Laughter Yoga

Laughter Yoga – Fitness for March from Polly

     It’s no joke.

     Laughter Yoga is good for you and your health.

     Consider finding yourself in a group of people laughing as an exercise.

     “We do it all the time in parks and public places in India,” says Mark Mehta, who grew up near Bombay, and now teaches Laughter Yoga sessions in Great Falls.

     Mehta’s philosophy is to stamp out the worries in our lives.  Get rid of the stress.  Not laughing is not good for our health.  You feel so light inside when you laugh.  We should use laughter and use it always.

     Looking throughout the room allows one to give a nod to his credo. “When you laugh, you let go of your ego and you make other people laugh.”

     Everyone is smiling and laughing having a good time with Laughter Yoga, the concept of which has been around for some time.

     In 1995, Dr. Madan Kataria was writing an article on the benefits of laughter on the human mind and body.  He decided to start a laughter club in his neighborhood park in Mumbai, India.  He started with a few people telling jokes and funny stories.  But, after two weeks, they reached a stalemate. They ran out of stories.   Dr. Kataria did some research and found that our body cannot differentiate between pretend and genuine laughter: both produce “happy chemistry.”  He took his thoughts to his group who were skeptical at first, but soon discovered that pretend laughter turned quickly into real laughter.  Dr. Kataria then took the elements of Pranayama yoga and incorporated them with laughter exercises.  The result: Laughter Yoga which blends breathing, stretching and laughter.

     Why should you love to laugh?

     According to Dan Buettner’s book, The Blue Zones, studies have found that a belly laugh a day may keep the doctor away. In 2005, researchers at the University of Maryland showed that laughter helped relax blood vessels linking it to healthier function and a possible decreased risk of heart attack.  Others have found that laughter may lower blood pressure and increase the amount of disease fighting cells found in the body. Laughter stimulates the diaphragm and activates the para-sympathetic nervous system which is the opposite of the stress arousal sympathetic system.

     Laughter Yoga sessions are led by a laughter leader or teacher who controls the laughter session, explains,  and gives the commands.  Laughter is simulated as a body exercise in a group with eye contact and childlike playfulness.  It soon turns into real and contagious laughter.

     Mehta first demonstrates silent laughter: a series of chants of “ho, ho, ha, ha, ho, ho, ha, ha, ha, ha.”

     With his direction, everyone silently smiles and nods to each other, with no words.

     Silent laughter is followed by medium laughter where the group looks at one another repeating the series of chants: ho, ho, ha, ha, ho, ho, ha, ha, ha, ha.”

     Next, comes the mountain laughter with intense arm movements along with the chants.  It is an effective catharsis that releases the positive emotional energy.

     Mountain laughter immediately turns into “one yard laughing” extending one arm up, and one arm down, diagonally, again repeating all the syllables even louder.

     Just when everyone is caught up in the mirth, along comes the “disco laughing.”  Now, the crowd is skipping around aggressively moving hands up and down, repeating the chant.

     The final call from Mehta is to make a funny face, anything like a child would do.

     And then, “laugh from your heart,” he calls, as the room moves to an eruption of earthquake proportions of laughter.

     “It’s not hard to laugh if you laugh every time,” declares Usha Mehta, Mark’s sister.

     “Every day, we laugh openly, like this,” she says.

     Laughter Yoga is the crème de la crème, the frosting on the cake.

     For Mehta, “It’s really like dessert.”

    It comes at the end of a yoga or zumba session.

     Mimi Wolf tried some of Mehta’s Laughter Yoga along with a zumba session.

     Wolf thought it was a great idea.   

     “Sometimes you have to choose to be happy.  Sometimes you need some biofeedback to achieve that.  The body movement, the smile, it all works together,” she explained.

      Also, Wolf found that when you are in a lighter mood, people reflect that back to you.  The willingness to laugh puts you into a positive frame of mind and helps you to open up. 

     Laughter Yoga helps you let go in a positive way.  It lets you go home with happy feelings.

     Mehta conducts Laughter Yoga sessions in his home and sometimes at the Peak Health and Wellness Center.  For more information on classes call:  Mark Mehta at:  788-2224.