I have always been a smiler, and I believe it is one reason that I am a relatively healthy person. People have said to me; “Why are you always smiling?” My answer has always been the same, “Because I am a happy person.” Al Sears, MD, is a medical doctor who travels all over the world searching for natural cures for the things that ail us. On a recent trip to Bali, he met with a traditional healer named Ketut, who is a Balian. Traditional healers have studied ‘books’ inscribed on palm leaves called Lontars—the sacred healing texts of the Balinese. The Lontars have descriptions of illnesses, how to diagnose them, and how to cure them.
Like most Balinese, Ketut is Hindu. But Balinese Hinduism has a bit of Buddhism mixed in, so they have a more introspective approach than most Hindus. They have many things right, and they have a good way of looking at the world. So, Dr Sears wanted to share something simple from Ketut’s Balian wisdom that we can use for ourselves.
“One thing you notice right away,” said Dr. Sears, “is that Ketut smiles all the time.” “In Eat, Pray, Love,” he wonders why people don’t smile more. He says, “Why do they always look so serious in yoga? You make serious face like this, you scare away good energy. To meditate, you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clear away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver.”
It may sound strange to “smile in your liver,” but Balians are taught that illnesses coming from inside the body are caused by disharmony. To create harmony, Ketut’s tradition teaches that in your work and daily routine you want to make sure you are doing something that helps other people. It’s also important to maintain and strengthen your relationships. And the way you begin creating this kind of harmony is to smile. It turns out that there’s more to smiling than you think. Scientific studies consistently show that smiling boosts immunity, increases positive emotions, reduces stress and lowers blood pressure.
To help you get all the benefits of smiling, here’s a traditional Balinese exercise called “inner smile.” You can do it sitting up or lying down:
1. Start by inhaling through your nose. Hold your breath for a moment, then exhale through your mouth. While you’re doing this, feel your muscles start to unwind, and simply visualize the word “smile.”
2. As you continue to breathe slowly, focus your concentration on the muscles of your eyes. You tend to hold a lot of tension in the muscles of your face. Relax these muscles, and focus on how they feel when you smile.
3. Now, imagine this feeling moving up towards your brow, around your ears and over your head. As your face starts to relax, bring the corners of your mouth up into a gentle smile.
4. Direct this inner smile into every part of your body. If you feel tension anywhere, just concentrate your smiling energy there until all your fear and worries drop away. Continue until your smile reaches all the way down to your toes. Do this often enough, and you’ll promote healing in your body, and you’ll smile more like Ketut does. Even in your liver. And, as Andy Rooney says, “If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.”
I personally want to thank Dr. Sears for sharing his experience with others. I also thank Ketut for being such a positive influence in his society and now, in ours.
A smile is the same in any language and means the same thing in every society. A smile is a sign, a symbol of one’s inner peace and as that smile is shared with others, so too, is some of that inner peace. “The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.” (Anon). A smile is contagious; very seldom have I smiled at an obviously troubled person and not received a smile in return. It seemed that almost immediately their troubled thoughts had disappeared. At least the trouble was no longer written across their face in deep furrows. There is no question in my mind that as soon as a smile breaks your face open, the rest of the muscles in your face relax. It actually takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown. “A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks.” (Charles Gordy) Everyone is more handsome or pretty when they are smiling. God bless us with good health and may that good health be at least partly due to our smiley faces.