Laughter Yoga in the State Bank of India

I have had the privilege of introducing Laughter Yoga in the State Bank of India and laughing with thousands of my colleagues during the last year.

I have recently completed thirty-two years of my service in the State Bank of India. It has given me bread, butter and a respectable place in the society. Now, it is time that I give back something to this great institution. I am sure my humble contribution will bring cheer to some of the souls here. I would like to be remembered as a messenger of love and laughter when I retire from the Bank.

We started the journey of laughter on the 13^th of September, 2010 when we inaugurated the Laughter Club of State Bank Learning Centre, Indore with a bunch of newly promoted officers. Whoever came to the learning centre after that has had a brush with laughter yoga. We laughed every morning with a small group of willing laughers from all the groups who poured in week after week. A shining feather in our cap was training thirteen young trainee officers as laughter yoga leaders who eventually earned internationally recognized certification while they were at the campus. How can one ever forget the fun evening filled with gibberish nonsense, laughter exercises, singing-dancing-play-laughter and games arranged by newly recruited assistants!

I got opportunity twice to make presentations at the grand auditorium of the State Bank Academy, Gurgaon before officers from all over the country. I am really grateful to the General Manager and Principal who participated in the laughter sessions with total childlike playfulness on both the occasions which has engraved a deep respect for him deep in my heart.

It seems that the Almighty has been showering copious blessings from the top. I also showcased laughter yoga at the State Bank Staff College and State Bank Institute of Information and Communication Management located in Hyderabad. I conducted a laughter yoga session for bank guards, assistants, probationary officers and faculty at the State Bank Learning Centre, Goa. It was a unique experience as all of them laughed from their being level making it absolutely difficult to distinguish differences in their grades as they laughed like kids.

Last week, we have started Chetana Laughter Club at our new State Bank Foundation Institute (Chetana), Indore set up to groom fresh officers of the Bank. Henceforth every new officer of the Bank will have a tryst with laughter yoga at the beginning of her career and ‘Very Good Very Good Yay’ as her mantra.

The laughter virus has meanwhile spread to other centres – Kanpur, Lucknow, Goa, Nagda, Nagapattinam etc. – through some well meaning trainers and officers. It is indeed good to hear that those who laughed with us for a while, have gone back and started propagating laughter it in their own way. What more can one desire!

I have put up the concept of laughter yoga briefly before the Chief General Manager and Head of the Strategic Training Unit and he seemed to like it. The former CGM and Head was all for it and mentioned it to the Deputy Managing Director and Corporate Development Officer when she visited Indore to inaugurate State Bank Foundation Institute. She already knew a lot about the benefits of laughter yoga and appreciated the endeavour of using it in human resources trainings.

I am also grateful to the Director of my Institute for permitting me to use laughter yoga as ice-breaker, energizer and wellness routine during the training programmes.

My mission is to touch the lives of all the two hundred and twenty-two thousand employees of the State Bank of India with Laughter Yoga for their health, happiness and well-being.

(Before I close, I would like to share that my wife Radhika has been with me all along in this mission.)

- Jagat Singh Bisht

coolbisht@hotmail.com

Chetana Laughter Club Launched In State Bank Foundation Institute (Chetana), Indore, India

Chetana Laughter Club has been launched in the State Bank Foundation Institute (Chetana), Indore, India.

The Institute has been recently set up by the State Bank of India to groom it’s freshly appointed officers viz. Probationary Officers, Trainee Officers, Management Trainees, Management Executives etc.

Laughter Yoga is being used at the Institute on an ongoing basis as an Ice-Breaker at the beginning of the training programmes, Energizer during the session breaks and Wellness Routine in the evenings for the participants.

As new recruits continuously pour into the Institute, it is estimated that 5000 officials (approximately) will have a tryst with Laughter Yoga annually in the new club.

The inaugural session began with a brief introduction about Laughter Yoga followed by clapping, chanting, deep breathing, childlike playfulness and laughter exercises.

The four elements of Joy – singing, dancing, playing and laughing – were beautifully brought out through Bollywood songs “Mera joota hai Japani”, “Sajan re jhoot math bolo” and “Bambai se aaya mera dost”. The session ended with vibrant displays in “Follow The Leader” game.

Mr Mahesh Verma and Mr Ajai Iyer – Faculty at the Institute – thoroughly enjoyed the session with the Probationary Officers of 2010 Batch from all over India.

Mr Jagat Singh Bisht, Assistant General Manager (Faculty) and Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher urged the young participants to adopt “Very Good Very Good Yay” as the ‘mantra’ of their life.

coolbisht@hotmail.com

Laughter Yoga @ State Bank Academy, Gurgaon

A brief presentation on Laughter Yoga was followed by a live demo and a thunderous laughter session at the state-of-art auditorium of the State Bank Academy at Gurgaon, India.

It was attended by 170 officers of the State Bank of India and its five associate banks which included the General Manager and Principal, Deputy General Managers and Senior Faculty, Regional Managers, Assistant General Managers and Managers from across the country, HR Trainers from 27 Learning Centres of the Bank and young Probationary Officers.

State Bank Academy is the highest learning seat of the Bank and this was the second occasion when its auditorium witnessed warm echoes of laughter. Earlier in January I had made a similar demo-cum-presentation on Laughter Yoga which was well received. This time my wife Radhika also accompanied me and conducted laughter exercises on the stage.

The audience felt overwhelmed by the intrinsic strength of the concept and the instant experience of joy. Many of the officers were so thrilled at the end of the session that they came forward to share that this was one of their best experience of life. One of the officers, an asthmatic patient, told us that he found it difficult to laugh in the beginning of the session due to asthma but with group synergy started laughing and feeling very healthy after the session as his respiratory track smoothened. Some of the HR Trainers promised that they would use Laughter Yoga back home in their training sessions.

Jagat Singh Bisht

SBLC, Indore

coolbisht@hotmail.com

Laughter Yoga with Aussies

Carolyn Laughalot and Desmond Nicholson, Laughter Yoga Leaders from Eltham Laughter Club, Melbourne, Australia visited Suniket Laughter Club and Laughter Club of State Bank Learning Centre, Indore, India under the exchange programme of Laughter Yoga International Clubs. They also giggled with the school girls of Sarada Ramakrishna School, Indore and laughed with their teachers.

It was an enriching experience for the members of these clubs in Indore as Carolyn and Desmond enthralled them with the Victorian flavour of Laughter Yoga, especially Kangaroo Laughter, Giggle and Wriggle, New Zealand Rugby Hakka Laughter and Donkey Laughter.

Carolyn and Desmond were guests of Dr Madan Kataria, the founder of Laughter Yoga, at Bangalore. They stayed with us at Indore and we had deep discussions till late in the night on the inner spirit of laughter, new laughter exercises and the manner in which we conduct laughter sessions.

While we appreciated their fusion of energy healing and dance with Laughter Yoga, they loved Follow-the-Leader and Singing+Dancing+Playing+Laughing=Joy incorporated in our laughter sessions. While switching between laughter, they used Hoho Hahaha and deep breathing; whereas in our clubs we use Very Good Very Good Yay more often. They loved Cricket Laughter exercise created in our club and Desmond added a piece to it.

I prepared Indian Chai (Tea) for them every morning while my wife Radhika, who is also a Laughter Teacher, cooked Poha (Rice flakes) for them in the Indorean style which they relished. My mother, who is almost 80 years old, usually doesn’t prefer to move out of house, accompanied us for an excursion to nearby Maheshwar and Mandu, which are places of great historical value, as she felt that it would be too long a day without her new found daughter Carolyn. I had long, leisurely strolls with Desmond, who has a great sense of humour, in the evenings and talked about everything from Cricket to Kashmir and Australian grapes to Indian wine.

We would like to express our gratitude to Dr Madan Kataria who arranged this exchange and would like to share that it has been a really great motivating experience for the laughter lovers in this part of the country.

 - CoolBisht / Indore

The Giant Starts Laughing..

Laughter Yoga Introduced In State Bank Of India

Laughter Club of State Bank Learning Centre, Indore

The awakened Giant has now started laughing. Laughter Yoga has been introduced in the State Bank of India.

A Laughter Club was formally launched today at the State Bank Learning Centre, Indore. Eighteen newly promoted officers of the Bank, along with faculty of the learning centre, enjoyed themselves while performing greeting laughter, milkshake laughter, mobile laughter, lion laughter, laughter cream, rose laughter, appreciation laughter, argument laughter, gradient laughter and electric shock laughter.

 Laughter Cream

Laughter yoga is an effective cardio workout and helps in staying fit. It increases blood circulation and relaxes muscles. Laughter yoga changes your mood within minutes by releasing endorphins in your brain. One feels energized and fresh throughout the day and can work more without getting tired. Laughter clubs provide a rich social network of people who care about one another. One learns to handle difficult situations effectively without losing composure by imbibing the essence of laughter yoga.

The club has been named as the Laughter Club of State Bank Learning Centre, Indore. It is proposed that similar clubs will be formed in other offices of the Bank in the near future.

 Appreciation Laughter

Laughter Yoga Trainers Mrs Radhika Bisht and Mr Jagat Singh Bisht introduced laughter exercises to the participants. The founding members of the club are Mr Sabu P Simon, Mrs Harinaxi Sharma, Mrs Kamal Agrawal, Sarvashri Sanjay Keshwani, Rajesh Ladha, Narendra Gupta, R.C. Sisodiya, A.K. Sonara, B.R. Lambhate, Ravi Naramdeo, Anil Jain, Tejpal Khanna, Shishir Gwalherkar, Kamlesh Vishway, Sanjay Jain, Manoj Dusane, M.K. Purohit, Anil Bhatia, S.N. Dwivedi and Ajit Singh Chauhan.

 CoolBisht / Indore