From loud guffaws to quiet snickering and everything in between,
this couple is showing that laughter could be key to combating
stress and staying happy.
Already known locally as an advocate for composting and sprouts,
Bradford’s Cathy Nesbitt and her husband Rick are on a mission
to help bring joy back to people’s lives through Cathy’s
Chuckle Club that meets Thursday evenings in their backyard.
“It’s high-vibration magic healing medicine,”
Cathy said. “Laughter is the fastest happiness hack and
too important to leave to chance.”
Most people have likely heard the saying “laughter is the
best medicine,” but Cathy explained most adults likely aren’t
getting enough of the body’s natural chemicals for joy.
She calls those the daily DOSE — dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin,
and endorphins — and said one of the best ways to stimulate
their release is through laughter, even if it might be a bit forced
at first.
“Our body doesn’t know the difference between real
and simulated laughter,” Cathy said.
Using her degree in psychology, Cathy ensures her classes consist
of a series of different breathing and stretching exercises mixed
with imaginary games in which participants imitate different actions
or activities (such as rowing a boat, making a meal, chopping
wood, a food fight or even sharing jokes in gibberish) to help
stimulate different parts of the body and mind while helping to
get people primed for laughter.
“It just helps you be childlike again,” Cathy said.
“That sense of wonder and awe — it’s changed
my life.”
After first attending a laughter club in 2012, Cathy went on
to become certified in 2016 in laughter yoga — a practice
formalized by family physician Dr. Madan Kataria in Mumbai, India
in 1995 — and started offering occasional in-person classes
until the COVID-19 pandemic pushed classes online.
While the online classes continue, their in-person offerings
also resumed last year.
Cathy explained that as people age, they tend to laugh less because
they’re filtering their responses more based on what is
considered appropriate, and some people can even become laughter
hesitant.
For several years, Rick shared in that hesitancy, but after spending
more time at Cathy’s classes he too became hooked on the
positivity of laughter. He became certified himself in 2022 and
now co-leads the classes.
While the classes are a little different each time, Cathy said
they always involve a cardiovascular workout from all the laughing
and always end with a laughter circle meditation.
That sees the participants and instructors lay down face up in
a circle with their heads toward the middle. Then they allow themselves
to just laugh freely, which naturally rises and falls as their
laughter feeds off each other.
Matt Walker said he’s been attending the club since Day
1 back in 2016.
“It’s something we need,” he said. “Laughing
just feels good.”
That was echoed by others, including Izabella Zagorowska. She
has been participating in various laughter clubs for about 15
years, and coming to Cathy and Rick’s for about one year.
“I could literally feel the endorphins for like three days
after. It was incredible,” Zagorowska said. “A lot
of times in life, you’re stressed out and dealing with whatever
is going on, and having that release is absolutely wonderful.”
While some may find it inappropriate to laugh with so many serious
things happening in the world, Cathy explained that’s precisely
why people should laugh — not at those situations, but in
spite of them as a way to avoid living in a permanent state of
stress.
“A lot of people take life too seriously,” Rick said.
“Laughing gets you out of that.”
While she only recently started coming to Cathy and Rick’s,
Dorothy Maloney said she’s also been been attending laughter
clubs for several years and the experience leaves her feeling
so happy, it’s as if she’s floating through the air.
Maloney finds the positivity of the experience is compounded
as more people participate, and Cathy explained that’s because
laughter helps people connect on a deeper level.
She pointed to a brain function known as mirror neurons, which
essentially cause us to mirror the mood of those around us, meaning
when they laugh we want to laugh, and when they’re happy
we want to be happy too.
“It’s contagious in a good way,” Cathy said.
There’s no special equipment required to participate in
a class, but guests are encouraged to where comfortable clothing
and bring a water bottle.
“Laughing is thirsty work,” Cathy said.
For more information, visit the club website or call 1-888-775-9495.
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