Just say HA!

Each year when my sister and I were kids our family would embark on a month-long road trip to visit West Coast relatives.  These trips were mostly a grand adventure.  However, in each trip there would be moments where boredom and crankiness would collide and we felt sure that we had been trapped in the car forever.  When fighting with each other didn’t resolve the tension we would often resort to one of our favorite road games:  HA!

HA! is easy to learn.  One person says the word, “HA!” and the next person repeats the phrase, “HA! HA!”  You keep going back and forth adding on one more “HA!” each turn.  The object of the game is to make your opponent laugh before you do.  It’s fair game to mug, pull faces, and cross your eyes, anything to make your opponent laugh first.  The only two things you can’t do are sing the words and/or touch the other person.  Laughing is contagious and usually when one person starts everyone else gets the giggles too.  Subsequent rounds of HA! are usually fairly short.  HA! can be played with any number of people. 

I was remembering this game recently when everyone was tense and out of sorts.  The kids and I played for a few minutes and you could see the tension dissolving.  My belly became soft and relaxed and I became much more open and receptive.  It felt good.

Scientific research has long documented the positive impact of laughter on our immune system.  In yogic philosophy the syllable ha is considered a bija or seed syllable representing the sun, Shiva, and the exhalation of prana (life force energy).  The literal meaning depends on the context of the mantra in which it appears.  Yogis throughout the centuries have used sound as a way of working with energy to bring healing and vitality.  Similarly, Eden Energy Medicine ("EEM") also uses sound in many exercises, such as Expelling the Venom, to facilitate the movement of energies in the body.

Whenever I'm cranky I play this game.  It takes me less than thirty seconds to crack myself up.  I imagine the laughter sending little shock waves from my belly into my belt flow (the energetic area around your belly where a belt would cinch) and into my aura.  I like to think of my giggles as messengers reminding my body and energies that all is well.  All is well.  All is well. 

So if you find yourself just a bit uptight and in need of laughter, I hereby formally invite you to just say HA!  May you giggle yourself into wellness.

In love and light,

Jill

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Jyoti Rawlinson]

There is a meditative therapy from Osho called Mystic Rose. It's a three week process, the first week of which is three consecutive hours each day of laughing (the second week is crying, and the third week, sitting in silence). No talking is allowed, so starting out with "ha, ha, ha" is the usual way. I've done the process twice, in a group of 20 - 30 people. It's almost impossible not to start laughing when you begin with HA. By the end of the week, my tummy hurt so badly, but I felt like I'd let go of a heap of tension.