Article - Laugh your way to Health
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ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE
How often do you laugh? When we laugh, we are completely unaware that we are performing a great spiritual practice! Do you know, in Zen Buddhism they say that if you laugh continuously for 42 minutes, you will get enlightened! Laughter is the most intimate way of connecting with your source. So easy, and so powerful. This is one meditation that every single person has already practiced, sometime in life. Laughter is a tremendous source of energy. Just laugh, and you can feel the energy surge from the source and flood you. When you laugh, you lose your boundary. You lose your sense of self. You become possessed by the laughter. And have you noticed? It is impossible to think and laugh at the same time! When you are laughing – suddenly, you experience a moment when thought is no longer possible. You experience no-mind! The laughter we are talking about is not just the plastic smile we wear on our faces most of the time. It is not social laughter. It is uninhibited, complete laughter with your whole being. Every cell, every nerve fiber, should vibrate with the laughter. It is laughter for no reason. Actually you always start laughing for some reason – but once you start, the laughter takes hold of you! Then you laugh simply because you are laughing, that’s all. Just the joy of laughing keeps you laughing. You are not even aware of that. You must have heard of the Laughing Buddha The Japanese monk Hotei was known as the Laughing Buddha. His whole spiritual message could be condensed into a single act – laughing! He would wander from place to place, stand in public places and simply begin to laugh – a roaring, belly laugh. His whole body would be shaking with laughter. The laughter would rise from him and spread all around in a great wave of energy. And his laughter was so infectious that the whole town would be laughing with him. The whole town would be blessed with laughter. Without techniques, without effort, without even being aware of it, an entire town would glimpse the state of no-mind. What a supreme meditation technique laughter is!
INSTRUCTIONS
Every morning, first thing upon waking, stretch yourself like a baby. Have you noticed babies stretching when they wake up after sleep? Stretch this way and that, bend and twist your body. Feel every muscle being stretched! Then, without opening your eyes, begin to laugh. At first it will require some effort. But soon real laughter will begin to bubble up within you. If nothing else, just your comic attempts at laughter will be enough to make you really laugh! Once the laughter takes you over, just let go. There is no duration. Laugh till you are tired of laughing. As you progress, you will find that you are able to sustain the laughter longer and longer. You will find the energy to keep laughing surge within you. Long after you finish laughing, the waves of laughter will still be there in you, just beneath the surface. Just a few minutes of morning laughter can transform your whole day!