laugh it away

ANXIETY is the feeling that something unpleasant or dangerous is about to happen. When anxiety is a rational response to recognisable danger, it is not a problem. What makes life difficult is when this feeling of anxiety intrudes on a person for no obvious reason.

During such moments, the mind is filled with fearful thoughts and the body reacts as if it is in danger, with what is called the flight or fight response.

For some people, unwanted anxiety occurs intermittently, provoked by ordinary situations or places. This is called situational anxiety.

For others, anxiety is a persistent background hum that is present almost all the time. This condition is called general anxiety disorder.


The most potent antidote to anxiety and fear is laughter. There is no need to laugh aloud. Just smile, and feel the laughter within you. – Reuters

When anxiety reaches a crescendo, a panic attack ensues. The sufferer cringes in fear, trembling and sweating, struggling to breathe, and often experiencing a sense of unreality or of imminent loss of consciousness.

And it is all so embarrassing because everyone you confide in will most likely say: “Don’t worry. There is nothing to be afraid of.”

Understanding anxiety

A small part of the brain called the amygdala is responsible for generating chemicals that cause these sensations of anxiety and fear. Take away the amygdala, and you will never experience anxiety or fear. But that is not a good trade off because you will probably end up a zombie, having lost the ability to experience other emotions too.

However, there is good news. Those who suffer from anxiety can condition the mind so that the amygdala does not respond with fear-producing chemicals in non-threatening situations. To be able to do this, a little understanding of the human mind is necessary.

The mind is not the same as the brain, even though the brain is the organ most closely linked to the mind. The mind is a virtual field of energy created by living cells. It is the medium that ensures all organs in the body, including the brain, work together harmoniously. Where the mind is present, there is life, and when it is absent, there is death.

The mind is also the space where thoughts are formed and stored. Only a small part of the mind is in the conscious realm. That is why we are not aware of most aspects of the way the body works.

Thoughts and emotions that one experienced in the past are stored in the subconscious mind. These stored impressions can be recalled back into consciousness with appropriate stimuli. For example, a whiff of perfume may bring to our awareness the face and name of someone in our past.

Nothing that has been experienced or thought of, in the past, is really lost. It is all there in the subconscious mind and can be brought to awareness with appropriate stimuli.

These impressions in the subconscious mind include the fear response, which is actually a survival response. It produces the flight or fight response.

Human beings are all born with varying degrees of fear-inducing impressions in their minds as a legacy of their survival as a species from various kinds of dangers.

In all of us, there are areas in our subconscious mind, which if stimulated, will produce the various components of the flight or fight response, namely, a rapid heart rate, cold hands and feet, sweating, tremors, and rapid breathing.

These physical responses will automatically evoke the emotion of anxiety or fear in the conscious mind.

Willpower cannot prevent these feelings and symptoms because they are autonomic responses and not under the conscious domain.

An anxiety attack is, simply put, a survival response to something the body perceives as dangerous.

It may not always be possible to know why this response is triggered in non-threatening situations, like, for example, open spaces, during public speaking, or while driving. Or why, in some people, it is present more or less all the time.

But the reason anxiety keeps recurring in such non-threatening situations is because of the way the individual reacts to the feeling and the symptoms.

Controlling it

The usual reaction of anyone who experiences anxiety is to get rid of the feeling and symptoms as quickly as possible and return back to a normal state. The individual either fights the feeling with will power, trying to subdue it, or tries to avoid it by desperately chanting prayers or trying to think of something else.

Either way, the individual exhibits the classic fight or flight response. This reaction sends a message to the subconscious mind that the trigger was appropriate, and will, in turn, reinforce the anxiety response.

The anxiety will then recur over and over again in similar situations. Soon, even thinking about that kind of a situation will be enough to provoke anxiety and a panic attack.

Two fundamental principles need to be understood as the rationale for the technique to recondition the mind and prevent anxiety.

The first is that anxiety occurs because the subconscious mind believes the individual to be in danger. The second is that the individual’s response to these symptoms and feelings of anxiety can reinforce the pattern.

Based on these two principles, there is a two-part technique to condition the mind and overcome anxiety disorders. First, send appropriate messages to the subconscious mind that the situation poses no danger.

Second, avoid reacting in any way that can be interpreted as a flight or fight response during moments of anxiety.

The subconscious mind deals in imagery and feelings, not in words and language. For you to reach into the subconscious mind, you need to communicate with it through thoughts that are rich in sensory impressions. You need thoughts rich in visuals and the sensations of smell, taste, touch, and sound.

You must use your imagination to create such thoughts and “tell” your subconscious mind that you are safe and that the anxiety-causing situation was not dangerous to you.

Feeling light and easy

One of the easiest ways to do this is by using laughter. The most potent antidote to anxiety and fear is laughter. No one laughs when he/she is afraid.

Therefore, whenever you laugh, the subconscious mind gets the message that there is no danger. So try to flush your body with laughter during your practice sessions. There is no need to laugh aloud. Just smile, and feel the laughter within you.

Think of those situations or circumstances that cause you anxiety, and tell your subconscious mind that you are safe by using appropriate thoughts and laughter.

A few minutes practice will be enough, but make sure you do it on a regular basis for at least 21 days.

And whenever you feel an anxiety attack coming on, please remember that you must neither fight it nor turn away from it. Do not reinforce the trigger by sending the wrong message to your subconscious. What you have to do instead, as you feel the sensation of anxiety creep into you, is to flush your body with laughter and smile broadly.

Imagine the energy of laughter flooding through you and that all your cells and tissues are laughing at the inappropriate way your body is reacting. You will be able to do this easily if you have practised it before.

Once you do that, the anxiety response will dramatically weaken and you will never be crippled by a panic attack. You will regain your confidence and you will be able to continue doing whatever you were doing at that time.

The strength of anxiety attacks in the future too will diminish when the subconscious mind gets the message that its anxiety response is inappropriate. And soon, such anxiety will stop altogether.

The amazing thing about this simple technique is that, once you have experienced its power, you will never ever again fear debilitating anxiety in any situation. You will have regained control over the way your body reacts.

Whether you suffer from situational anxiety or from a generalised anxiety disorder, once your subconscious mind is conditioned not to react in survival-mode in ordinary situations, you will forever be free of anxiety and panic attacks.

This technique of flushing yourself with laughter will also help to keep you rooted to the present moment and prevent your past from silently hijacking your emotions. It can be used to remove, for example, inappropriate feelings of despair, guilt, and sadness that seep into your consciousness.