I would be very interested to learn about personal experiences with laughter therapy. I know little about the subject although I do find when I watch movies that make me laugh it has a profound effect on my mood. I suspect there is a chemical reaction in the brain but that is beyond my understanding. I am careful about the type of comedy I watch though as some has some rather dark undertones and/or self deprecating aspects that have the opposite affect ... speaking for myself.
Cannot say I know to much about it but you may be onto something there. There are some shows from the UK that I find funny that I watch on YouTube and feel good while watching and after. As for whether the comedy is dark or not does not bother me
What an interesting topic.I have been to laughter yoga, and that was about doing fake laughter that in a group then turns into real physical laughter. I know some people really like it, I only went once and found it false but my partner liked it.
I sometimes watch UK,panel shows that always make me laugh. I suppose laughter therapy would be more detailed.
The internet has a lot of information about the affects of laughing (or even just smiling) on brain chemicals which help to elevate mood and increase pain tolerance. Like you, I am not keen on the forced laughing group session though they may help some. From my experience, laughter needs to be a part of our daily life, giving it a priority that allows us to allocate time to enjoying things we find funny, not just waiting till something comes along. In the book of Proverbs in the Bible it says "a merry heart does good like medicine" so this piece of wisdom has been around a long time.
I love the idea of laughter therapy - although unfortunately there's not a lot of it in Australia! I would have liked to do the laughter yoga that Quirky mentioned too.
I read a book called the 'Inner Spirit of Laughter' by Madan Kataria - he has been teaching it all his life. What they've found through research is that fake laughter releases the same sorts of chemicals and endorphins as real laughter, which is why it's practiced so often.
But yes - any laughter or smiling is good anyways!
There is a laughing yoga class in Melbourne , I found it through the site Meetup it is run by a guy called Merv. I went to a few sessions to see if it would b fun and also for a sick family member. I know what you mean about forced laughter but also the funny thing there was laughing at each others laughs, its worth checking out.
