Water
demands no reason to flow;
A
child demands no reason to smile;
Why
do we need a reason to laugh?
Laughter
Yoga is a Life Changing Experience. According to Dr Madan Kataria, Founder of
Laughter Clubs Movement, “When you laugh, you change and when you change, the
whole world changes.”
Laughter
Yoga combines unconditional laughter with yogic breathing (Pranayama). Anyone
can laugh for no reason, without relying upon humour, jokes or comedy. In a
session, laughter is simulated as a body exercise in a group. The group
maintains eye contact and childlike playfulness, and laughter soon turns real
and contagious. The concept of Laughter Yoga is based on the scientific fact
that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter.
According
to a study by Dr Michael Titze, a German Psychologist, people used to laugh 18
minutes a day in the 1950s, but today we laugh not more than 6 minutes per day,
despite the huge increase in the standard of living. Children can laugh up to
300-400 times in a day, but as adults this frequency drops to barely 10-15
times a day.
Adults
use their cognitive ability to first comprehend humour and then laugh. This is
called the Mind-To-Body Model or the Humour Model. The other model is the
Childlike Model or the Body-To-Mind Model. Children laugh the most while
playing. Their laughter comes straight from the body and does not make use of
any intellectual capacity of the brain.
Laughter
Yoga makes a clear distinction between happiness and joyfulness. Happiness is a
conditional response. It is dependent on the fulfillment of certain desires of
the mind and is related to happenings in the past and the future and hardly
ever deals with the present. Do you remember how long you stayed happy after
getting that diploma, car, job, or new house that you had worked for so long?
In
contrast, joyfulness is unconditional commitment to be happy for the moment and
to have fun despite life’s problems. Joyfulness is easily triggered by joyful activities
like laughing, dancing, singing and playing. It is purely a physical phenomenon
while happiness is a concept of the mind.
In
order to get scientifically proven benefits of laughter, we need to laugh
continuously for at least 10 to 15 minutes. To reap the health benefits of
laughter, laughter has to be loud and deep, coming from the diaphragm. Natural
laughter that courses through our life depends on many reasons and conditions,
but there are not many reasons which make us laugh.
Dr
Madan Kataria, a medical doctor from Mumbai, is the founder of Laughter Yoga
Clubs movement. Started with just five people in a public park in Mumbai in
1995, it has grown into a worldwide movement of thousands of laughter clubs in
more than 65 countries.
The
most frequently asked question is, “How do you laugh when you are in no mood to
laugh or you don’t have any reason to laugh?” The answer is quite simple.
Motion creates emotion, and vice versa.
Did
you know that we can actually learn to laugh? Our body and mind can be trained
to laugh at will. It’s like learning to ride a bicycle. It’s like muscle
memory; once you learn it, you never forget it.
The
most important factor in Laughter Clubs is the willingness of the participants
to laugh. The members laugh voluntarily, with full commitment. All you need to
do is to give yourself permission to laugh – and nobody can stop you.
Laughter
Yoga goes beyond just laughing. It not only fosters a feeling of physical well
being, it enhances the spirit and touches the emotional core. It cultivates
positive thinking and promotes understanding. Laughter Yoga gives participants
the opportunity to actively enhance the lives of others.
Even
when one exhales completely, there is some amount of air left in the lungs,
called residual air. During inhalation we breathe in 500 to 700 ml of air and
almost the same amount is exhaled. This 500-700ml constitutes only 25% of our
lung capacity. But there is a huge volume of residual stale air in our lungs
that has more carbon dioxide.
Both
laughter and yogic breathing exercises are intended to stimulate the movement
of the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles which helps to activate the
parasympathetic system – the calming branch of the autonomic nervous system.
This is opposite to the sympathetic system – the stress arousal system. One can
turn off the stress arousal system by simply learning to move the diaphragm.
Dr
Otto Warburg, Nobel Laureate said,”Deep breathing techniques increase oxygen to
the cells and are the most important factors in living a disease-free and
energetic life. When cells get enough oxygen, cancer will not and cannot
occur.”
Laughter
Yoga goes beyond laughter and physical wellbeing. It enhances the inner spirit
and makes people change for the better. Unconditional laughter connects people
from different cultures, countries, no matter what language they speak or how
they live.
In
Laughter Clubs, we have different styles of belly laughter that exercise the
abdominal muscles and the diaphragm simultaneously. Scientists have referred to
laughter as internal jogging. Regular laughter exercise strengthens the
abdominal muscles and gives a constant massage.
Laughing
promotes a healthy heart. In a good bout of laughter, there is a dilation of
blood vessels all over the body. We’ve all seen or experienced this as a
flushed appearance and feeling of warmth. Pulse rate and blood pressure rise as
the circulatory system is stimulated before settling down, below the original
levels. In a nutshell, laughter helps tone the circulatory system of the body.
Laughter
and breathing exercises help to increase the breathing capacity of the lungs
and increase the net supply of oxygen to the body. Laughter sessions, along
with deep breathing, are like chest physiotherapy – especially for those who
smoke and suffer from bronchitis and respiratory airway obstruction.
The
foremost benefit of laughing is that one remains cheerful throughout the day.
This sense of wellbeing comes from the release of feel good hormones called
endorphins. One also develops the ability to laugh at small things. Laughter
Yoga helps to develop sense of humour and bring more childlike playfulness.
According
to Dr William Fry, 10 minutes of hearty laughter is equal to 30 minutes on the
rowing machine. This is in respect of cardiopulmonary endurance. Laughter Yoga
is ideally suited for busy professionals who have very little time to exercise.
20 minutes of Laughter Yoga can give you similar results as those of going to
gym for one hour.
Stress
is the number one killer today, and most illnesses are stress related. Laughter
Yoga is an instant stress buster which takes care of physical, mental and
emotional stress simultaneously. It has been scientifically proven that
laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine and
enhances positive emotions.
The
practice of using unconditional laughter to prepare for stressful events is
known as Laughter Boosting and is gaining popularity with speakers, actors and
other performers to prepare themselves for presentations to audiences of all
sizes.
Laughter
Yoga has proved to be very effective as a personal development tool. It
enhances mental skills and abilities that help a person to improve their
performance in every sphere of life. It is a powerful means for self confidence
as it helps to overcome inhibition and shyness and eases out awkwardness.
Laughter
has an infinite potential to enhance right brain functionality, which is the
seat of creativity, intuition, imagination, inventions, music, art, meditation
and healing. Laughter is an excellent exercise for toning facial muscles and
improving expressions. Laughter enhances communication skills and cultivates
positive emotions.
A
weak immune system is a major cause for almost all sickness and ill health. Laughter
boosts immune system. Oxygen is one of the primary catalysts for all metabolic
reactions in the human body. Ongoing scientific studies show that lack of
oxygen is the major cause of most diseases. Laughter Yoga flushes the lungs and
fully oxygenates the blood and major organs leaving one bursting with energy
and vitality and free from disease.
Scientific
studies have proved that a few days of laughter exercises and deep breathing
lowers blood pressure thus reducing the risk of a heart attack. Having too much
cholesterol in the blood can lead to the hardening and narrowing of the
arteries in the major vascular systems. A daily dose of laughter opens the
arteries and allows the blood to flow freely to all parts of the body thus
preventing a cardiac failure.
Diabetes
is emerging as a major health hazard worldwide. Japanese scientist Murakami’s
experiment to ascertain the effect of laughter on the blood sugar levels has
affirmed that laughter has a lowering impact on blood sugar. Murakami
indentified 23 genes that can be activated with laughter. In addition, it also
reduces the stress hormone cortisol responsible for increase in sugar levels
and stabilizes the immune system, which if weakened, can affect the production
of insulin in the pancreas.
Laughter
has a profound positive impact on allergies, with many practitioners reporting
complete disappearance of all symptoms of asthma, skin and other allergies.
Though not an intervention for countering physical causes of allergies;
Laughter Yoga is a definite tool to remedy stress. It helps to reduce the risk
factors by boosting the immune system, encouraging deep breathing and flushing
the lungs of stale air and generating a feeling of wellness.
Those
suffering from life threatening diseases not only go through physical pain;
they also face immense psychological trauma. Not just the patient, but family,
friends and care givers all need positive reinforcement. Having a positive
mental attitude greatly influences the course of the disease. We have had many
members suffering from cancer, immune disorders, multiple sclerosis and other
chronic diseases who have reported relief from their symptoms, thereby reducing
their medications.
Depression
is often associated with physical pain, feelings of despair, loss of appetite,
immobility, insomnia and other cardiovascular problems. Practicing Laughter
Yoga regularly helps to resolve most of these ailments as it is one of the
fastest ways of boosting heart rate, reducing blood pressure, providing an
excellent cardio workout and alleviating pain. Extended hearty laughter is a
body exercise with powerful body-mind healing effects.
The
combination of natural pain killers with movements in laughter exercises makes
Laughter Yoga a powerful tool for physiotherapy. Many practitioners have
reported reversal of frozen shoulder and other movement limitations due to
stroke, arthritis, and injury. Endorphins released as a result of laughter help
in reducing the intensity of pain in those suffering from arthritis,
spondylitis and muscular spasms of the body.
Members
of Laughter Clubs are engaged as active and interactive participants, and not
as passive audience being entertained. It has been proved that people who
actively participate in any humour and laughter activity get more benefits,
than those who inertly receive humour and laughter. The source of laughter is
within the body, and one can generate laughter with conscious effort and
commitment, anytime he or she wants to.
Laughter
exercises are short and easy and can be added to your existing fitness
programme. It can be a value addition to Yoga groups, Tai-Chi groups, aerobic
centres, meditation centres, health clubs, sports and fun activities.
The
whole world is an extended family. Let us join through Love and Laughter.
Compiled by Jagat Singh Bisht
coolbisht@hotmail.com
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