Laughter. It's contagious. Once you start, it's hard to stop. It makes your sides hurt. It also boosts your immune system, causes optimism, relieves stress, has cardiac benefits, and evokes a sense of well-being. So many health benefits are attributed to laughing! We are each born with an innate joy of being and you know what? It's still there, we just have to get in touch with it! Many cultures around the world already embrace the silliness. For them, it's no laughing matter. There's even a World Laughing Day which takes place the first Sunday of May.

For me, something about laughing uncontrollably just makes me feel young. Young and old is all relative, but at some point, we stop giggling and cracking up over nothing and act all serious. Some sooner than others. How and when does this seriousness creep in? Life events, and experiences teach us to present ourselves this adult way, perhaps we want to be taken seriously. At a certain age, some say around 7, as our egos develop, we begin to mimic our parents by laughing only for good reason. Any adult who just bursts out in laughter for no reason is considered mentally insane in most cultures...until now! hahahaha!

The movement is strong in India. Hundreds of people gather in parks, schools, or wherever to laugh hysterically. This practice strengthens immune systems, reduces stress, and builds strong community and brotherhood. John Cleese was invited to join a laughter session in a Bombay prison "I was struck by how laughter connects you with people. It's almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you're howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy."

Not only does laughing together build community, it actually increases productivity at work. A 2007 Journal of Primary Prevention study (Beckman, Reiger and Young) showed that just 15 minutes of unconditional laughter (just laughing for no reason) for 15 consecutive work days had amazing results on the 33 employees who participated. Employees enjoyed positive results in the areas of optimism, assertiveness, motivation, and adaptability to name a few. These results had lasting power even after a 60-90 day follow up survey, showing that a team bond was created between the group.

Popularity for laugh yoga is growing fast in the western world. What should one expect in a typical session? To fully enjoy it, leave your ego at the door and go with the flow. You may feel silly at first, especially those with strong protective egos. A typical session will start with a warm up of yogic breathing exercises to expand the lungs, relieve stress, and start to bring oxygen to the cells. Then, the group may chant a forced laugh which turns into a hearty laugh, giving the facial muscles and belly a chance to get a vigorous workout. The group might try some other creative practices. Kelly Mashu, a hollistic health counselor at High Level Wellness in New Jersey, describes one exercise called "parking ticket", where everyone pretends to have just received a parking ticket. They wave it in the air laughing at it and showing it to others, who laugh with you. What could be more ironic after Mashu stepped out of her first training class only to discover a real parking ticket on her car! Of course, she burst out laughing and laughed the whole time she wrote out the check and sent it in. The lesson here is that we can choose to react to life's challenges by laughing them off instead of getting worked up over them. Why just accept the things we cannot change when we can laugh about them?

I'm still waiting for a group to get together here because Tampa tends to be so far behind everyone else (hey Tampans- hint hint), the rest of the country can check this directory or this one. Blessed are we who can laugh at ourselves... for we shall never cease to be amused. (unknown)

Hee hee hee!

Intrigued? Knew you would be! Learn more:

http://www.laughteryoga.org/ The Official website of the Dr. Kataria School Of Laughter Yoga

www.worldlaughtertour.com  

http://www.aath.org/ Association for Applied and Theraputic Humor

Laughter yoga on ABC news (video)

On WBZ-TV (video)

On NBC Today (video)