Let out your frustrations
With a gut-wrenching wail that rippled from her body, Amber Walcker joined about a dozen screaming people in West Seattle who let their frustrations float away over the Puget Sound. It was just the start. The two group screams that followed, each one longer and more intense, released the pain from Walcker’s recent job loss. Her added stress from raising two young children dissolved as it blended with the sound of lapping water, and a deep sense of calm descended upon her. “I had such a sense of feeling grounded. In that same moment, all your senses are heightened,” Walcker said. “From then on out, I was hooked.” That day in September was the first meeting of Seattle’s chapter of Scream Club, one of 17 chapters that had popped up in less than a year around the United States.
The first chapter, in Chicago, began as a result of a couple’s rough patch. Co-founders Manny Hernandez and Elena Soboleva had recently moved in together after dating long-distance for a year and a half. They were walking along Lake Michigan when Hernandez, a breathwork practitioner and men’s coach, suggested they let out all their frustrations with a scream at the end of a pier. When they asked permission of the few people around, everyone decided to scream together, their raw emotion echoing over the water. “After we did it, some people were crying, including Elena,” Hernandez said. “That’s when we looked at each other and said, ‘This is probably something that we should start.’” Depending on the chapter, Scream Club meetings can be weekly or monthly, but they always take place in a park or near a body of water to minimize disturbance. Sessions typically begin with participants writing down the thing they want to release on biodegradable paper. That’s followed by a series of collective deep breaths and vocal warm-ups, such as humming while breathing in and out. The Scream Club’s techniques are descendants of primal scream therapy, a theory that Los Angeles psychoanalyst: Research in the decades since, however, has not found scream therapy to be an effective treatment for mental health conditions.
Still, it’s a fantastic stress reliever. Screaming can engage circuits in the amygdala and the hippocampus—”the oldest part of our brain” that is responsible for processing stress and emotion. Screaming also activates the sympathetic nervous system, or fight-or-flight stress response. Once the screaming stops, the parasympathetic system kicks in, which signals the body to rest. Some people even come to scream for joy. Whatever the reason, the Seattle chapter usually meets just before sunset to watch the sun dip below the water afterward. “It’s kind of like putting everything to rest,” she said. “And that everyone knows that that’s the end of that, and we can all start fresh.”
Pump up the volume
The wife was screaming at her Husband:
“Leave!! Get out of this house!” she ordered.
As he was walking out the door she yelled, “I hope you die a slow and painful death!”
He turned around and replied “So, now you want me to stay?”
A woman ran screaming into the pro shop at the golf course…
“I just got stung by a bee between the first and second hole!”
The guy at the counter said, “Your stance is too wide.”
As an amateur pilot wannabe, I knew I’d finally made progress with my flight training the day my instructor turned to me and said, “You know, you’re not as much fun since you stopped screaming.”
“I came in to make an appointment with the dentist.” said the man to the receptionist.” “I’m sorry sir.” she replied. “He’s out right now, but…” “Thank you.” interrupted the obviously nervous prospective patient. “When will he be out again?” The dentist says to his patient “Please scream as loud as you possibly can.”
The patient is confused, “Why should I do that?”
“The waiting room’s full and the football game starts in twenty minutes.”
March 25th Birthdays
1982 – Jenny Slate, 1982 – Danica Patrick, 1965 – Sarah Jessica Parker, 1947 – Aretha Franklin
1928 – Jim Lovell, 1947 – Elton John, 1943 – Paul Michael Glaser, 1982 – Sean Faris