Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Laughter as a form of exercise





Now that my knee is starting to feel better, I am briskly walking the dogs down to Main Beach in Laguna Beach for morning exercise. As we were making our return home, descending the stairs from Heisler Park, I heard all these people laughing. Belly laughing. Then I saw a group of people standing in a circle, on the beach, laughing hysterically with their arms in the air. I stood mesmerized, wondering what they were doing. Then they started twirling, continuing to laugh. I thought they must have been escapees from a lunatic asylum. Then, a nice woman by the name of Ruth came up to me and told me that they meet every morning at 8am for "Laughter as a Form of Exercise"

When we laugh, our bodies release feel good chemicals called endorphins which is a morphine-like substance. Anytime I can get a morphine-like substance into my body without having to meet someone in a dark alley to do so......I'm gonna do it! What if nothing is funny, you might ask? It's what's called the "As If" principle. You act as if something is a certain way and pretty soon it becomes that way in your experience. I am thinking of joining them. And the best part about it? It's free!

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