Laughter yoga: laughing away the stress

Gulf News

Laughter yoga: laughing away the stress. Want to know what goes on in a Laughter Yoga class? Aquarius features editor Louisa Wilkins tries it out.  Read more laughter health related stories on gulfnews.com - Giggling guru laughs to good health http://bit.ly/2ZKsnX8  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos

Transcript

00:00Laughter Yoga is a set of exercises that is designed and geared for laughing for no reason.

00:22You don't need jokes or funny stories or comedy.

00:26It's for everybody and anybody can do it.

00:29It's based on clapping and then pranayamic yoga breathing and then laughing.

00:34It's based on the idea and the theory that if you laugh, the physics of laughing, your

00:40body will not understand whether it's genuine or fake laugh and will still benefit from

00:46it.

00:47It started in 1995 by a medical doctor called Dr. Madan Kataria from India.

00:53He developed these exercises and now it's spread around more than 60 countries, about

00:596,000 laughter clubs around the world.

01:02Now they've started using it at corporates, at prisons, for children, for people with

01:07special needs, for elderly people because there are some exercises we do that will help

01:14the coordination of the eye and the movement of the hands and revive the memory because

01:21laughter yoga helps in the flow of oxygen into the blood and the main organs of the

01:26body.

01:27I still feel people cannot get out of their comfort zone and they cannot get rid of their

01:34negative beliefs and I thought laughter yoga will help them to feel free to boost their

01:41self-esteem.

01:42So I combined the coaching with the laughter yoga to help people feel at ease and be happy

01:48and fulfil their aims and achieve their goals.

01:52I found that life is very stressful, especially with all that's happening around us, so people

01:58need some kind of exercise to laugh for no reason, to be more healthy, to have more energy

02:04in them.

02:05It's for any age, for anybody, just bring your laugh and come along.

02:09I've never done it before and I didn't really know what to expect.

02:12I'd heard a little bit about it before but I wasn't sure, I'd never seen a session in

02:17action and it was brilliant.

02:19I really loved it and I laughed a lot more than I thought I would and I didn't feel self-conscious

02:24and I actually just felt a really strong bond with the people around me, even though I'd

02:27never met them before and yeah, it was very relaxing and actually it was really invigorating

02:34and it's definitely something I'd like to do again.

02:37Much funnier than I expected it to be.

02:40I laughed a lot.

02:41Initially I felt a bit self-conscious but then I just couldn't stop laughing and I heard

02:45myself laughing and then I heard other people laughing and then I nearly had a heart attack.

02:51And then actually I haven't laughed like that in a very long time.

02:53I feel really chilled actually, I had a really stressful day and now I feel very relaxed.

02:58It's the first time here, before I had done in India, in Mumbai.

03:03This would be my first time.

03:04I've done yoga before and we had a small 10 minute session on laughter yoga but I've never

03:09had a 45 minute full on session just laughing my head off.

03:13I'd definitely go back any day, especially with my mum because I've never heard my mum

03:17laugh so much.

03:18So it was quite a good experience and it's something that we both can do.

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