An anonymous “friend of Alaris” recently relayed a story of learning a new warm-up routine from her physical therapist, who explained to her that the routine was intended to wake up the nervous system as well as invigorate the body. After a series of push-up patterns, he asked her to do some “alternative” jumping jacks, in which the feet were supposed to go in and out (from a ballet dancer turn-out position to a bow-legged toes-pointing-at-one-another position) while the arms moved up and down in front of the body (like some dance that we’re sure was in Grease somewhere).
After concentrating hard for all of about fifteen seconds, she just broke down laughing. She felt like an uncoordinated pre-teen trying to do the electric slide at her first school dance. Or that kid who just can’t rub his belly and pat his head at the same time, no matter how hard he tries. Apparently, in the world of physical therapy and holistic health, there is actually a physical and mental threshold at which the mind-body conversation just trips on its own feet and the only reasonable response is laughter. When learning new movement patterns, it’s known as the Giggle Factor or the Laughter Threshold, and it let’s us know something really important is going on. Giggling at the silliness of the movement, or the seemingly impossible nature of the task, means you have reached a place where both your mind and body are challenged.
Think of how often we try to do something difficult and fail, and our response is to feel disappointed with ourselves or even scold ourselves for not being better, stronger, faster, or more graceful? What if, instead, we just smiled at ourselves? Laughed out loud and gave ourselves a hug and thought, hey, that’s going to be a fun new challenge?
So next time you need to warm-up before a workout, try a 5-minute Miley Cyrus dance party. Or maybe that dance you made up to Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now (you know what we’re talking about, admit it!). Or even just try to rub your belly and pat your head while jumping on one leg. Your body and your brain will tune in to the fact that it is time to start your training. And you’ll also give yourself the gift of laughter – a highly underestimated asset it our health and fitness routines!