Episode 17: The Medicine Hidden Inside Your Laughter

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Courageous Alignment. I'm your host, Cher, and today I am wondering if you have ever noticed the moment right before you laugh where your body forgets its armor. Your breath might soften, your chest loosen, and your nervous system unhooks from its vigilance. And something inside you whispers, Oh, I'm safe enough to open up. That moment isn't random, it's intelligence. We open May beneath a full moon in Scorpio, a lunation that pulls emotional truth out of hiding. When a full moon in Scorpio is active, the body brings unresolved material to the surface, not intellectually but somatically. And as always, the nervous system feels at first. That's why laughter matters so much right now. Today we're exploring laughter as medicine, not the surface level laughter is good for you, but the deeper truth. Laughter is a somatic exhale, a psychological reset, a hypnotic transbreaker, and an energetic purge. It is one of the most underestimated healing technology your body carries, especially during emotional catalytic periods as a Scorpio full moon. Laughter is the brain's way of signaling we can't stop surviving for a moment. Psychologically, laughter activates the ventrovagal system, signaling safety, releases endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. It interrupts looping thoughts and worst case thinking, and creates micro moments of connection even when you're alone. Under a Scorpio full moon, suppressed emotion doesn't respond well to overanalysis. The psyche wants release, not rumination. Laughter becomes a pressure valve. It's often the first signal that safety has returned. It's not frivolous, it's a biological reset. On May 6th, 2026, Pluto stations retrograde in Aquarius, beginning a five-month inward journey that lasts until mid-October. Unlike faster retrogrades that disrupt schedules or communication, Pluto retrograde works beneath the surface. It doesn't demand attention through chaos, it invites transformation through inner reckoning. Pluto governs power and control, the subconscious, survival conditioning, and the cycles of death and rebirth that strip us down to something truer. When Pluto is moving direct, this work often shows up externally through power struggles, loss, and dramatic turning points. But when Pluto turns retrograde, everything changes. The focus moves inward. This is no longer about what's happening to you. It becomes about what's beginning to reveal within you. And because Pluto is retrograde in Aquarius, the work is deeply tied to how we relate to the collective. Aquarius rules community and group identity, technology, digital life, social systems, networks, and future vision. It governs how we belong without losing ourselves. Under this retrograde, many people begin to quietly question where have I given my power away? To systems, platforms, groups, or shared beliefs without realizing it? Where have I stayed silent or adapted myself just to belong? Which ideas about the future am I living inside of that no longer feel true to my body? How much my identity has been shaped by external networks instead of inner knowing? Pluto retrograde in Aquarius doesn't rip these answers out of us. It reveals them gently through discomfort, awareness, and the soft surfacing of truths we've been holding under the surface. Psychologically and somatically, this retrograde often shows up not as dramatic events, but as a subtle signal. A new awareness of how your body braces in social spaces, fatigue around performance, connection, or constant digital presence, a desire to unplug and simplify or reclaim autonomy. Old fears about rejection, visibility, or neutrality resurfacing. What rises now isn't here to overwhelm you. It's here to be witnessed, metabolized, and released. This is a season of deconditioning, not acceleration. And here's the most important lesson Pluto teaches us during this retrograde. Pluto isn't reclaimed through intensity, it's reclaimed through clarity. Pluto retrograde asks us to notice, without judgment, where we grip control out of fear of exclusion, where we over-identify with collective narratives, and where our nervous systems have learned that belonging requires self-abandonment. The transformation happens quietly. Nothing shatters, nothing explodes. Old patterns simply lose their hold. And that's where laughter begins to matter. Because laughter is one of the body's most natural ways of letting go without force. In hypnotherapy, laughter is one of the most effective pattern interrupts we use. It snaps the mind out of a fear-based trance state, opens neuroplastic windows, softens subconscious resistance, and allows new beliefs to land. When someone laughs in a session, I know the subconscious just unlocked a door. Not because anything was forced, but because something finally let go. That's Pluto retrograde work. Not dramatic, it's disarming. I want to share a moment that taught me this lesson long before I actually had language for it. Years ago, my sister and I were at a funeral. I remember the energy in the church was incredibly stoic, quiet, contained, reverent. Everyone was holding themselves together. And for reasons I still can't fully explain, one of us started giggling. And then, of course, the other one started. And once it started, we could not stop. There was nothing funny about the moment, there was no joke, it wasn't disrespect, it was release. Someone sitting behind us actually began poking my sister, trying to get her to stop laughing, which honestly made me laugh more. And I understand why she began poking my sister because in a room where everyone is bracing, any release feels disruptive. But what was happening wasn't humor, it was the nervous system trying to discharge overwhelming emotion in the only way it could. When expression isn't permitted, when grief has nowhere to go, the body will find another door. And for us on that day and in that moment, the door happened to sound like laughter. And that moment taught me something I've never forgotten. Laughter isn't the opposite of grief. Sometimes it's the body's way through it. There's a reason the laughing Buddha is always shown smiling. Not politely, not quietly, but from the belly. His laughter isn't symbolic. It signals release rather than resistance. It's physiological. The laughing Buddha doesn't laugh because its life is perfect. He laughs because he's no longer holding what was never meant to be carried. That open belly isn't indulgence, it's an unarmed nervous system. Symbolically, his round belly represents abundance and acceptance, the ability to receive life fully rather than clench against it. His laughter tells the body, you can soften now. You don't need to brace. You don't need to clench to survive. Pluto retrograde works the same way. Healing doesn't come through effort, it comes through release. And sometimes it sounds like laughter. Mid-May brings a new moon in Taurus, shifting healing out of crisis and into the body. Taurus governs safety, self-worth, pleasure, and embodiment. Energetically, laughter creates movement where stagnation has lived. It clears emotional density from the solar plexus and heart, breaks up residue left by suppressed feelings, restores circulation through the energetic field, and anchors energy back into the body. This is Taurus medicine. Not upward transcendence, but grounding. Laughter invites energy home into the chest, into the belly, into the places that learned to brace. Before we continue into our practice, I want to talk about something tender. Joy. Not the performative kind and not the look on the bright side kind, but the quiet, embodied joy that used to visit more easily. For many of us, joy hasn't disappeared. It's been postponed, pushed aside by responsibility, by grief, by survival mode, by the unspoken belief that joy is something we're supposed to earn after we've handled everything else. And over time, the nervous system forgets what joy feels like. Not because we're broken, but because we've been busy holding things together. As the sun moves into Gemini, the body begins to remember something important. Gemini reactivates breath, curiosity, sound, play. It reminds us that joy doesn't always arrive as a big moment. Sometimes joy returns as a small lightness in the chest, a laugh that surprises you, or a moment of ease in your breath. And at the end of the month, the full moon in Sagittarius rises, and Sagittarius asks us a different kind of question. Not what hurt, but what truth brings relief? What perspective makes life feel lighter again? Sagittarius teaches us that joy isn't frivolous. It's orientation. It helps the nervous system remember why we're here. It gives meaning back to the journey and it widens the lens after periods of emotional intensity. Calling joy back into our lives doesn't mean denying pain. It means letting joy stand beside it. And sometimes the way joy returns is not through happiness, but through laughter. I want you to notice what that sound may have done to your body when you heard the laughter. You don't have to change anything, just observe. Did your breath soften? Did your chest open even slightly? Did your face respond before your mind did? For many of us, the sound of a child's laughter reaches parts of the nervous system that words never touch. It reminds the body of something it hasn't forgotten, only set aside. This is where joy and regulation meet through breath, sound, and play. As May progresses, the sun moves into Gemini, activating breath, voice, sound, and nervous system signaling. Gemini rules the lungs, the voice, the social nervous system. Under Gemini season, laughter becomes especially potent because it works through sound and breath, the body's own regulatory pathways. Laughter reconnects us to the presence, through play, through movement, through expression. Before we move into a guided practice, I want to name something important. There is an actual therapeutic modality called laughter therapy, sometimes referred to as laughter yoga. And it's been studied for its effects on stress, mood, and the nervous system regulation. What's fascinating is this. From a physiological perspective, the body doesn't know the difference between spontaneous laughter and intentional laughter. Both activate the same pathways, both release endorphins and both help regulate stress responses. That means you don't need a joke, you don't need to feel happy, you don't need a reason. The medicine isn't the humor, it's the breath, the sound, and the release. Therapeutic laughter is often used when emotions feel too heavy, too complex, or too held to move through words. And that's why it works so well during times of grief, transition, and subconscious clearing. Exactly like what many of us are experiencing right now with how crazy things are in the world. This isn't about forcing joy, it's about giving the nervous system permission to soften, even if temporarily. And that's what we're about to practice because your body deserves relief. So here we go. Are you ready? Close your eyes, take in a slow breath, and as you exhale, let out the smallest, softest laugh. Even if it's fake. A tiny ha. Again, inhale, exhale. Ha ha. Let the jaw soften, let the chest loosen, and let the nervous system stop gripping. Allow the laugh to grow, not forced, just aloud. A ripple, a release, a remembering. Let your body decide the pace and breathe. You can do this at any time just to allow your body some relief. We'll close the month of May with the full moon in Sagittarius, a lunation of meaning, perspective, and expansion. After emotional release and grounding, Sagittarius asks, what truth feels lighter now? And use this following ritual anytime emotional heaviness returns. Shake your hands for ten seconds. Take in a deep breath. Exhale with a laugh, even if it starts fake. And continue for twenty to thirty seconds. Then place your hand on your heart and say my body remembers joy. Sagittarius reminds us that healing isn't just depth, it's perspective. Laughter is not childish, it's not avoidance and it's not a distraction. It is a healing technology built into your body, one that works with emotional cycles, not against them. The laughing Buddha knew this. Scorpio reminds us to release. Taurus invites us to feel safe again. Gemini shows us how breath and sound regulate the system. Sagittarius brings meaning back online. So let yourself laugh this month. Your healing doesn't have to be heavy. Sometimes it sounds like laughter. And I'm going to leave you with an affirmation for the month. This month I release what my body no longer needs to hold. I give my nervous system permission to soften. I allow emotions to move instead of freeze. I remember that safety lives in my breath, in my belly, in the sound of laughter moving through me. I don't need to force healing. I don't need to stay armored to be strong. My body remembers joy. And joy remembers me. Thank you all for being here. I am truly honored that you have chosen to take time with me today. And if this episode resonated, please subscribe, follow, and tune in and share it with someone who is ready to step into their truth. You can also find information about my services and upcoming retreats at www.courageousalignment3.com. And follow us on Instagram at courageousalignment3. New episodes are dropped once a week to help you rise, realign, and reconnect to who you truly are. Remember, when you are truly in alignment with your soul, your heart will follow and your mind will become its wingman, and life will become much easier. Courageous Alignment Podcast is where it all comes together. I'm looking forward to spending more time with you next week. I'll see you then.