🌼 Laughter as Medicine: How Intentional Joy Can Transform Your Health with Cathy Nesbitt
Welcome to this Start Fresh mini from the Om WOW Podcast! Let’s reset our mindset and start the week with clarity and intention.
Listen to the short episode:
Episode #34: Show Notes
This week I tried something completely new and a pinch weird at first. I attended an interactive online Laughter Yoga group session run by my new friend and upcoming podcast guest from Canada, Cathy Nesbitt.
When most people think of yoga, they picture difficult poses on a mat. But there's really so much more to yoga than that. The focus of this particular session was to raise our mood and energy through laughter (some faked and some real). We were up on our feet dancing to empowering music, and Cathy even snuck in some techniques I recognize from my work with acclaimed energy work master, Donna Eden, as well as some gentle Chi Gong moves. We even activated some EFT Tapping points!
This was a powerhouse session, and here's the best part: Cathy offers these for FREE every week on Tuesday mornings at 9:30am Eastern.
I just met Cathy a few days ago when we recorded her upcoming episode for the podcast. Her positive energy is contagious, and I can't wait for you to hear our full conversation. In the meantime, I'd like to share with you some of what Cathy had to say about laughter yoga and the importance of laughter in our lives.
What Is Laughter Yoga? Not What You Think
Let me start by clearing up a major misconception. As Cathy explained to me, laughter yoga is not doing yoga and laughing. It's laughing as a cardiovascular exercise. It's not jokes or comedy. This is intentional laughter, laughing for the health of it.
You've probably heard the expression, "laughter's the best medicine," right? But here's Cathy's follow-up question: Have you had your daily dose?
She's talking about dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. The love drugs. The happy hormones. We all know that feeling when we have a great giggle with our friends. When you can't stop laughing and you're crying and your stomach hurts 'cause you're laughing so hard.
We know that when we laugh full on, we're fully present, we feel great, and we connect on a deeper level. And when you get into those giggle fits, you can't even remember why you're laughing.
The History of Laughter Yoga
Laughter Yoga was started in 1995 by a medical doctor in India, and his goal is world peace. When Cathy first heard about it, she was intrigued.
Here's where the story gets really interesting. That same week in 2012, Cathy was at a networking event with hundreds of people. The very first woman she met was a laughter yoga teacher. Talk about meant to be, right?
Even better, this teacher's club was a five-minute walk from where Cathy's mother-in-law lived. Cathy and her mother-in-law tried it and loved it! It became their fun standing “date night” out.
Cathy's Laughter Yoga Journey
Unfortunately, three months later, the teacher had to close her club. Cathy was sad to lose the class, and decided to get trained as a leader. Then she loved it so much, she got trained as a teacher. Now she teaches leaders, and she says it's really the most fun training that people will ever take. she says it teaches you what the expression "laughter is the best medicine" means. And it's scientifically proven.
The Science Behind Laughter
This is where things get really fascinating. Cathy explained that laughing actually causss feel-good chemicals to be released into the body. Versus the stress chemicals like cortisol, adrenaline, and epinephrine. When we're stressed, blood, lymph, and oxygen leave our frontal lobe so that we can escape or whatever, even if it's just our mind creating the stress.
But when we're laughing, we're exhaling. “Ha ha ha.” We don't have to think about breathing in and out. Because our body has to breathe in order to continue ha-ha-ing. And then we're secreting all those love drugs.
Turns out, the brain requires 25% more oxygen than the rest of our body as an operating principle. This is part of the reason why when we're stressed, we can't even come up with solutions.
How Stress Steals Your Brain Power
Have you ever lost your keys and you had to go somewhere? You're flapping around, "Ah, where are my keys?" and getting more stressed because you're going to be late.
Here's what Cathy suggests: Next time you're flapping around searching for whatever it is you've misplaced, stop. Take a deep breath in. Laugh it off with some ha ha ha, ha ha so you can start secreting the feel-good hormones, and then just wait. Ask, "Where did I leave my keys?" and you'll find them.
Your brain is literally being deprived of oxygen when you're in stress, and we're living in this perpetual state of stress way too much of our lives.
Living in Joy
Cathy talked about how many of us who work Monday to Friday only dip into joy if we work maybe on a Saturday. How we think, “Yay, I can relax today." and then it's like, "Oh crap, it's Sunday again." And many people feel relaxed during vacations, where they can relax, and feel peace, joy and calm.
But what if we could live in joy consistently? Cathy believes it's our birthright. She’d love to see us living in joy more often and only dipping into stress every now and then. We just need to pay attention, notice the stressful feelings starting, and then to say “Nope, back to joy."
Instead of living in stress and only occasionally feeling joy, we could flip that completely around. It is possible!
The Power of Smiling
What Cathy was saying about laughing made me think of something I'd read before about smiling. Even if we don't feel like it, if you just make a smile on your face, the muscles signal the brain. I read somewhere that you're supposed to smile as you're falling asleep 'cause it makes those same feel-good chemicals get going, no matter how you actually feel.
Cathy suggests falling asleep smiling AND smiling as the first thing you do when you wake up. Don’t grab your phone first or mentally go through your to-do list. Smile and just have a moment of gratitude. Just be like, "Oh yes, I'm alive, I'm awake, I have a bed!"
Laughter is such a wonderful expression, and it changes everything. Here's the key: our body doesn't know the difference between real and simulated laughter. So even if we don't feel like laughing, we can laugh with ha ha ha ha ha and we start secreting those love drugs.
What Happens at a Laughter Club
When people come to a laughter club for the first time, it's weird, right? Because there's no jokes, there's no comedy. There are little games to inspire the laughter. People who are logical and really in their head often feel skeptical about laughter club, but when Cathy breaks through to those folks, they're her best advocates.
During the club, Cathy says our body's like “pew, pew, pew” secreting the love drugs. It's feeling great. Our body's having a party, and our mind might be going, "What is happening here? Why are you laughing? You look ridiculous. Stop laughing!"
Cathy explains that if your just thinking about laughing, you're not feeling it. You're thinking it, and we need to feel it to heal.
Feel It to Heal It: Getting Out of Your Head
We think that we can think our way out of problems. We need to feel our way out. Like, what is it that I really need to do? What is this telling me?
Cathy explains that it’s not that emotions are good or bad, they just are. It's just a frequency. If we can feel into what that is, what is the message that I'm getting here, and what do I need to learn from this? Then we can go, "Okay, thank you for stopping by. Now I get it. Moving along."
This philosophy really speaks to me because so many of us try to intellectualize our way through everything instead of actually feeling what we need to feel.
How to Join Cathy's Free Online Laughter Yoga Club
Cathy offers events both in person and online. Her online free laughter club happens every Tuesday at 9:30 am EST. It’s 30 minutes of super fun self-care. She incorporates, many complimentary energy modalities including EFT Tapping, Qi Gong, Brain Gym and more.
She says laughter is magic medicine! There's no side effects except for the pains in your cheeks and your belly. But those are just the laughter muscles, right?
Cathy’s events typically have between 20 and 30 little Zoom squares. And her wheelhouse is special needs and seniors. So four or five of those squares are community living groups, special needs groups and long-term care groups.
It's Free, So Why Not Try It?
Friends, let me say this again… Cathy offers this valuable club for FREE each week, which I think is incredibly generous. It speaks to her heart, her character, and her motivation. She’s not doing this to become rich, she’s doing it to be of authentic service. Show up and experience it for yourself!
Cathy's advice is simple: do your best to be aware of your energy, and when you're feeling stressed, take action to diffuse this stressful energy. It's within our power to feel good.
My Challenge to You This Week
Friends, this week I challenge you to add some smiling and laughter into your week, even if you're faking it. Reminder: your body doesn't know the difference! Watch some stand up comedy on Youtube, get silly with a friend, or try out laughter yoga for yourself!
I've put Cathy's Tuesday morning Laughter Yoga Club on my personal calendar permanently because it's that powerful and important.
Have a fabulous week my friends, and keep smiling!
If this mini gave you a mindset boost, pass it on! Comment below & let me know— your energy makes a difference.
Meet Our Guest: Cathy Nesbitt
Cathy is a Health and Wellness Advocate and founder of Cathy’s Crawly Composters, Cathy’s Sprouters and Cathy’s Laughter Club. She is a multi award-winning environmental innovator who uses workshops and inspirational speaking to motivate people to live a more sustainable life. Cathy is also an avid cyclist and gardener.
Connect with Cathy:
Free weekly laughter club & more info about Cathy
Meet Our Host: Jennifer Robin O’Keefe
Jennifer Robin serves as a relatable, down-to-earth, REAL Wellness & Success Coach. She’s not a fancy, perfect makeup, airbrushed kind of woman. She’s been told many times, in a variety of environments, that she’s easy to talk to, and makes others feel welcome and comfortable. Her mission in life is both simple and profound: to make others feel worthy.
Professionally, Jennifer holds several wellness certifications including Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Tapping, Thought Field Therapy (TFT) Tapping, Reiki, and more. She continuously expands her knowledge in the fields of Qi Gong, Xien Gong, Vibration/Energy Wellness and Natural Health. She also studied extensively with Jack Canfield, and serves as a Certified Canfield Trainer, authorized to teach "The Success Principles."
She’s an active reader and researcher who loves to learn, and one of her biggest joys is teaching and sharing what she’s discovered with others.
