BLogpost 2: Can Happiness Heal?

Clowns are known for their ability to make people laugh. They are talented jugglers, mimics or acrobats who pretend to be afraid of dropping something or of falling down to make us laugh. They feel innocent and see the world through their smiling eyes where every person is wonderful and acceptable. The only thought of a clown is to bring a smile to the world, and if a person is very sad, the clown will seek to uplifted him or her in some way, even if that means just smiling and allowing that person to be alone.

As the saying goes, ‘Laughter is the best medicine.’ Also, according to science, it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown, thus one should smile more often. In able to use this medicine

(c) science.howstuffsworks.

everyday, a laughter yoga can be exhibited.  Seeking for information about this thing, I ended up in an article entitled “What's so funny?” written by Debra Bokur in the website, “YogaJournal”. It is stated that in a laughter yoga, people usually sings a chant, “ho ho, ha ha” that requires a person to rapidly inhales and exhales. First of all, the yoga label has a bit of delusion. There are no downwards or inversions, just people coming together, for a short session of laughter. Laugh, clap, and breath: that’s they usually do. If I were to join a laughter yoga, at first, it may seem awkward for each and everyone of us to laugh with no reason. But after sometime, I might see myself laughing aloud and that’s what maybe makes it fun and makes one feel good. Having this laughter yoga aims to breathe and to laugh, not because anyone has cracked a joke, but because laughter is a playful, social, contagious thing.

(c) abqj.net

According to the article, "Life can be a challenge,it helps if you're able to laugh." I strongly agree in this statement. I, myself, experience problems, struggles, circumstances, challenges, whatever you call it, but I assure that at the end of the day, I always wear my smile. And for those who experience difficulties in life, trust me, having a smile on your face lessen your burdens. 

Talking about laughing, clowns play a very big part in this so called laugh operation. There are clowns who adapt their clown persona and improvisation to the setting of a hospital or a long-term care facility, and over time, they learn to build their knowledge and sensitivity with regards to the various clients that they served. They are known as therapeutic clowns.

Flipping through some of the information about them, I turn out into an article entitled, " The Life Threatened Child and The Life Enhancing Clown: Towards a Model of therapeutic Clowning" written by Donna Koller and Camilla Gryski in the website, "PMC". I was just like, 'Really? Clowns can be healers?' I thought it was just a belief back in the ancient times.According to the article, clown symbolizes the hope for the hopeless, and the possibility for the impossible. Just imagine how clowns are able to make us laugh through his/her foolishness or failures; they implies to us that we can still smile or laugh in times of our problems. Also, they teaches us that even we experience downfalls, we can still believe that there is hope. Hope that someday and somehow, we can win over our challenges in life.

(c) abs.net.au

We might as well think that the relationship between clowns and those in need of healing is quite surprising. But it’s not, it have been said that clowns were already connected in the well-being of society and the healing arts since then. Also, the author mentioned that the hospital of Hippocrates kept group of players and clowns in the quadrangle, as the doctors of the day believed that mood altered healing. 

 

It is also stated that as a therapeutic clown, their ‘clown medicine’ includes red nose transplants, kitty cat scans and prescriptions for laughter. They interacts with the environment as well as the patient and family, and use props or puppets. For the child in the hospital, the clown comes to exhibit the spirit of playfulness. When he is asked to step over the room the ambiance is changed and charged with possibility. The room suddenly becomes a playground, and the child is invited to come out and play. Children love him for a simpler reason; he expresses, loudly and eloquently, and the bewilderment they feel when they find themselves in an adult world.

The author also mentioned that clinical researchers from a variety of disciplines hypothesized that humorous distraction provided by the clowns would increase patient cooperation, ameliorate parental anxiety and decrease the need for sedation. Also, results showed that during cardiac cauterization there were significant decreases in observed child distress, in child self-reported distress and parent-rated child distress with the clowns present.

(c) everybodyhero.com

I think that therapeutic clowns really brought a positive feedback on both parent and the children. Although I have not personally encountered these therapeutic clowns in a hospital, I can only imagine what laughter and a positive attitude can do for the children and parents’ anxiety and moods. Reading this articles, I realize that something as simple as laughter is sometimes capable of completely changing a person’s attitude and anxiety levels. Also, I now strongly believe that laughter has many positive effects on us. These clowns help many hospitalized children to emotionally express themselves. They create a more friendly and fun atmosphere in the hospital which is unoften known. And lastly, clowns also seem to empower hospitalized children, which are the most powerless group in the hospital.