The Best Kinds of Medicine

Let’s face it, some kinds of medicine that we ingest are vile, and that is why Julie Andrews sings the line “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” as she portrays Mary Poppins in the 1964 movie of the same name. Other oral medications are flavoured to assist their consumption. But there is a completely different category of medicines that require no consumption, inhalation, or injection, and often little or no fee. I will get to those in a moment, but as an aside I found some information about a research study that shows that giving children a small amount of liquid sugar on their tongue before giving them a vaccine seems to override the pain messages to the brain http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1058406/A-spoonful-sugar-really-DOES-help-medicine-say-scientists.html It seems that Mary Poppins was correct! An interesting study for sure, and my mind wanders to its holistic perspective and wonders “Hmmmm, is this the same override mechanism that adults continue to use to drown their physical, emotional and spiritual pain and cause them to be addicted to sugar laden foods and alcohol?” (regular consumption of alcohol can cause excessive blood glucose levels that trigger the same override response, for a while at least). If we give the wee ones some sweet liquid to alleviate pain when they are young, will they develop an automatic need for sweets when they are anticipating or experiencing pain? In my humble opinion I do indeed think that this is one of the ways that we learn to drown our sorrows with food, alcohol or other things, and then find it quite difficult as adults to learn how to feel our feelings and learn from them.
Back to those other kinds of medicine. I could free write and come up with a list that includes hundreds of things and experiences that have acted as medicine for me in my lifetime. Spreading rich colours across a canvas, listening to the wind, breathing deeply, and soaking in a warm tub are just a few of my favourite medicines. I know someone who reconnects with their spiritual self every time they hear a recording of Louis Armstrong pouring his love through his trumpet.
Feel free to conjure up your own list and share it with the CKDP readers. For simplicity’s sake in this column I want to focus on the healing powers of humour.
When was the last time you almost peed your pants because you were laughing so hard? Can you even remember it? I hope it wasn’t too long ago. Many years of research have shown that laughter can:
· stave off Alzheimer's disease
· boost immune systems (http://www.holisticonline.com/Humor_Therapy/humor_therapy_benefits.htm)
· make you richer, and smarter with its productivity boosting effects
· help control emotions (Amazing isn’t it, how losing control can help you gain control!)
· help us cope with extremely difficult situations
· instantly shift us to a more positive perspective
· reduce pain (http://www.holistic-online.com/Humor_Therapy/humor_mcghee_article.htm )
· exercise the heart (http://www.webmd.com/video/laughter-heals )
· etc, etc, etc,

Do you know that there are laughter therapy organizations, classes and Yoga practices? I think that our provincial health care system should spend most of the money targeted to largely untested and unproven vaccines whose safety is questioned on comedians instead. Can you imagine having a laughter break at work, riding on public transit with a professional humour monger, or waiting in the emergency department in the local hospital to the sounds of laughing and guffawing? Prescriptions could be written for movies that get even the most stoic personalities laughing.
Even before the research was conducted people understood the power of humour. Check out these wise words from the past:

· “Total absence of humour renders life impossible”
from Chance Acquaintances, 1952 by Colette
· “The most wasted of all days is one without laughter”
e e cummings (1894 - 1962)
· “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.”
Lord Byron (1788 - 1824)
· “A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures.”
Irish Proverb
· “A good laugh is sunshine in the house”
Thackery
· "When you have a heartfelt belly laugh, all parts of your being - the physiological, the psychological, the spiritual - they all vibrate in one single tune. They all vibrate in harmony!"
Osho

Research has also shown that laughter can be acutely contagious and pathological laughter can be a sign of a serious disease (http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Abstracts/Provine_96.html )
Sometimes we take life and ourselves so seriously that we find it quite difficult to laugh or to see the bright side of things. By holding our Safety Energy Lock 15’s (in your groin, right where your legs join your pelvis http://jsj-holds.blogspot.com/2007/11/keys-to-our-harmony.html or http://mysite.verizon.net/ron26/art2.html ) we can assist our vital force to balance in such a way that we can start to see the positive aspect of any situation. And if you don’t think holding your groin will help, just the thought of it might make you smile. It is bound to make others smile if you choose to do this in public!
To honour laughter as a powerful medicine in my life I am issuing a challenge to the people of Chatham-Kent and surrounding areas. I am willing to give away three FREE Jin Shin Jyutsu® sessions to the three people who make me laugh the most with the jokes or stories that they comment to this column with (hopefully there are at least three people who read my column!) Send them in by December 15, 2009 and I will let you know if anyone manages to get me to pee my pants!