Laughter makes us beautiful, eliminates tension and physically shows that we enjoy life. Laughter is food for the soul and a natural antidepressant. But do we fully know the effects of laughing? In order to understand the power that laughter therapy exerts on people and have a complete vision of this technique, we have spoken with Mari Cruz García, president of the World Laughter Organization, expert in laughter therapy, gelotologist, author of the books ‘El power of laughter’ and ‘How to benefit from the power of laughter’, founder of the worldwide school of laughter and expert in personal growth techniques.
What does laughter therapy basically consist of?
- Mari Cruz: It is a technique through which we intend to get people to differentiate between open and closed laughter, humorous laughter from technicians’ laughter. Behind every laugh there is a lot of information; information about how that person is, about enthusiasm, joy, bitterness, disposition, will, health… And that has nothing to do with humor. What comedians want is for people to laugh, but just like that, and yet as professionals of laughter we make people learn to laugh, breathe better, inhale better and be healthier.
- Laughter is closely related to joy and, consequently, to enthusiasm, will and gratitude. Because everyone complains about everything, we want more… However, laughing people improve what they have. Laughter is the best medicine that exists because it makes you a person who makes things easy, who can improve them, feel very useful and collaborate. The people who care for laughter and joy are like a gift to people who work hard in companies, schools or hospitals. Laughter professionals are called more and more because the more conflicts or despair there is, the more laughter is used. We are working a lot…
DF: What is done in a Laughter Therapy session? What kind of practices are carried out?
- Mari Cruz: It is very important to position the spine well, for this reason, Laughter Therapy has nothing to do with humor. We also influence the person’s breathing and, above all, we greatly cultivate the optimism of each thought. 95% of a full day is dedicated to pessimistic thoughts, thousands of destructive thoughts that are also uncontrolled, you don’t even realize you have them. The remaining 5% is for optimistic thoughts. So, we train the person to be careful with those negative thoughts.
- For those of us who cultivate laughter and joy, thoughts are more important than facts, because thinking is where you generate the success of things. What you do is the consequence of what you think. For example, when going down some stairs, you can think ‘oh, what a narrow staircase’, ‘oh, I’m going to fall!’ ‘Who tells me to put on these heels’? In five seconds, you can have five negative thoughts. Or you can change your attitude, ‘oh, that’s great, I’m going faster up the stairs’, ‘how nice, it takes me to another place’, ‘what a great invention the stairs’… If you think like that, and while you go down the stairs you relax, you connect with the best of you until you get where you have to go. DF: Is it preferable to perform this technique in a group or individually? Mari Cruz
- It is a technique that is done in a group but, above all, it is individual because in a group you put it into practice, but the work is up to you.
DF: What is the profile of the person who attends a Laughter Therapy presentation?
- Mari Cruz: They are people who come with restlessness and curiosity. The one who goes that knows everything is boring and does not appreciate anything. Curiosity is very important to enjoy more than one Laughter Therapy presentation.
DF: Can you practice laughter therapy at home?
- Mari Cruz: Laughter therapy is a technique that needs to be practiced. At home what is needed is the frequency. I teach you the technique, the philosophy, where you can go working, but then the perseverance and frequency are in you. The person who trains himself to laugh, there is no stopping him! Look, we come from a culture where laughter is prohibited, because it doesn’t matter. If people laugh, you don’t dominate them. Laughter makes you happier, it makes you take life differently, resolve conflicts. This is very good because any conflict that arises is resolved faster. You are training that at home, but for this process you need to have gone through a few hours of rehearsal, so that you get used to being like that and not get carried away by anger or a bad mood.
DF: How many classes are necessary to start seeing results?
- Mari Cruz: We do workshops and training courses of 2 or 3 hours. There are courses from 2 hours to 100. It is interesting to put hours into the essay so that when you are at home you can practice. You can laugh with the ‘jam’, because it releases fears, pressures and indecision. The ‘je’ releases your anger. The ‘jig’ is slimming, massages the heart, drains and leaves the body very activated internally. The ‘jo’ is super digestive, it deflates you in the face of heavy digestions. The ‘ju’ relaxes you more. To get there you need a rehearsal process of several sessions, a minimum of three hours a week. People go to Laughter Therapy two or three days a week, or do an intensive weekend. Thus, they take the habit and the frequency, which is what interests.
- DF:Mari Cruz: Laughter drains your blood and your body, strengthens your heart, opens your lungs, strengthens your bones, gives you peace, you sleep better, you have more patience, you are more grateful and you improve what you have, you don’t complain about what you have.
DF: What differences do you usually find in the ‘students’ before entering a Laughter Therapy presentation and when they leave?
- Mari Cruz: That is our strength, which in two hours can totally change a person’s life. People have thoughts that we do not control, we do not take care of them, we do not analyze them, we do not educate them, nor do we take them into account. When you realize that there are few people who cultivate laughter and joy that everyone complains about everything, that complaining is complicating your life, everything changes. We try to work first individually and then in a group and the result in the person is remarkable since laughter is what has the greatest impact on health and on the immediate change of the person. There are many ways to live life, you can live it absent, angry, complaining about everything, or live it saying ‘wow, how beautiful life is, how many things I have!’
DF: After so many years analyzing smiles, do you notice differences between real and fake smiles?
- Mari Cruz: The most beautiful beauty is to see the person with light in the face and not all the smiles that show their teeth are authentic. The real smile is born from the heart, it looks bright, affectionate, pleasant… Those people give your life. It looks very clear when a smile is hollow and another full of light. Now people complain a lot that the catwalk models are very beautiful, but they have a point of absence and deep bitterness, which is seen beyond their beauty. They could change that by being more mysterious and energetic. They would be much prettier and more communicative. They should work more on the subject of laughter. Because they have beauty but lack splendor.
