other two students seemed a bit subdued and maybe even skeptical. Even so, I had a lot of fun - I was being silly and laughing, how could that not be fun? I hope to do it again in a larger group, where the self consciousness wouldn't be so evident, and the environment even more raucous.
In the meantime, I'm meeting some friends for breakfast Friday...
Laughter yoga was featured in City Pages just last month: http://www.citypages.com/2011-07-06/news/laugh-yoga-practitioners-guffaw-their-way-to-good-health/
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