Dr.WellbeingSM

GJ Peister, MD

Laughter Yoga
Benefits of Laughter   
Benefits of Laughter Yoga 
Bringing Joy Back Into Our Lives
Research
The "Yoga" of Laughter Yoga
Weekly Public Laughter Club

       
Laughter Yoga
     Laughter Yoga is a form of recreation that creates sustained laughter. Sustained laughter is powerfully healing and uplifting.  Practicing Laughter Yoga creates a great sense of wellbeing and improves health on all levels.

     Laughter Yoga is a group exercise routine, which combines unconditional laughter, simple movement, and play.  Laughter yoga is practiced in a group setting and is lead by a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader or Teacher.  The movement of Laughter Yoga is gentle and is not classic Hatha Yoga (postures).  Each class a Certified Laughter Yoga Leader leads the group in a series of exercises during which we laugh.  Between exercises we clap in rhythm while chanting “Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha”.  We breathe deeply and gently stretch.  Sessions last 20 – 45 minutes.

     Laughter Yoga does not rely upon jokes or humor to create laughter.  Each session starts with fake laughter, (laughing for no reason or unconditional laughter), but always rolls into real laughter.  Everyone can fake laugh.  Science has actually proven that the body cannot tell the difference between fake and real laughter.  Both create the same “happy chemistry” in the body.  This empowers participants to uplift themselves.

     Laughter Yoga  relies upon minimal cognition to generate laughter.  It is the only technique that allows adults to achieve sustained hearty laughter without involving cognitive thought.  Laughter Yoga bypasses the intellectual systems.  This allows those with cognitive impairment to participate and laugh.

     Through Laughter Yoga we can change the state of mind to a positive state.  Laughter Yoga uses the two way body-mind link to do this.  By making playful happy movements and gestures, we uplift ourselves and become happy.  Laughter Yoga calls this “motion creates emotion”, which encourages participants to make the joyful silly gestures and movement.  This effect is so powerful that we have seen Laughter Yoga assist people all over the world overcome depression.
     
Benefits of Laughter
     Why is it so important to laugh?  The benefits of laughter are quite amazing.  Research on laughter shows that laughter releases “happy hormones” (endorphins) and reduces stress hormone levels (cortisol and epinephrine).  Laughter improves the function of the immune system.  Laughter also improves blood oxygenation. 

      Researchers estimate that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike. 

     Eighty five percent of doctor’s visits and medications prescribed today are for stress-related illness.  Regular Laughter Yoga has profound short and long term benefits on reducing stress. 
      
Benefits of Laughter Yoga
     People who practice Laughter Yoga regularly claim that they physically feel better, have more energy, have reduced medical problems, enjoy life more, and get along better with others.  They note that regular laughing has reduced blood pressure, relieved depression and anxiety, improved constipation and digestion, reduced pain, is anti-aging, and improves sex drive.  Laughing creates relaxation and healing for your entire being.

    * Laughter reduces stress hormone levels.  Laughter creates the opposite of          what stress creates in the body. Laughter helps us relax.  It reduces               stress and tension.  Laughter is a built in mechanism for relieving stress          and tension.

    * Laughter increases “happy” hormone levels called endorphins.

    * Laughter boosts our immune system.

    * Laughter is good aerobic exercise.  Laughter yoga is a fun way to                     experience aerobic exercise.

    * Laughter improves blood circulation.

    * Laughter improves oxygenation.

    * Laughter releases negative emotions.

    * Laughter makes it easier to cope with life and its challenges.

    * When we laugh we are present in the moment and not caught up in the            past or worried about the future.  The present is the only time we can            experience joy.

    * Laughter helps us get along better with others. We can forgive them and          love them.

     Anecdotal wisdom describes laughter as a cleansing mechanism. As noted on the "Wellbeing" page everything in the Universe is energy.  We are fundamentally energy.  When we look at the frontier of medicine, the Human Energy Field, laughter appears to clean out stored negative energy. 

     We often store negative energy in the form of negative emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear (rather than expressing them).  This impairs the immune system  and leads to disease.  Eric Robins, MD affirms that unresolved emotional issues are the main cause of 85% of all illness.  Laughter provides a way for these emotions to be released.  Literally we laugh the negative emotions out.  In energetic terms, laughter appears to regulate our energy flow. Laugh and stay healthy.
Bringing Joy Back Into Our Lives
     Children laugh because it is their nature to be joyful, and not because they have a sense of humor.  They laugh from the inner place of Wellbeing.  As we grow up we develop a sense of humor and learn to laugh from the mind.  That is, something must strike the mind as funny in order for us to laugh.  We switch from the joyful laughter of childhood to the intellectual laughter of adults.  Unfortunately learned or conditioned laughter limits when we laugh and when it is acceptable for us to laugh.  Laughter Yoga creates a socially acceptable and safe place for laughter.

      Laughing out loud for no reason can be awkward at first.  This is because the socialization process teaches us not to do so.  With practice this awkwardness disappears, making it easy to laugh out loud unconditionally just as we did as children. Practicing Laughter Yoga actually clears the layers of inhibitions, programming, and mental roadblocks allowing joyful natural laughter to emerge.  Laughter Yoga connects us with that inner place of wellbeing which got covered up as we developed.  Laughter Yoga is a simple way to bring laughter back into our lives. It creates more joy and laughter in all areas of our lives.

     Laughter Yoga was created in 1995 by a physician, Madan Kataria, M.D., who while researching laughter, became aware of the remarkable benefits of laughter. He wanted to create a setting that allows people to laugh because he realized that adults do not laugh very much and children are laughing less.  He came up with the idea of a Laughter Club, then created Laughter Yoga. Since then he has trained thousands of people all over the World.  There are now  thousands of Laughter Clubs practicing Laughter Yoga Worldwide.
Research
     Most of the medical benefits listed above came from research on laughter that relies on humor to create the laughter.  The thousands of people who regularly practice Laughter Yoga have generated much anecdotal evidence of the benefits of laughter.  The first completed study on Laughter Yoga was done with employees in a mental health center.  They practiced Laughter Yoga for fifteen minutes for fifteen days. The employees demonstrated a significant increase in several different aspects of feeling good about themselves and their ability to do their job which is called self-efficacy. This included self-regulation, optimism, positive emotions, and social identification. The employees maintained these gains at follow-up. Purposeful laughter is a realistic, sustainable, and generalizable intervention that enhances employees’ morale, resilience, and personal efficacy beliefs.

     Another study is in the process of being published reveals a reduction in stress hormone levels of IT professionals who practiced Laughter Yoga.
The "Yoga" of Laughter Yoga
      Yoga is the philosophy behind Laughter Yoga.  The goal of all Yoga is to unite and balance our mental,emotional, physical, and spiritual selves, thereby making our lives happier through the sense of well-being created from practicing Yoga.  Practicing Laughter Yoga (Hasya Yoga) creates Well-being.  The deep breathing and exhalation of Laughter Yoga is quite similar to the breathing practices (pranayama) of Hatha Yoga.
 
Weekly Public Laughter Club
Everyone is welcome to drop into a Laughter Club session.  No registration is required.  To find a club near you, go to www.laughteryoga.org
Dr. WellbeingSM Laughter Club
Wednesdays 7:30pm
located at:
Peace Through Play
Nursery School
8 Amber Ridge Road
Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977
(845)201-0239
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