Laughter: The Best Traditional Chinese Medicine

A grasshopper hops into a bar. The bartender says, "You're quite a celebrity around here. We've even got a drink named after you." The grasshopper says, "You've got a drink named Steve?"

Did we get you going yet?

An ancient Chinese proverb goes “The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it."

This means that skeptics, or pessimists, should not hinder a happy, positive person from getting results.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the ill person is encouraged to take full responsibility for their own cure, and for their general wellness. However by the time people are sick and are showing symptoms, the imbalance or dysfunction has been in process for years. It can be depressing and frustrating. Hard to begin treatment without a positive, hopeful attitude.

For this reason, some specialists in TCM will try “the laughing cure.”

Meaning, they will prompt you to laugh, and have fun. The lighter your mood, the more your treatment will work. There is always something that can be done! – TCM practitioners believe. Laughing provides the natural inner massage, and it can account for up to 30% of cure.

You don’t follow any recipe. You don’t take any herb. It doesn’t involve meditation, Qi Gong, acupuncture, or any other modalities.

Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door went nuts.
-- Steven Wright.

Laughing yet?

The Journal of Neuroscience reports that “listening to ‘positive-valence’ vocalizations (laughter) activated specific premotor areas in the left posterior inferior frontal region, automatically engaging preparation for facial gestures corresponding to the emotional content of the stimulus.” If you hear someone laughing, it spurs the brain to get ready to laugh and smile, too.

Laughter is a biochemical effect. It enhances brain chemistry, moves lymphs, oxygenates your organs, and counteracts destructive health consequences of chronic stress, report sources at News Target.

And if you need a "laughter game" to get started, click here.

So go ahead, be silly, giggle, chuckle, belly laugh, and guffaw! It's the finest phase of Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment!