We just completed our 13th Annual Laughter Conference and Joy Festival on the Gold Coast. It was similar in structure to others but ended up being like no other. The reason remains a mystery, but those who I have asked said that we connected in a way that they had never experienced before.
With every Research Study that we have completed there has been a consensus that the people in the groups being studied were so much more connected to each other by the end of it. But it still remains a mystery about how this occurs through laughter?
I suppose the simplest way to observe this is to see people when they are laughing together. This may be over a dinner, a social event, or at a comedy club. We can connect with words but words can be harsh or even harmful. Through authentic laughter, there is nothing more than an expression of inner joy that can only be seen as safe and welcoming.
So here are some tips as to how the Laughter Quotient works for helping people to connect to themselves, and others.
- Emotional. Because our emotions are kept in our bodies, with the Laughter Quotient we are embodying the laughter in our core. When this occurs the laughter is deeper and has a certain tone and quality that makes it more appealing to others.
- Mental. When we laugh our brain goes into a gamma frequency. This is the same frequency that is obtained through deep and prolonged meditation. This connects us to our creativity and playfulness to allow a more childlike laughter to be produced.
- Physical. Apart from the actual physical connection with some laughter exercises, laughter connects through vibrations and transfer of energy. Many a comedian has talked about feeling the “waves of laughter” that are coming at them from the audience when they are on stage. I guess it’s like a sonic boom that can shatter glass windows, but instead of being damaging, it is inviting.
- Social. As previously stated above we are at our most social when we are laughing with others. The benefit of the Laughter Quotient is that we can record and playback our own laughter. This means that we can be laughing and connecting with someone’s laughter, albeit our own, even when we are by ourselves.
- Spiritual. The word spirit means breath. We inspire, and then expire. The Laughter Quotient takes into account not just the sound that is made by the laughter, but the time that it takes for the process of breathing in also. After all, you can’t laugh it out until you’ve actually breathed in. In Eastern philosophy, we are all connected through the breath. Laughter, like meditation, is a spiritual practice that connects us around the world. In the case of the Conference, there were people from Japan, the UK, the USA, and all around Australia all in the one room. So maybe that’s why the connection was so much deeper for us all by being so close to each other in the same space? Eureka ha ha ha!
If you have any further questions regarding the Laughter Quotient then please feel free to email me at merv@mervneal.com at any time.
Merv Neal is a Laughter Yoga Master Trainer, CEO of Laughter Yoga Australia and New Zealand, and Director of Holistic Services Group. He has successfully owned and operated his own businesses for more than 43 years. He has created a Laughter Yoga Business Training Program, as well as the Business Mentors and Coaches Program, to help others to take laughter to commercial organizations, and/or to create a laughter business of their own. More information can be found at http://www.laughteryogaaustralia.org or https://www.mervneal.com. He can be contacted on 0408552269 or merv@mervneal.com