Better Living Through Laughter


Book Description

The benefits of a good laugh will last long after the physical act has passed. Most likely your favorite memories are the ones that include a good dose of laughter. More and more, the prescription to a healthy attitude can be found in laughter. Laughter is a universal language and can be enjoyed and understood by everyone. Laughter can help both mentally and physically. An ever growing number of people experience high levels of injurious stress fueled by hectic schedules and deadlines. This book is designed to reintroduce the reader to the many benefits of laughter. If you fail to enjoy the benefits of laughter you are cheating yourself out of a wonderful resource for a healthy life. Rediscover how laughter is the best medicine, both mentally and physically.




Anatomy of an Illness As Perceived By the Patient


Book Description

The story of a recovery from a crippling disease and the physician patient partnership that beat the odds by using the patient's own capabilities.




Laughter Yoga


Book Description

Could you use a good laugh? This definitive guide by the founder of the worldwide laughter yoga movement will show you how to giggle your way to good health! Bring laughter into your life at any time of day--no special equipment needed, no new wardrobe, no expensive classes, not even a sense of humor! Laughter yoga is all about voluntary laughter--how you can learn to laugh even in the absence of humorous stimuli, and reap the extraordinary, scientifically proven benefits, which include stress reduction, pain relief, weight loss, heightened immunity, and, especially, enhanced mood: If you act happy, you'll become happy--your body can't tell the difference! Children laugh more than 300 times a day, adults fewer than fifteen. But it's easy to start laughing again. The exercises in this book combine voluntary laughter with yogic breathing to give you a full body-mind workout. And it turns out that laughter is the fastest way to reduce stress and the best kind of cardio: Ten minutes of hearty laughter is equal to thirty minutes on the rowing machine. With Laughter Yoga, join the growing worldwide movement and discover how laughter really is the best medicine. A PENGUIN LIFE TITLE




The Laughing Cure


Book Description

Dr. Brian King is a psychologist and stand-up comedian whose humor therapy seminars are attended by more than ten thousand people each year. In The Laughing Cure, King combines wit with medical research to reveal the benefits of laughter and humor on physical and emotional health. King’s language is humorous and uplifting, and his advice is backed in science. The Laughing Cure features clinical studies and interviews with some of the nation’s top doctors that prove that laughter lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, increases muscle flexion, boosts immune systems, and triggers endorphins. It’s been shown to relieve depression, to produce a general sense of wellbeing, even to make us more productive, loving, and kind. The Laughing Cure presents step-by-step guidance and proven techniques to embrace laughter as both medicine for current conditions and preventative medicine. This highly unique and enjoyable read explains why much-talked about, but little understood methods of therapy like those embraced by acclaimed humor doctor Patch Adams—played by Robyn Williams in a 1998 film—and laughter yoga actually work. Growing up, King wanted to be a stand-up comic; his PhD. was his backup plan. Little did he know, the impact his unique situation would put him in, the way it would allow him to help others. Very few doctors have the ability to heal the way that King does; his method is cheap, easy, chemical-free—even fun. With The Laughing Cure, readers will learn how—and why—laughter saves lives.




Serious Laughter


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Living, Laughing, and Loving Life!


Book Description

The inspiring, joyful story of a young paralyzed man's dream of becoming a PE teacher. Caution: This book will probably change your perspective on adversity.




Laugh for No Reason


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Laughing Matters


Book Description

Find Out What’s So Funny When Nothing’s Funny Sometimes life just stinks—people disappoint, bad things happen, and hardship comes. Laughing Matters is a collection of stories that shows the difference between those who resign and those who rejoice when reality bites. Readers will be encouraged to choose joy, to find hope, and to discover the abundant life Christ offers all who follow Him. Author and humorist Phil Callaway—once described as “Dave Barry with a message”—employs his revealing and hilarious style to remind readers that, “it’s always darkest just before the fridge door opens.” Do you resign or rejoice when reality bites? Sometimes life just stinks. People disappoint. Bad things happen. Hardship comes in double helpings. The last thing you want to do is laugh. So let hilarious humorist Phil Callaway show you—as only he can—that some of the darkest times are those just before the fridge door opens. *** ** *** ** “Everything Phil Callaway writes is full of life because he’s discovered a fabulous secret: The joy of Christ doesn’t go away, even when life is a mess.” Luis Palau, President of the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association “Phil really knows how to get in touch with his spiritual funny bone.” Janette Oke, Bestselling author “One page into this book and I’m quaking with laughter. Callaway has the uncanny ability to uncover the funny in any situation and report it with inspirational wit.” Paul L. Maier, Coauthor of The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction? “This book is an excellent source of encouragement for anyone in the midst of a crisis who may be asking God that hardest question of all: ‘Why?’” Martha Bolton, Author of Cooking with Hot Flashes and Didn’t My Skin Used to Fit? Story Behind the Book Phil Callaway wrote this book after a five-year journey he and his wife embarked upon when she began having seizures. He discovered that when life throws you curve balls, juices lemons in your eyes, scrunches you in a knuckle sandwich…the last thing you want to do is laugh. And at the moment we realize that life can just plain stink, “this book helps us know where to go from that point,” he says. Celebrities like Dave Dravecky, Barbara Johnson, Gloria Gaither, and Joni Eareckson Tada have endorsed Callaway’s positive approach to trials. “Everything Phil Callaway writes is full of life because he’s discovered a fabulous secret: The joy of Christ doesn’t go away, even when life is a mess,” says evangelist Luis Palau.




Humor, Seriously


Book Description

WALL STREET JOURNAL, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER • Anyone—even you!—can learn how to harness the power of humor in business (and life), based on the popular class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Don’t miss the authors’ TED Talk, “Why great leaders take humor seriously,” online now. “The ultimate guide to using the magical power of funny as a tool for leadership and a force for good.”—Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of When and Drive We are living through a period of unprecedented uncertainty and upheaval in both our personal and professional lives. So it should come as a surprise to exactly no one that trust, human connection, and mental well-being are all on the decline. This may seem like no laughing matter. Yet, the research shows that humor and laughter are among the most valuable tools we have at our disposal for strengthening bonds and relationships, diffusing stress and tension, boosting resilience, and performing when the stakes are high. That’s why Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach the popular course Humor: Serious Business at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where they help some of the world’s most hard-driving, blazer-wearing business minds infuse more humor and levity into their work and lives. In Humor, Seriously, they draw on findings by behavioral scientists, world-class comedians, and inspiring business leaders to reveal how humor works and—more important—how you can use more of it, better. Aaker and Bagdonas unpack the theory and application of humor: what makes something funny, how to mine your life for material, and simple ways to identify and leverage your unique humor style. They show how to use humor to rebuild vital connections; appear more confident, competent, and authentic at work; and foster cultures where levity and creativity can thrive. President Dwight David Eisenhower once said, “A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” If Dwight David Eisenhower, the second least naturally funny president (after Franklin Pierce), thought humor was necessary to win wars, build highways, and warn against the military-industrial complex, then you might consider learning it too.




Love, Loss, and Laughter


Book Description

See the BBC’s slideshow of photos from Love, Loss, and Laughter.