Find a Laughter coach
What is a laughter coach?
Laughter is the best medicine. And it’s no joke:) A laughter coach uses techniques and exercises to boost happiness, encourage laughter, and enhance the overall well-being of individuals. These professionals also help their clients incorporate more joy into their lives, thereby promoting relaxation and stress relief. Sessions revolve around a safe and supportive environment. This way, you can let go of some of your inhibitions, embrace your sense of humor, and increase your energy.
Laughter Coach Directory
What does a laughter coach do?
Let’s clear something up first before we fully dive into the whatnots of a laughter coach.
Happiness is more profound and broader than laughter. It’s an emotional state that doesn’t always involve laughter. The same goes for laughing. It doesn’t necessarily indicate happiness.
Laughter, on the other hand, is an expression of amusement, joy, and humor. It’s a physical response. It also certainly does contribute to happiness. But happiness doesn’t stop at laughter. It covers a wide range of emotions. Even life satisfaction.
Still, there’s no denying how well these two go hand in hand. One is usually found with the other and vice versa.
So what does a laughter coach do, then?
Laughter sessions
A typical session with a life coach involves lots of questions and mind-blowing epiphanies (the type that will propel you to self-discovery). It’s the same with a laughter coach, but with some additions.
Your laughter coach will incorporate specific techniques and exercises that will definitely end with you laughing. They will guide you through breathing exercises. Along with these are other creative and playful activities. So you can expect genuine laughter by the end of every session.
Not only will your laughter coach’s techniques be useful during your coaching sessions, but also in your daily life.
Mind and body connection
It’s no wonder why laughter is the best medicine. It can trigger mental, emotional, and physical changes in you. Laughing works instantly in bringing your mind and body into balance.
By working with a laughter coach, you can use humor to work for your absolute benefit. For one, your coach can help you become more grounded and focused. With laughter, you’ll find inspiration and instill hope inside you. It’s also a good way to release all that pent-up anger and enable you to forgive others.
All in all, your coach can guide you in entering a meditative state through laughter, leaving your whole body relaxed and relieving any sort of tension or stress.
Emotional support
Just to be clear, laughter coaching is not some form of therapy. Nor is it a substitute for it. But your coach will offer you emotional support. This will be in the form of encouragement.
Life can be overly serious. If you allow it to consume you, it also has the power to take away the simple joys. To avoid this from happening, your laughter coach may create opportunities for you to share experiences relating to laughter or humor.
Emotional support might even be in the form of listening to you discuss your distressed feelings and any associated problematic states. They can then assist you with problem analysis. All of those are efforts to help you alleviate stress, restore happiness, and hopefully, inner peace (Burleson & Greene, 2008).
Do I need a laughter coach?
Ultimately, the choice is yours. Deciding on whether you need a laughter coach is a personal matter. Generally, it’s based on your current circumstances, future goals, and unique preferences.
By having a laughter coach, you’ll have the necessary guidance and support in your journey. They’ll be able to provide valuable insights and encouragement. You can incorporate laughter into your life and experience it in a much better way.
You’ll may need a laughter coach because of the following reasons:
Mood improvement
There are a lot of ways to improve your mood. Sometimes, you can find a solution in the simplest of things, such as taking a walk, doing breathing exercises, or journaling.
But when these activities aren’t helpful anymore, you probably need to enlist a professional. A laughter coach can do wonders for you and your mood.
Negative moods can cause problems in you making decisions and using your judgment. Left unchecked, this can, of course, lead to further anxiety about making the “wrong” decision (Law & Pascoe, 2013).
Impacts of mood swings do not only affect you but the people closest to you as well. Consider yourself a ticking time bomb. Whenever you are in a foul mood or when things don’t go your way, you’re ready to explode. And the people close by get hit by the blast.
To prevent that, a laughter coach can help you gain better insight and understanding of your moods. Fair warning, though, this may require being vulnerable from time to time.
Enhance social connections
Many social connections are forged through laughter.
Icebreakers are typically those that elicit a laughing response. Sometimes, if it’s that funny, even a snort. From here, a new connection blooms. And that, my friends, is basically networking 101.
A coach can help you further enhance personal and professional relationships through laughter. They can also assist you in developing a healthy sense of humor. Having this skill in your arsenal will surely improve your ability to connect with others. You get to foster stronger social bonds!
It also helps that laughter is contagious. Any of your interactions will be more enjoyable for you and the other party. This form of communication is an excellent way of bringing people together.
Give way to self-expression
The human psyche is too broad for you not to explore it. And what better way to do so than with a professional during a coaching session? A laughter coach can create a safe and supportive space for you. With such freedom, you’ll be able to keep in touch with your sense of humor and self-expression.
Moreover, you can discover new things about yourself. It’s like tapping into your inner child. Doing so can help you deal with the stressful situations you’re now facing as an adult.
Additionally, your laughter coach will enable you to express your authentic self. You can live your life with confidence, expand your comfort zone, and embrace self-discovery.
Remember that it’s only human to express yourself. Through your emotions, words, posture, and, yes, laughter. Of course, there’s also the case of tapping into your creativity. There, you can find joy and peace. Infuse that with laughter, it’ll be just utter contentment.
How can a laughter coach help me?
Do you ever just laugh for no apparent reason? You probably don’t. But according to Dr. Kataria’s, founder of laughter yoga, you really should.
Unfortunately, we can’t rely solely on humor to induce laughter. After all, we aren’t surrounded by comedy all day, every day. Luckily, laughter as an exercise can be just as effective (Lyle, 2014). Laughter exercises are something you will work on with your laughter coach. You’ll learn to break into laughter much more frequently, exercising your laughter response and the positive changes it will bring to your mood and physical being.
On a related note, the more that you’re grasping at happiness, the more it will elude you. Happiness is not a constant thing. And it can never be. What you need to strive for is the ability to recover smoothly from your mood swings (Cronin, 2021).
But easier said than done right? So, what can we do to remedy it? Start by hiring a laughter coach. They’re professionals who are fully equipped and capable of guiding you through your laughter journey.
Some of the benefits you can reap during your sessions include the following:
Well-being improvement
Laughing releases endorphins. This allows you to feel good, exercise your muscles, and breath (almost like yoga) (Glenn & Holt, 2013).
In a way, you can laugh your way into becoming a healthier and better version of your previous self. No matter where you are in life or how terrible you think it might be, life can always change for the better.
Physically, laughing allows you to release tension in your body momentarily. This enables you to feel more relaxed after a good laugh.
Hiring a laughter coach can help you integrate laughter into your routine. Even more so during challenging or demanding situations.
Encourage positive thinking
A positive mindset and optimism go hand in hand with laughter. Your laughter coach can help you feel a sense of joy by engaging you in light-hearted discussions and stories. They can also help you adopt a positive outlook during the most difficult times.
Once you can be true to yourself, life becomes a celebration, a carnival of joys (Budhiraja, 2021). Happiness follows.
In order to do so, you’ll have to accept and learn to live with a hard truth first. And this is that there will always be things you won’t be able to change. Realizing this and living by it is something that a laughter coach can help you with.
Mindfulness
Laughing can bring you to the present moment. Through the guidance of a laughter coach, you can practice mindfulness. This encourages an open-minded approach to life. Even more so, it provides a much-needed albeit temporary break from the worries of the past and the future.
A laughter coach can also help you access joyous memories stored in your brain but which remain in the realms of the unknown. NLP tells as much. What we know consciously is only a tiny portion of what we know unconsciously (Lyle, 2014).
Learning mindfulness is like a key to the past (your memories), the present (awareness), and the future (your life goals).
It’ll be easier to do this in the presence of a laughter coach. Their beaming face and easy-going aura will make you feel comfortable and at ease.
Five great reasons to hire a laughter coach
There’s a tradition among the Navajo Indians that I think would be very fitting for me to share. The Navajo believe that babies are not fully human until their first laugh. So, once a baby laughs, it’s something worth celebrating (Carr & Greeves, 2006).
And get this, the person who makes the baby laugh will throw the party. It’s a great honor for them since the Navajo believe that the baby will develop some of the person’s characteristics.
Just imagine. Something as simple and natural as laughter is enough to warrant a celebration of life.
As you are way past that point in life, you can get much more than just a celebratory party.
Together with a laughter coach, you can attain something better. You get to work on and experience these important traits:
- Emotional resilience
We’ve discussed before how a laughter coach can be your emotional support. While this can help you a lot, it won’t be enough on its own. You still need to develop emotional resilience. You won’t be in coaching forever.
Your emotions play an important role in your life. They direct how you think and behave (Bharwaney, 2015).
I mean, how often have you let your emotions and mood dictate what you’ll do in certain situations? You go on an emotional roller coaster every day. It resists your desire for consistency. It fights off your discipline.
But becoming resilient in this sense doesn’t mean that you should push down your emotions, so much so that you won’t ever feel them. Resilience is being able to survive difficult situations. It’s bouncing back after all the setbacks.
A laughter coach can help you develop resilience and so much more. In no time, you’ll be able to recognize all your emotions the moment they arise. This will make handling them more manageable and smoother.
And oh! Let’s not forget problem-solving. The truth is your decisions rely only on 25% of the available facts (Bharwaney, 2015). The rest? Well, you tune into your emotions.
Think about it. Most of your choices won’t be accurate if you don’t know how to handle your emotions and moods.
- Stress relief
With advancement comes ease. And yet, stress is also all around us. The modernity of this century is also making our lives complex.
Unlimited knowledge at our disposal. Cell phone service is everywhere. Twenty-four-hour news coverage. We’ve become victims of our own impossible schedules (Ronsisvalle, 2011).
In this fast-paced age, finding the time to laugh and not take life too seriously is almost a crime. Your laughter coach thinks not.
Laughter coaching will teach you stress-management skills. Because stress can cause you to feel uneven. Whenever there’s emotional instability, you’re likely to feel frustration, anxiety, and other negative feelings.
Stress also influences you mentally as it decreases your concentration and memory. It even makes you lose your sense of humor!
Still, it’s important to note that living a stress-free life is dull. Your laughter coach will open you to the idea of how stress can motivate you in life. At least the right amount of it.
Stress brings out a sense of urgency. Without it, you’ll go through your personal and professional life without any time pressure. With a laughter coach’s guidance, you can develop a healthy sense of urgency that will keep you focused, proactive, and working efficiently.
- True happiness
Misery. Who would want that for themselves? People generally prefer pleasure.
But that’s the funny thing about life, isn’t it? The cause of all miseries is that we foolishly think that pleasure is the ideal to strive for (Brahmeshananda, 2014).
It shouldn’t be about fleeting pleasures. It’s about true happiness.
This is one of the greatest reasons for you to hire a laughter coach. They can help you boost happiness.
Now, putting into words what happiness is can be tricky. Its parameters are different for everyone. It’s mostly a feeling. You’ll know when you feel it. That kind of thing.
Hiring a laughter coach will enable you to disregard everything else and keep your eyes on your happiness. It’s easy to fall prey and adapt to another person’s version. This is especially so if it’s favorable to the majority of the masses. If it’s highly approved by society.
Breaking free from this bandwagon is something that a laughter coach can help you with.
- Personal development
There’s no “cutting corners” when it comes to personal development. It’s one of the best things you could ever invest in.
You can start by hiring a laughter coach to guide you through your journey. They can help you recover when you go through bad days and slumps. Especially on those days when it’s impossible to muster a smile, let alone laugh.
As you grow older, life seems to get more serious by the minute. Your job becomes a huge part of your routine. Responsibilities constantly bombard you. It comes to a point where time for yourself dwindles away to nothing. You probably have tons of commitments to yourself on which you haven’t been able to follow through.
It might take working with a laughter coach for you to finally see this moment as the day you’ll realize your full potential. And that should be more than enough to drive you to invest time and effort into your personal development.
- Better communication
Relationship problems do not only happen in romantic involvements. They also cause havoc at work with colleagues, in your family, and with your friends. It’s easier to redirect your disappointments and anger to other people than to deal with them personally.
The root cause? Subpar communication skills. You’d rather shout at someone else than talk about what you’re feeling.
Frowning at something has become the norm. Ironic, since it’s easier to muster up a smile. It takes fewer facial muscles, you know.
In essence, communication is something that we all know how to do. But it isn’t just about talking with another person. It also involves your capacity to express yourself to others.
A laughter coach can help you become an all-around communicator. Someone who is proficient in the full range of communication skills. This includes being a good listener. And becoming a person with a wise perspective in all types of adversities. Let’s not forget being an inclusive storyteller, being easy to talk to, and bringing people out of themselves.
You’ll know how to use humor appropriately and effectively without being condescending or offensive. Laughter is a powerful form of non-verbal communication that you can use to make your conversations more engaging and memorable.
Next steps: How do I find a laughter coach near me?
Reach out to a few of our talented professional laughter coaches in the list above. When you hear back, you can set up a time for a free consultation to see if you are a good fit. Or submit a coaching request for us to match you to your ideal coach. Time to take action and get laughing!