Happier Life With Laughter Yoga

“A day without laughter is a day wasted” a beautiful quote by one of the greatest comedian and actor Charlie Chaplin. 

Each one of us wants to spend their life happily. Everyone wants to be healthy and fit. To achieve this people do many things for example doing exercise, going to gym and going for walk. These exercises are very good for physical health. 

But are we ignoring something which is equally important as physical health? The answer is yes it’s the mental health. No matter how physically fit you are until your mind is in good state you can’t be called healthy. In today’s busy life with all sorts of stress and strains people do not find time for themselves.

Yoga as we all know is very good for everyone’s health. But do you know there is yoga named after laugh known as Laughter yoga. Laughter yoga is practice of prolonged voluntary laughter. It is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same health benefits as spontaneous laughter. This yoga was made popular as a routine exercise by Indian physician Madan Kataria.

Laughter yoga can be practiced on your own or in group. Here are the 4 easy steps to do laughter yoga.

1  1. Clapping and chanting: First step involves keeping our hands flat together so that whole part of hands touches at once which stimulates all the acupressure points of the hands. Next continue clapping with the hands in certain rhythm 1-2,  1-2-3.  You can now try chant with your hands in rhythm “ho ho, ha-ha-ha”.

2  2. Laughter yoga breathing: Breathe in hold your breath for few seconds stretch back and breathe out and laugh.

3  3. Childlike playfulness: Clap your hands and chant “very good, very good”. Then lift your arms up and look up and chant “Yay”. When we do this what happens is shape of our body is in the mood we are in. It helps to shift the mood up. When we say things out loud with positive affirmations it helps to trigger the emotions of happiness and joy. When we do this exercise in a group and see each other doing the same it makes us feel even happier.

4  4. Value based laughter exercises:  These exercises are meant to make you laugh and derive positive feelings from various situations and emotions. For instance you can try an apology or forgiveness exercise. For this you need to think of a person you would like to apologize and say “I am sorry”, or think of a person you would like to forgive and say “I forgive you”. After doing this you can laugh. You can do this by holding your ear lobes, bending at the knee.

Here is a list of benefits of laughter yoga

1   Release of endorphins:  Laughter increases the release of chemical called endorphins which interacts with brain receptors and create a positive feeling in the body.

2   Increased oxygen intake and blood flow:  Laughter involving deep inhale and exhale ensures that the organs of the body are filled with the oxygen. Thus it boosts energy in body.

3   Boosts immune system: Laughter strengthens the immune system and increase the number of cells which fight against infections.

4   Makes cardiovascular system healthier: Laughter increases the speed of blood circulation in the body. It lowers the blood pressure and protects the heart.

5   Stress buster:  Laughter helps to release the blocked emotions, anger, stress, depression. It helps to release the heavy emotions kept to oneself and thus improves the health.

6      Improves emotional intelligence: Laughter helps to identify and manage one’s own emotions and emotion of others.

     Sense of happiness:  Laughter helps to feel happy and joyful despite the problems we face in day to day life.

Laughter yoga is one of the easiest way to get rid of physical and mental stress. That’s why laugh and make other’s laugh and live healthier and happier life.