Our bodies have a standard “standing” rate of chemical and protein production that is significantly raised when we laugh. When we stop laughing our bodies need to re-adjust back, and this re-adjustment can take some people below their standing rate and into a state of short-term anxiety, unhappiness or agitation. You can minimize this possible impact by always keeping a few minutes at the end of your sessions for a relaxation. There is much value in helping people to relax and ground. It is as valuable as the laughter before it.





The quick option is to use any mindfulness exercise or your choice, a guided visualization, or simply play relaxing music for a couple of minutes.

A much better choice however that will help increase the impact and lasting effect of this laughter experience, is to guide your participants in the following relaxation using the H.E.A.L. framework:

HAVE A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE

This is what you have been working towards so far. It’s time to acknowledge it! Invite all to close their eyes and take a couple of breath, then suggest they do the following with the inner happy “buzz” they are feeling, about 30 seconds or so per step:





ENRICH IT

  1. Lengthen it. Stay with it for a while. The longer that neurons fire together, the more they tend to wire together. Protect the experience from distractions, focus on it, and come back to it if your mind wanders.
  2. Intensify it. Open to it and let it be big in your mind. Turn up the volume by breathing more fully or getting a little excited.
  3. Expand it. Notice other elements of the experience. For example, if you’re having a useful thought, look for related sensations or emotions.
  4. Freshen it. The brain is a novelty detector, designed to learn from what’s new or unexpected. Look for what’s interesting or surprising about this laughter experience you have just had. (If relevant, imagine that you are having it for the very first time.)
  5. Value it. Be aware of why the experience is important to you, why it matters, and how it could help you. We learn from what is personally relevant.





ABSORB IT

  1. Intend to receive it. Consciously choose to take in the experience.
  2. Sense it sinking into you. You could imagine that the experience is like a warm, soothing balm or a jewel being placed in the treasure chest of your heart. Give over to it, allowing it to become a part of you.
  3. Reward yourself. Tune into whatever is pleasurable, reassuring, helpful, or hopeful about the experience. Doing this will tend to increase the activity of two neurotransmitter systems—dopamine and norepinephrine—that will flag the experience as a “keeper” for long-term storage.





LINK IT

Bring to mind some recent negative experiences for which you believe that feeling the way you currently feel would be good medicine, and how it would change the way you normally engage in these unpleasant experiences. The brain naturally associates things together, so if you keep the positive material more prominent and intense in awareness, it will tend to soothe, ease, and even gradually replace the negative material.

Adapted from the HEAL framework created by Rick and Forrest Hanson. See https://goo.gl/Vwz9HB