WITH life these days so dire and dreary, one would think that most people’s mantra would be “cheer up!” or “think positive!” or “don’t panic.” But apparently that doesn’t always work. Comes now a man who advocates the exact opposite. He goes around urging people to have a good cry. Who is this weird fellow?
His name is Hidefumi Yoshida whom the New York Times recently profiled in a piece called “The Benefits of Crying.” Yoshida claims that weeping helps to wash out worry, depression and despair. In Japan he has a small café where he invites folks to come in for “blue tea” to “detoxify” by shedding tears while talking to him and others about their troubles. He is known as the “tears teacher” and though he doesn’t force people to cry, he tells them that weeping helps to shed stress, and that it’s good for mental and emotional health.
This is a revolutionary concept in Japan, a country whose inhabitants are notorious for being very disciplined and totally uptight. Indeed it makes one wonder if their constitution forbids any form of crying, not just among females but especially among males, since it would denote weakness.
For some reason all this made me recall when I lived in Hong Kong in the early 1990s and learned about Indian guru Madan Katari who practiced “laughter yoga therapy” which he claimed promoted calmness and serenity in stressed-out humans. He founded laughter clubs in several countries around the world, with varying degrees of success. He strongly urged his followers to laugh their heads off and produce belly laughs which he claimed promotes health and boosts immune systems.
One weekend I decided to attend a laughter session at one of Hong Kong’s parks with a friend. I didn’t know if attendees were supposed to crack jokes to get the laughter going, but it started out with the leader asking everyone to clap their hands for some minutes, breathe deeply, say ha-ha-ha and then break out in full-throated laughing. As folks got chummier with each other, they struck up conversations and shared laughs. All the noise resulted in guffaws and chuckles and shrieking laughter.
Many years ago I read about eminent American professor and world peace advocate Norman Cousins who acquired ankylosing spondylosis, a systemic rheumatic disease in his early 40s. His doctors were unable to treat it so Cousins decided to cure himself by employing laughter and massive doses of vitamin C. He read lots of humorous material and went as far as to acquire the funniest films available like Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. He firmly believed that regular belly laughing was good for one’s health. He lived to be 75, 26 years after his debilitating illness and 10 years after having a heart attack. His book “Anatomy of an illness as Perceived by a Patient” was a runaway best-seller.
There’s a saying that smiling and laughter exercise many more muscles in one’s face than frowning and looking glum. The practice apparently promotes light spirits and banishes gloomy ones. Contrary to that old adage that laughter is the best medicine, it seems that nowadays crying is more effective to banish the blues from one’s life.