Stress Relief Meditation Process – Laughing, Crying and Watching

A great self and stress-relief process!

Over the last few years ‘Laughing’ has been getting a lot of publicity.

I am unsure from where this trend started but I experimented with it (yes, experimented with Laughing!) in a therapy-cum-meditation group in India in 1990.

It was a three-week program. The first week was only ‘Laughter’. We would all meet for 4 hours in the morning to laugh. We would help each other to laugh, when needed. Crying or any other strong emotion for a whole week.

Actually, I remember at some stage feeling like a very small child, not only in my mind but also in my body, very vulnerable, tender and baby-like. I have never felt this way since. I also remember that tears did come up too, the laughter could easily transform into tears.

The second week was only ‘Crying’. We would all meet for 4 hours in the morning to cry. We were helped at times by watching very poignant news, with some related very touching music.

One short movie I remember, was an extended news story of the war in some country and the music was ‘Brothers in Arms’. That made people cry buckets and me too of course. And at times laughter came up as well, but the process did not allow this to be expressed.

The third week was called ‘Watcher on the Hill’, a meditation. We were in a sitting meditative posture for 4 hours (with small breaks). We were not allowed to laugh or cry for that week, but just watch what came up in the mind. Sadness, joy, whatever thought came up, we were to watch it and not express it.

– This process was/is good. – We realized that tears and laughter were so close together, just a tiny bit over the edge and we were into the other! – We were cleansed of so much after that. – Actually the process was called ‘The Mystic Rose’. – You can do that process daily over one hour, 20 minutes each stage.

I give a lot of value to Laughing, it is a therapy, a cleanser and a great help to see how ridiculous our ‘seriousness’ can be at times, our ‘big life drama’.