Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE
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Have a laugh
‘I like the laughter that opens the lips and the heart - that shows at the same time pearls and the soul.’ – Victor Hugo.
I have been reminding myself recently to have a good laugh. It's strange how such a natural thing and expression of happiness can be forgotten. But it's not only an expression, it also is a cure! So as the rest of my day starts now, so does my opportunity to correct this oversight! Ha!
The phrase 'having a healthy laugh' has its root in truth. Laughing is one of the most healthy exertion, sometimes referred to as ‘jogging for the insides’ it gives our organs a real workout. Apparently, children can laugh between 400-600 times per day, but adults rarely laugh at all, and at best just for a few moments. Yet it’s a real stress buster! Whilst stress itself is known to suppress our immune system, laughter apparently helps boost the immune system. It also helps to free up the whole body to improve our poise. If we're feeling down, we 'come down' by collapsing our posture, but if we are happy and 'up' we go up and can lengthen in stature.
An activity that is unique to humans (although some animals can appear to laugh!) and such a wholesome and healthy experience too, it is interesting and a little concerning that laughter is something that many of us rarely allow ourselves. We would do ourselves the world of good if we could learn to smile and laugh again. To open up our throats and mouths and really let out a good hearty laugh does wonders for our health, mood and sense of well-being. It’s an uplifting experience that gets our insides bobbing up and down. It frees us up physically whilst also creating good hormones such as endorphins and neurotransmitters, and decreases levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.
It’s just good to laugh! And if you can’t find anything funny to laugh about, just start making a laughing sound, and amazingly your body will respond similarly by creating endorphins, and also give your organs a good stimulating shake-up. If you just do it, you’ll soon start laughing naturally anyway! Use every opportunity you can find to have a laugh or at least to smile. And if your friends think that you’ve entirely lost it and gone crazy, they’re the ones missing out. From my own experience, I recommend a minimum of 5 minutes of laughter daily, in small amounts spread out throughout the day. Do it for a week and see how you feel.
Smiling too brings with it many of the health benefits that are mentioned above. It also has a beneficial effect on our facial expression and our whole poise. The smile is an upward movement of the facial muscles that can contribute to the healthy working of our postural mechanism. As bipeds, we need to be ‘going upwards’ in order for our muscle co-ordination to support us effectively. Smiling not only helps make us attractive, it’s good for our health.
‘Smile and the whole world smiles with you.’
