Success Strategies

Why Laughing Yoga Really Is the Best Medicine?

By January 6, 2010 21 Comments

Laughing Yoga is a combination of laughing and yoga breathing. In fact, the word “yoga” means union, as in the integration of body and mind. Laughing (or Laughter) Yoga is a fairly new concept based on the idea that laughter is beneficial to your health and that anyone can laugh without external stimulus.

It uses physical movement such as clapping and chanting, simple yoga postures like stretching, breathing exercises, voluntary laughing and positive affirmations. Performing this on a daily basis can help you boost your immune system, reduce stress, and feel more joy in your life.

Why Laughing Yoga Really Is the Best Medicine

No Joke!
So how do you laugh without hearing a joke or watching a comedy? As adults we have been trained to laugh as a conditional, mental response. In other words, we hear a joke, process it in our minds to determine if we “get” it, and then decide to laugh as a result. Children’s laughter, on the other hand, is instinctual and mostly physiological. They don’t need a carefully constructed punchline to tap into humor; kids laugh when they’re playing, and because they don’t need a reason, they laugh up to 400 times a day. Adults, on the other hand, laugh only an average of 16 times a day. The idea of Laughing Yoga, therefore, is to re-teach adults to laugh without a reason and to cultivate the playfulness of childhood again.

How has it started?
In 1995, family physician Dr. Madan Kataria knew that laughter really is the best medicine, and formed a Laughing Club of just five people to laugh for twenty minutes each day. The results were terrific and everyone felt good for the rest of the day, but after a few weeks the group’s repertoire of jokes dried up and the club was ready to disband.
Undaunted, Kataria did more research and found that the body cannot tell the difference between real laughter and fake laughter, so whether you bust a gut watching stand-up comedy or “fake it ‘til you make it” by simply saying “ha ha ha” over and over, the physiological effects are the same. So Kataria went back to the group and suggested they “act as if” – pretend to laugh. This pretend laughter quickly turned into real laughter, and then became contagious, and next thing they knew, the group was in stitches. And thus Laughing Yoga was born.

Health Benefits are obvious…
Breathing is vital to our health, not to mention our existence, and yet most people don’t breathe properly. They breathe so shallowly that carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs. But when you breathe deeply and slowly, you take in more oxygen which clears out the carbon dioxide and allows more oxygen to flow into your cells and your brain. Laughing Yoga incorporates two great ways to bring in more oxygen: yoga breathing and laughing.
Simply by doing these laughter exercises the brain will be tricked into thinking it’s happy and produce the same chemical reaction in your body that happens when you truly are happy. After a while this response will become habit and you will find yourself feeling happy more and more, regardless of your external circumstances.

Get these laughter yoga ebooks or to find out more.

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21 Comments

  • Lillea Woodlyns says:

    I love the sound of this! I can imagine the theraputic benefit of laughter yoga because whenever I laugh a lot, it releases so much tension, particularly if I laugh so hard that I can hardly stand up.

    I enjoyed the video. I found myself laughing along with him! 🙂

  • I’m glad you liked it:) Thank you.
    Madan Kataria is amazing, I like his relaxed way of being and the Laughing Yoga exercises he shows on the movie are awesome!!

  • jinnie@propecia online says:

    This is really a great post about the particular topic and i am really impressed to know about it. I have read your full article and truly speaking that it was really very knowledgeable and very interesting. I think you are really very close on your points. Anyways keep it up and keep continue with your valuable thoughts. In the near upcoming future.

  • really appreciate your work .
    laughing is best medicine without surgery and best thing its free…

    your post is tremendous and very useful for all viewers

  • I’m glad you liked this post. I like this combination of Yoga and Laughing and when I did some of the exercises, shown by Dr Kataria during the movie, I felt simply great:)

  • Laughter clubs are spread all over india , thanks to Dr Madan Kataria !!
    .-= singhb@hindi jokes´s last blog ..5 popular places to get free softwares from =-.

  • i agree. i makes my day better!
    .-= political jokes´s last blog ..Wii Jokes =-.

  • hey:)
    thanks for stepping by

    have a nice day

  • Supernatural says:

    laughter is a great medicine. so keep laughing. ha ha ha……

    Joke:-

    Before marriage….
    He: Yes. At last. It was so hard to wait.
    She: Do you want me to leave?
    He: No! Don’t even think about it.
    She: Do you love me?
    He: Of course! Over and over!
    She: Have you ever cheated on me?
    He: No! Why are you even asking?
    She: Will you kiss me?
    He: Every chance I get.
    She: Will you hit me?
    He: Are you crazy! I’m not that kind of person!
    She: Can I trust you?
    He: Yes.
    She: Darling!

    After marriage….

    Simply read from bottom to top.

  • wellllll !
    let me give you a joke back:

    Patient: Doctor, I think I need glasses.

    Teller: You certainly do! This is a bank.”

    hehe:)

    have a great day
    Martyna

  • Keith Davis says:

    Hi Martyna
    Never heard of laughing Yoga but it sounds great.
    I am a big believer in using humour to help with difficult situations and just by coincidence, I am in the process of writing a post on how to use humour in speeches.
    How spooky is that?
    .-= Keith Davis´s last blog ..Flying in formation =-.

  • haha 🙂

    I would call it- MAGICCCC 🙂 when is the article going to be ready?
    Laughing Yoga is incredibly cool, laughter plus great exercises in a group of positive people,

    Ciao!
    Martyna

  • Keith Davis says:

    Hi Martyna
    Hope to have my article ready in the next few days… depending on finding the time!
    .-= Keith Davis´s last blog ..Flying in formation =-.

  • Seva says:

    I got so consumed in this informative post that I couldn’t quit reading the content and the comments. Some of the comments really made me laugh. Awesome post!

  • Marcia says:

    I love the idea of laughing yoga but as someone who as trained in Ashtanga for many years, I do not see how I can add laughing – I get quite out of breath currently when powering through the Sun Salutations!

  • noemi @ Archant printing says:

    I’ve been hearing a lot of this yoga laughter but I haven’t tried it yet. I think this will be a great stress reliever after a gaining a lot of wrinkles at the end of the day.. Interesting!

  • hey
    yes, try it, laughter can cure terminal diseases

  • Laughing is said to be the best medicine but many of us with our busy lifestyles forget to even spare a smile throughout the day. Work and financial freedom is all we think about and these tensions can only add more wrinkles. Yoga relaxes the whole body, mind and soul and laughing yoga certainly is very beneficial.

  • yes… so true for many. Yoga is great for controlling your breath, and deepening, to bring more oxygen to your brain cells… so to help you concentrate better, and achieve…

  • Laughter Is The Best Medicine says:

    […] a.backlinks_title{ font-style:bold; font-size:150% } a.backlinks_title:hover{ text-decoration:underline; } a.morelink{ font-style:italic; font-size:75% color:#888; text-decoration:none; } ul.dates{ list-style-type:none; margin:1.5em 0 2em 0; border-top:1px solid #3D3D3D; } ul.dates .date{ color:#858585; padding:0 1.5em 0 0; } #split {}#single {}#splitalign {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}#singlealign {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}.linkboxtext {line-height: 1.4em;}.linkboxcontainer {padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px;background-color:#eeeeee;border-color:#000000;border-width:0px; border-style:solid;}.linkboxdisplay {padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px;}.linkboxdisplay td {text-align: center;}.linkboxdisplay a:link {text-decoration: none;}.linkboxdisplay a:hover {text-decoration: underline;} function opensingledropdown() { document.getElementById('singletablelinks').style.display = ''; document.getElementById('singlemouse').style.display = 'none'; } function closesingledropdown() { document.getElementById('singletablelinks').style.display = 'none'; document.getElementById('singlemouse').style.display = ''; } Giving thanksWorld changing, civil society advancingWhy Laughing Yoga Really Is the Best Medicine? […]

  • Laughing Yoga is indeed a great technique, even more so because it often involves a group of people practicing it, and we all know that the best results are achieved when a group of people works toward a common goal.

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