Author has the last laugh

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Have you ever laughed so hard that your stomach hurts and your eyes tear? According to hypnotherapist and laughter leader, Dave Berman, this is a constructive way to improve health and reduce pain.

But how can someone use laughter as a cure if it’s unconditional? Well, this modern-day jokester has found a way. For Berman, it’s not over until the fat lady sings — or laughs.

Berman wasn’t always interested in the world of laughter medicine. As a young adult, he attended Wantagh High School and was very involved with the Wantagh Warrior, the school’s newspaper. This led him to a job in the journalism field as a stringer for the Citizen, covering sports. Later Berman decided to major in broadcast journalism at Cornell University where he studied radio for four years.“I got a taste for radio and found myself deeper there,” Berman said. Although he had a passion for journalism, he knew something was missing. 

“March 2010 offered me a ‘transexperience,’” Berman said. “I had this realization that all through my life I’ve had different experiences that showed me how important my words were.”

After a few different encounters, Berman decided to study Neuro-Linguistic Programming, the language structure of hypnosis that started in the early 1970s. Being in the communication field, Berman found an interest in this unique language.

According to NLP.com, Neuro-Linguistic Programming was specifically created in order to allow people to create new ways of understanding how verbal and non-verbal communication affects the human brain. It also teaches people how to gain more control over what they consider to be automatic functions of their own neurology.

“I wanted to be able to make a living from my words,” Berman said. “I was ready to see what was next for me. NLP led me to hypnosis.”

After working with various clients with stress and smoking addictions, Berman felt he could create positive lifestyle changes through hypnotherapy. That was when he opened the doors to laughter medicine.

“This healthy hobby came into my life called laughter,” Berman said. “I found laughter yoga was being done in Humboldt, California, where I lived at the time, so I decided to study it. The more I did it, the better I felt and realized the health benefits. I then started to bring some of those ideas into my sessions.”

After only a few months of studying laughter therapy, Berman said he felt a huge change in his overall emotions and daily life. This drove him to become a certified laughter leader.

“There is no question that it has made me more playful and lighthearted,” Berman said. “I roll with the punches now and it’s been obvious the change in me. My clients that deal with a lot of stress have been affected greatly by the therapy as well.”

In his newly released book, “Laughter For the Health of It,” Berman describes a single moment that changed his life forever. In 2013, he was struck with an egg thrown by teenagers in a passing car. Instead of getting mad or frustrated, Berman did the unthinkable — he started laughing.

“Getting hit by the egg was an eye-opening experience,” he said. “The body can’t tell the difference between conditional laughter and unconditional laughter, so that parallel was the jumping point of doing more research.”

Berman’s book, which was published this past summer, has many laughter techniques that can even help with various issues including intense anxiety.

“Laughter has become a tool to change undesirable patterns,” Berman said. “When you teach someone that a panic attack is coming on, the earliest awareness can then be connected to laughter. Instead of triggering fear or uncomfortable feelings, you can use laughter. It’s a powerful interrupt.”

For Berman, whether it’s nervousness, stress or even anger, laughter is the magic tool used to fight negative feelings.

“The No. 1 rule in laughter yoga is that it shouldn’t strain you in any way,” Berman said. “Which is why it’s good for people of all ages.”

Berman currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia and still continues to teach hypnotherapy and laughter yoga classes to whoever is willing to give it a shot.

“My favorite laugh is silent laughter, which is easy to generate,” Berman added. “It’s natural for me and the more you do it, the more natural it becomes. For me, it creates a light strain in my jaw muscle.”

For more information on laughter therapy and other forms of healing, visit www.Manifestpositivity.com.

“I think people should read and learn more about it,” Berman said. “There are even Skype laughter clubs all over America. It really gives someone a chance to get involved.”