My sister sent me a cartoon the other day. It showed a plane full of people listening with a mixture of shock and surprise as the captain made his announcement: "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I'll be working from home today".

Another friend sent me a photograph of birds sitting on perches outside their birdhouses - but they were all at slightly different levels so no bird was next to another bird. The caption read: "social distancing".

In his book, Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins wrote about how he helped himself heal by watching Marx Brother's movies and laughing. Laughter is good medicine! Keep the jokes and the cartoons circulating. Get on your computer and go to Laughter Yoga websites and laugh along with others. https://laughteryoga.org/

Dr. Madan Kataria started laughter yoga after doing a lot of research which led him to the conclusion that 'laughing on purpose', or, 'laughing for no reason" has the same physiological benefits of spontaneous laughter. What are they? It strengthens the immune system, helps to elevate our mood, boosts our levels of oxytocin [the 'feel good' hormone], lowers blood pressure, reduces stress, and increases the oxygen we have coursing through our bodies.

What should we do about the coronavirus? Dr. Kataria says to follow all the hygiene practices that are recommended, drink warm water throughout the day and laugh, even if you are alone, laugh for 15 minutes a day. He even has a new "coronavirus" laughter yoga technique where we imagine that the coronavirus is like flies and we laugh out loud as we brush them away from our faces and our bodies. If you want to see his message on YouTube you can find it on the laugher yoga website https://laughteryoga.org/, put this in your search engine: "Laughter Yoga The Ultimate Protections from CoronaVirus"

YouTube click here:

https://upload.latest.facebook.com/laughteryoga/posts/10156870445591003 .

What could it hurt?

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Deborah Brin