Children laugh 300 to 400 times a day while adults just laugh 10 to 15 times. Who would not like to be children again? Before getting in to the topic of “Laughter Yoga”, let me share a personal secret with you. In our marriage album there are about 300 photographs covering the entire ceremony, in which there are just two photographs, in which the bride (now my dear wife) smiles! In almost all the photographs, you can see me smiling! We then celebrated Silver Jubilee of our wedding. In that album, there is just one photograph where I smile, half-heartedly, and in all the photographs, you can see her smiling like a model in the advertisement for toothpaste! The laughter yoga article begins now!
The best laughter is, when you laugh without rhyme or reason! I mean spontaneous! Do you think that this assertion is illogical? Then laugh with me not at me!
The other name for Laughter Yoga is Hasyayoga. Jiten Kohi, an Indian Yoga expert authored it and in the exercise form, it was perfected by Dr Madan Kataria. In reality this should be named as Laughter Therapy, and not Laughter Yoga. For, all the yoga asanas were the revelations of the Realized Souls like Sage Patanjali. Since, the word Yoga is popular, someone with the commercial angle, must have brought it under the category of yoga.
What is the process to laugh as per Laughter Yoga?
Start laughing by laughing! With no fixed formula it is free for all laughter. Stare strangely in someone’s eyes, behave like a child—one should know that laughter is infectious. When the Laughter Session is in progress in a park, you must have observed that the onlookers also laugh and this is more beneficial than the cultivated laughter under instructions of the teacher.
What is the goal?
The goal is to achieve internal joy. Internal joy brings peace of mind. Every session of laughter yoga increases the level of oxygen in the body. It is conducive to psychological and physiological benefits. Loud and aggressive people are vexation to the spirit. Happy and jovial people lift one’s spirit. Laugher is twice-blessed. It blesses the one who laughs and also the one who makes the other laugh. The immediate casualty of laughter is depression. Laughter is also effective in combating the negative energies. A jovial individual is most welcome in any gathering, and he fits into in any situation.
Practical advantages of Laughter Yoga
- No complicated procedures are involved to learn this yoga; the simple one.
- It can be practiced anywhere. (Don’t catch someone by surprise by suddenly laughing at the most unexpected place and become the laughing stock)
- Side-effects proof! The effects are bound to be good. Never heard an individual ‘suffering’ from laughing!
- Economical; no instruments, apparatus are required. No special diet needed. No timings are specified.
- It is an anti-depressant capsule and the results are positive and everlasting.
- Can be practiced in all climatic conditions.
- An individual with a sense of humor is liked by all; wife likes her man with the sense of humor.
- A man with the sense of humor has the positive approach to life. He can be expected to challenge the vicissitudes of life better than a dry and a grumbling individual.
- Laughter, if employed judiciously, is a great communication skill. You say with a laugh many things that are difficult for the printed page to capture.
- For Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, laughter yoga is specifically recommended.
- Research has proved that laughter controls stress hormones and augments the capacity of the immune system in the body.
Even in the army recruitment, sense of humor is considered as an important quality for the cadets.
