Laughter Yoga Brochure

Daily Practice can be as easy as pulling up You Tube

I am sharing some wonderful, well explained walk through videos from several of our master teachers of Laughter Yoga for some amazing daily routines that are short but very effective for keeping a daily laughter practice alone. As a chronic illness warrior I completely understand the need for individual routines you can do at home. Its not always very easy to get out when in a physical flare, this gives a way to do so and enjoy the same benefits from going to a laughter club or class.

First up is my absolute favorite personal routine from our wonderful, Robert Rivest, master teacher.

Amazing how much better I feel even just after this short 15 min routine! I can't forget to add Robert's short alone Laughter Yoga Practice Video before moving onto others...

Now onto Laughter Ambassador & the owner of: https://www.dailylaughers.com/, Dave Berman.

This is a video about Imperfection, with Dr. Madan Kataria, covers one point of the many spiritual aspects to Laughter Yoga. 

Dave Berman created over 3 1/2 years of daily laughter videos and they are available through his You Tube Channel. Dave's videos cover many topics of laughter yoga and the implications in his life he has found with his daily practice. These Daily Laugh videos are an excellent way to laugh alone every day for over 3 years. Check out all his offerings at his website link above.

My very favorite video on you tube currently is, Dr. Madan Kataria on a day when he doesn't feel like laughing but he does anyway, because he knows he needs to. I get to cracking up with him in no time.

I re-watch this on days I feel the same.

I absolutely love the realness in this video at the beginning of him, "faking it to make it". But sure enough he gets to laughing at himself in no time...

So as we can see, there is a bounty of laughter exercises and routines available on You Tube for Free to begin to see on your own the immense joy that laughter can bring to your daily life.  Go and Explore the world of laughter yoga online!

Laughter Yoga as a Daily Practice and Its Impact on my Life

Laughter Yoga as a Daily Practice and It's Impact on my Life.

By: Jean Wilkerson

Laughter Yoga is a wonderful exercise regimen where Laughing uncontrollably is daily common place.

In fact, laughing heartily for at least 15 minutes can take away 4 hours of pain.

4HOURS!!! PAIN FREE! 

Plus I get to feel JOY to receive it, wow, I'm all in!

For those of you like myself, who deal with chronic illnesses and pain that goes with them, this statement should entice you to this exercise as much as it did me. I have always enjoyed smiling and laughing as well as a great chuckle from time to time. In fact I was very playful as a child and truly enjoyed using my imagination and creativity during play.

Somehow, as I became an adult and was fed the lie we have all been fed, that I had to be serious as an adult, I began to not laugh or play like I once did daily. I truly did not realize how much I missed it, until I attended a Laughter Yoga Club in sycamore township, OH. In just one laughter yoga session (11/2 hours) I realized I truly missed being silly, using my childlike playfulness and feeling the utter joy from just simply laughing and playing with the group.

Pamela S. Hall & Judi A. Winall, Certified Laughter Yoga Teachers, run a Laughter Yoga Club out of the Sycamore Twp. Library the third Wednesday of each month at 7PM (EST). Truly they run a wonderful session for all and have a regular following of folks that come every month. Its wonderful the relationships built through LAUGHTER! If you'd like more information about what they offer, their website is:https://www.joyfulhealinglaughter.com/

 

Before my exposure to Laughter Yoga, pain from my several chronic illnesses had begun to cloud my life with negative thoughts as well as depression. Having a daily laughter practice has alleviated my depression, strengthened my immune system, regulated my blood pressure, alleviated my pain, brought peace and joy to my daily life and an overall feeling of unity and community with others that I had once lost.

Pain can take our minds to a dark place, but Laughter can most certainly bring us out of it and truly heal us simultaneously. "More than 80 % of all doctors' visits and medications prescribed today are for stress-related illnesses", that my friends is a huge indicator that our society needs more laughter in it. In fact, Laughter is nature's counter to stress.

Laughter is not only just good medicine for the body either but each part of our mind, body, soul connection. While laughter yoga is non-religious it IS spiritual. Meaning we can be healed of many mental maladies by simply laughing them off daily.

Several benefits of a daily Laughter practice Include:

• Anti-Stress and the Release of "Feel-good Hormones"
•  Strengthened and Improved Immune system function
• Increased Circulation
• Oxygen & Aerobic Exercise
• Increased Emotional Intelligence
• Improved Social Connections and Group Dynamics
• Cathartic and Anti-Aging

Motion creates emotion.
Thoughts create feelings & we can decide which ones to entertain.
Laughter yoga teaches us to laugh at life and ourselves more.
Letting go of ego is just a positive by product of a daily laughter practice.

So Laughter yoga as a daily practice for me has truly impacted and made changes on every facet of my life: mind, body & soul.
Joyfulness is a daily by product of my practice and when you become so full of joy it overflows, joy is spread through-out everyone's lives you touch.
Therefore spreading laughter and joy for world peace is now my daily practice as well.

Side effects of laughing everyday are: joy,more feelings of unity and connection with others, being more present/ aware daily, feeling more peaceful and happy.

What happens in a Laughter Yoga Session? ( 4parts) And Why do It?

 

 

(Above) Dr. Madan Kataria explaining Laughter Yoga Session 

Dr. Kataria on why should you practice Laughter Yoga?

Can you Laugh for no reason?

Or can you?...

Laughter yoga was founded on the concept of laughing on purpose for better health and world peace. Laughing intentionally is super good for our health.

However, can we force laughter? Is forced laughter going to give us the same health benefits?

Forced Laughter is different from laughter done from a joke or just to laugh for no reason. Some people force laughter in awkward situations, some don't understand that they can laugh for no reason and feel they have to force it out just to laugh with others.

This is not true.

We can laugh at jokes or other external stimuli but to laugh for no reason seems foreign to many new to the laughter community.

However we are simply allowing our inner laughter and child out to play without the need for external stimuli in laughter yoga. Some use techniques or laughter exercises to achieve genuine laughter but truly nothing is needed to let your inner laugh out.

As Dave Berman, CLYT, says, "Laughter is the sound of joyful breathing" we do it naturally as infants. Laughter is not learned but innate. A quality we are all born with.

So Do we really need medicine if we laugh for no reason, or are we really the sane ones...

Laughing intentionally for better health has proven positive effects. Does it change the health benefits if the laughter is not genuine? I notice a clear difference in the lack of feel good hormones released with forced laughter. A real laugh session will bring you to a higher level of vibration (joy) more than forced, fake laughter ever could.

What are your experiences? I would love to hear others takes on this topic.

What is Laughter Yoga? Why is it important to our health?

I have been practicing Laughter Yoga and daily intentional laughter since 2018. I had used laughter yoga in the past and came across it coming out of high school in 1998 however I really didn't see the importance of it at the time. I also was conditioned to believe it was silly and not "adult" which suppressed my poor inner child so much more.

Recently (a little over a year ago) I began laughing intentionally for at least thirty minutes everyday for better health. Laughing everyday without the use of jokes or even laughter yoga exercises. This was when I was truly awakened to the effects laughing everyday can have on us. I find myself seeking this time everyday now more and more.

The Health Benefits from intentional laughter are vastly more than most people would think. Laughing is an excellent exercise for cardiovascular health, tones your ab muscles, brings in tons of feel good endorphins and elevates our moods. In fact, laughing for 15 minutes straight alleviates pain for up to four hours afterward. It keeps our blood pressure and sugar levels under control too. Laughing daily also helps promote better sleep. Laughter also boosts the immune system. It does this by increasing the concentration of circulating antibodies and white blood cells in the bloodstream. Laughter yoga also flushes the lungs and oxygenates the blood and major organs. A daily laughter practice has even been good for preventing heart disease and hypertension. 

Amazingly Laughter can lower your blood sugar in diabetes patients, aid in lessening allergy symptoms, help patients with asthma and chronic bronchitis, aid those fighting cancer as well as mental issues such as depression, anxiety etc. by activating the parasympathetic system to relax.

So, as we see here, Laughter Yoga has some pretty amazing health benefits, not to mention its just plain old fun to let our inner child out to play everyday.

I've noticed huge improvements in my daily mental state, I'm loosing weight and I stay happier throughout the day. Hopefully by adopting a daily laughter practice you too can start to feel the effects of laughter in your health and well-being.