What is laughter yoga

Laughter yoga combines the positive power of laughter with yoga exercises and breathing techniques. Today, laughter yoga has become popular in more than 60 countries.

Concept: Laughter yoga encourages people to laugh without any reason – those who practice laughter yoga do not need funny jokes or doses of humor to laugh. Those who practice laughter yoga believe that laughter is a body exercise that soon turns into real and contagious laughter. It is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between real or fake laughter.

Promotes health: Laughter yoga combines laughter with yoga breathing techniques. This brings more oxygen to the body and the brain, making one feel healthy and energetic. This form of exercise has healing powers - laughter causes our body to release certain ‘happy hormones’ and neuropeptides that have several therapeutic and preventive benefits.

Reduces stress: Laughter yoga cuts down mental, physical and emotional stress and triggers positive emotions. If you practice laughter yoga regularly, it will increase your longevity and enhance the capacity of your body to fight stress related diseases. Laughter yoga also goes a long way in preventing hypertension, cardiac problems and physiological and psychological disorders.

Enhances the mood: This unique combination of yoga and laughter can help release Endorphins, the ‘feel good’ hormones in the brain. This in turn can make you feel happy and cheerful all day long.

Strengthens the immune system: Laugh and you shall increase the levels of immunoglobulin A. IgA or immunoglobulin A is the first line of defense that shields the body against viral infections like cough and cold. A good immune system is the key to good health. And through laughter yoga you boost your immune system, which increases the level of anti-viral cells in the body.

Promotes circulation: Laughter yoga causes something akin to ‘internal jogging’ which massages and increases circulation to the lymphatic systems and the digestive system. This increases in circulation helps to flush out the waste products from the body and organs.

Increases the supply of oxygen: When you laugh and breathe using yoga techniques, you tend to inhale more oxygen. Since two thirds of the lung capacity comes from abdominal breathing, if you don’t use your abdomen to breathe, then 2/3 of the air in your lungs is stale. Thus, laughter yoga flushes out the stale air and brings in more oxygen into the blood stream.

So you can say that laughter yoga is the key to complete wellness.