Friday, March 18, 2011

Laughter Yoga & Meditation Reduced Allergy Attack

I never even saw the truck, but evidently I was hit by one head-on while I was sleeping, because when I woke-up this morning my whole face ached. Allergies are far worse today. I'm still taking Airborne and Zicam and they greatly reduce the symptoms for a few hours. Eventually, all the symptoms return. By 9:30 p.m. I was ready to surrender and take Benadryl. Before I would do that, I still needed to do laughter yoga and meditate. I had put it off all day hoping the sinus pressure would go away. It was actually getting worse so I decided to do my exercises, then I would take the antihistamine.

During the laughter yoga exercises I felt no pain. This is pretty remarkable not only because of the sinus headache, but I also had a raging sore throat all day.

Meditation proved to be extremely beneficial too. A couple of the breathing meditations I do are known to be very good for sinus problems, so I spent longer on those than usual. When I was done, my sinuses had cleared, my throat wasn't sore and my eyes were no longer watery. The head pain was minimal.

An hour and a half has passed since I laughed and meditated. Sinuses are mostly clear and pain in my throat and head are still at a minimum. I don't need Benadryl at this time, but I plan to take a dose before bed.

There have been many clinical studies on the physiological and psychological effects of laughter. Dr. Lee Burk of Loma Linda University in particular has conducted numerous experiments with amazing outcomes.

This is an excellent video produced by The Discovery Channel about Laughter Yoga with an appearance by Dr. Lee Burk discussing the benefits of laughter.



Today
Laughter Yoga 30 min.
Meditation 30 min.

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