LAUGHTER YOGA

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LAUGHTER YOGA

(Hasyayoga)

Laughter Yoga is a practice involving prolonged voluntary laughter. It was developed and made popular by Indian physician Madan Kataria, who started on 13 March 1995 from practicing early morning laughter group with five people in one of the Mumbai parks. Later, a more formal version was created and popularized as “Laughter Clubs”. The concept rapidly spread worldwide, and as of 2011, there were more than 8,000 Laughter Clubs in 100 countries. Each group is run by a “Laugh Captain” and operates independently. And, if it’s not enough, Laughter Yoga is now being practiced in companies, old age homes, schools, colleges, fitness centers, community centers, prisons, hospitals and so on[1].

The reason it is called Laughter Yoga is because it combines laughter exercises with yoga breathing. This brings more oxygen to the body and the brain, which makes one feel more energetic and healthy.

Laughter Yoga is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter. Natural laughter depends on many conditions, but there are not that many reasons which make us laugh, so we don’t laugh very often. That means we are leaving laughter to chance, it may happen or may not. In Laughter Yoga clubs laughter is not left to chance, it is done out of commitment, without needing to rely on humor, jokes or comedy. This is a guaranteed way of getting the health benefits of laughter.

Laughter Yoga is the only technique that allows adults to achieve sustained hearty laughter without involving thoughts. It bypasses the intellectual systems that normally act as a brake on natural laughter.

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BENEFITS OF LAUGHTER YOGA:

For centuries, laughter was referred to as the best medicine for body and mind. Now we seem to recognize the following benefits of laughter:

  • *  slowing down a racing heart & strengthening cardiovascular system
  • *  relaxing the muscles
  • *  strengthening the immune system
  • *  lowering the level of stress hormones in the bloodstream
  • *  strengthening the mind: fending off the pessimism & improving mood – benefits to mood in depressed patients have been found to be as good as exercise therapy
  • *  increasing pain thresholds – laughter produces an “endorphin-mediated opiate effect”

…and, what is even more important, these effects are long lasting!!!

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LAUGHTER YOGA SECRET 1: WE DON’T NEED A SENSE OF HUMOR TO LAUGH

Most people believe that one must have a sense of humor to laugh, but Laughter Yoga proves otherwise. To develop the ability to laugh joyfully, it is important to remove all inhibitions and conditioning created by self, family, and society. Laughter Yoga facilitates this cleaning process and helps to release natural joyful laughter inside of us. The techniques are effective even for people who have lost their laughter or have absolutely no sense of humor.

LAUGHTER YOGA SECRET 2: MOTION CREATES EMOTION

‘How do you laugh when you are in no mood to laugh or don’t have any reason to laugh?’ The answer is this: motion creates emotion. There is an inherent link between the body and mind. Whatever happens to the mind happens to the body. Therefore, if one changes the quality of thoughts, one can feel a change in body behavior. Conversely, if one can bring a change in body behavior one can experience the change in mental state. Laughter Yoga has the ability to synchronize both body and the mind, maintaining a mutual harmony.

LAUGHTER YOGA SECRET 3: YOU CAN LAUGH EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY

There is an old saying: ‘If you are not happy, act like a happy person and you will become one.’ There is great wisdom and science behind ‘acting out happiness.’ Medical research shows that even if you pretend to laugh or act happy, your body produces happy chemicals. Laughter Yoga emphasizes ‘FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT’, which clearly states that there is hardly any difference between thinking about doing something, and actually doing it. Therefore, whatever may be the source of laughter, it leads to the same physiological changes occurring in the body.

LAUGHTER YOGA SECRET 4: LAUGHTER YOGA IS NOT ABOUT LAUGHING

It is actually about cultivating childlike playfulness. Once you learn to play, you don’t have to force laughing; laughter comes as the natural outcome of your playful inner child. Though laughing in a group provides a stimulus, a childlike behavior by adults helps people to get over their inhibitions and actually loosen up.

LAUGHTER YOGA SECRET 5: YOU CAN TRAIN YOUR BODY AND MIND TO LAUGH

Our body and mind can be trained to laugh at will. By repeating any bodily behavior over a period of time, the mind begins to generate a predictable response. Thus, by performing laughter exercises on a regular basis, people become conditioned to be joyful. With Laughter Yoga, the brain develops new neuronal connections that produce happy chemistry in the body. These reactions can be triggered simply by laughter exercises and doing certain actions of the body, which lead the mind to experience the emotion of joy.

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SUMMARY

In summary, main principles of Laughter Yoga:

  • –  laughing for no reason – laughter without needing to rely on humor, jokes or comedy
  • –  ideally practiced in group – with eye contact to other group members
  • –  embracing of child-like playfulness attitude
  • –  for best health benefits continuous laughter should last for at least 10-15 minutes
  • –  to reap the health benefits of laughter, it has to be loud and deep, coming from the diaphragm, i.e. the belly laugh

[1] Most of the information here is based on ‘Your Happiness Guide’ by Laughter Yoga University.

If you want more information or are looking for a Laughter Yoga training see: Chi-Ki Holistic Health

 

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