Laughter Yoga— A Fun Way To Good Health

Laughter Yoga or Hasya (“Hasya” in Sanskrit means laughter) is an alternate technique in healing which involves some exercises patterned to make human beings laugh for no apparent reason at all, blended with some simple and basic breathing methods in Yoga. Each day, new researches are being made and published on the countless psychological and physiological benefits that laughing can bring, and Laughter Yoga could aid people to participate and indulge in these benefits. This makes use a fusion of frolicsome and tension-releasing laughter exercises to lessen stress, enhance health and improve feelings of wellness. In a Laughter Yoga session, you will not find individuals sitting in a circle and using their sense of humor or exchanging hilarious jokes to make each other laugh. But rather, one session of Laughter Yoga contains of a series of various exercises which involve humorous and comical gestures, yoga breathing, systematic cackling and giggling, and some other improv-like exercises. This activity actually fosters unconditional laughing—it’s highly possible for grown-ups and oldies to laugh like little kids without using humor, comedy or jokes. These laughing exercises, even though started by faking it, has manifested that simulated laugh makes the similar physiological reaction in the human body just like the real and spontaneous laughter. Therefore, even if you are only feigning it, your body will not notice the difference. So in short, you do not need to be really genuinely happy to laugh and you do not even need the reason to laugh at all…even a pretentious laugh can boost one’s mood and could help alleviate stress. A session of this Yoga would probably start with a chanting of “Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha-Ha” in unison and rhythmic clapping, succeeded by a combination of breathing, stretching, plus some bits of silliness. And here are some of the exercises very typical of the Laughter Yoga session: 1. People circulating their hips whilst talking rubbish. 2. Improv-style activities like flapping one’s arms resembling a seagull; sitting in a fanciful rocket ship preparing for take-off; or playing on an imagined swing set. 3. Men and women of all ages roaming around with their hands in the air, laughing boisterously. 4. A well-known exercise is the “Lion Laughter”—eyes widened, lash out the tongue, and then extend the hands as if they’re claws while laughing. 5. At one point, you try to walk around to various persons with your palms pressed together at the upper chest in the Namaste fashion—close your eyes, put the hands together at the heart area, and bow your head—or laugh and shake hands, ensuring that you look into other people’s eyes. 6. Then there’s also the Regal Laughter: every individual takes turns walking like a queen or king between 2 rows of cheering and applauding subjects. 7. Yet another improv-style activity is the Airport Laughter: people act as if they are at the airport and are late for their check-in, running around with their luggage. Laughter Yoga is presently practiced by over 250,000 people in more than 50 nations around the world. So go ahead and look for a Laughter Club in your vicinity and join the fun way to good health!