This looks soooo silly . I had reservations, but then I started laughing just watching the video. Try it. It’s what we all need right about now.
Dr. Gupta’s CNN Report on Laughter Yoga
“Mirth is God’s medicine; everybody ought to bathe in it. Grim care, moroseness, anxiety – all the rust of life – ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth.” Orison Swett Marten
Laughter Yoga combines unconditional laughter with yogic breathing (Pranayama). Anyone can laugh for no reason, without relying on humor, jokes or comedy. Laughter is simulated as a body exercise in a group but with eye contact and childlike playfulness, it soon turns into real and contagious laughter. The concept of Laughter Yoga is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter.One gets the same physiological and psychological benefits.” Laughter Yoga International website
Remember those times as a kid when some kids started laughing, perhaps for no discernible reason, and then before you knew it all the kids were laughing? That’s what this is like. It’s a world-wide phenomena with laughter clubs gathering almost everywhere and easily started. Barring full-blown laughter clubs, there’s always the laughter buddy concept. Or, you can go it alone, as I am.
It’s not just laughing. It’s breathing and laughter. I gather it’s been around awhile, but it only just recently came up on my radar. It is said to be good for pain relief, stress relief, and for those who have asthma and bronchitis.
Apparently this “craze” was started by Dr. Madan Kataria of Mumbai, India who was impressed with studies on laughter, health, and healing and with Norman Cousin’s book, Laughter is the Best Medicine. Cousins, who dealt with painful and potentially life threatening disease, found that “a good belly laugh” relieved pain enough to enable him to get a few hours of quality sleep. According to the Laughter Yoga International website, the movement started in 1995 in Mumbai and there are now some 6,000 laughter yoga clubs in sixty countries.
Of related interest: Laughter Benefits: The 3 C’s , Learn the Many Benefits of Laughter to the Soul
“Remember those times as a kid when some kids started laughing, perhaps for no discernible reason”
Uh… it’s probably been a while since you’ve been in a staff meeting. There were a couple of times that I remember when some small little comment set people off for ten minutes. Maybe it was just the tension…