Laughter Yoga is a unique idea where anyone can laugh for no reason, you don’t need any jokes, comedies or even a sense of humor! We use simple laughter exercises in a group, and as we maintain eye-contact and cultivate childlike playfulness, the laughter quickly becomes genuine and spontaneous.
We call it Laughter Yoga because we combine the laughter exercises with gentle yoga breathing, pranayama, as a form of stress management and physical fitness. As we breath and laugh deeply we increase our supply of oxygen bringing all the health benefits to our body and mind. It’s a scientific fact that whether you’re laughing for real or simulating laughter the body doesn’t know the idfference so you receive the same health benefits.
Laughter Yoga was developed in 1995 by a medical doctor in India, Dr. Madan Kataria. It was started in a park with only 5 people and in 13 short years has grown to over 6,000 laughter clubs in over 60 countries.
Laughter clubs are independent, non-political, non-religious and non-competitive community-based associations of diverse people where all are welcome regardless of gender, age, physical abilities, social or economic backgrounds. Many laughter clubs are not-for-profit. Some clubs ask for a small donation, but for many it’s a way many give back to their communities.
Laughter clubs come together regularly to practice laughter yoga. They laugh, play and breathe together. This helps create a strong, yet calm nervous system. It purifies the mind and brings mental health and happiness. In 1995, there was just one laughter club in Mumbai, India. Today, laughter clubs are all over the world! There are well over 6,000 clubs today.
Here in South Dakota, laughter clubs are brand new! The first laughter club established in South Dakota meets every Tuesday from 6:30-7:30 pm at Sioux Falls First United Methodist Church. Please enter through the west door, or Duluth Avenue. There is no charge and please any children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
It’s a life changing experience, so come and join us as we laugh our way to joy and fitness!
The secret of laughter yoga is that our bodies are hardwired with some surprisingly powerful natural reactions to extended hearty laughter. These side effects include:
Blood & all major organs are fully oxygenated leaving us bursting with energy
Blood pressure drops, circulation improves and pulse rate drops
Depression is lifted, even chronic depression is often cured
High endorphin levels put us in a great mood and reduce any aches & pains
Immune, digestive & sexual systems that are switched off by stress are switched on
Self confidence is boosted, communication skills and creativity are boosted
Our lymphatic system is massaged and our immune systems boosted
Stress levels reduce by 75% or more and we become more stress resistant
After just one laughter yoga session many people feel the difference. After some Laughter Yoga meditation sessions people describe surging feelings of joy and happiness.
With regular sessions people’s entire mental and physical state changes for the better. Laughter accelerates healing and many small health problems disappear. The frequency of colds & flu’s reduces. You feel happy, healthy and well.
No other fitness training regime or style of yoga has these benefits.
A recent study at Stanford University concludes that laughter stimulates the parts of our brain that use the “feel good” chemical messenger dopamine. This puts laughter into the “necessary” category of activities that are pleasurably addictive, and more so in the myriads of health benefits that accrue.
Laughter Yoga Therapy for Cancer Patients and Caregivers
Dr. Michael B. Van Scoy-Morsher, an oncologist in California says that “one characteristic of the cancer patient who does well is the ability to often put cancer in the background for periods of time.”
The emotions and moods we experience directly effect our immune system. If there is any chance that laughter can improve a person’s prognosis or longevity - it is a good thing. A sense of humor allows us to perceive and appreciate the incongruities of life and provides moments of joy and delight. These positive emotions can create neurochemical changes that will buffer the immunosuppressive effects of diseases and stress. Hospitals around the country are incorporating formal and informal laughter therapy programs into their therapeutic regimens.
There is nothing so hopeful as laughter. Every person has a sense of humor, and tapping into that can build a connection faster than anything else. Suffering people are tender all over, and normal humor is risky. Laughter Yoga is not about telling jokes - it is non-threatening, non-political - and just involves someone performing some basic movements and breathing. Laughter is the great equalizer. Laughing levels the playing field and invites true relationship - a dance of giving and receiving. When we laugh, we experience joy, and celebrate this moment, right now, regardless of how chaotic the life situation may be.
Laughter Yoga can help counter depression in patients and their families, improves the mental state of mind, and in many cases, offers healing benefits by boosting the immune system and improving quality of life. Laughter also helps massage the lymphatic system and releases endorphins, the body’s natural pain killers.
Laughter Makes Business Sense
Up to 90% of the doctor visits in the USA may be triggered by a stress-related illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Today’s business demands have put a tremendous strain on our global workforce. Longer hours coupled with fewer resources are pushing more and more management and employees to their breaking point. Combined with the need to achieve work-life balance stress is taking a tremendous financial and personal toll on US business profitability:
$300 billion per year or $7,500 each employee is paid out for stress-related compensation claims
1 million workers went on stress-related disability in 2004
Up to 90% of doctors visits are triggered by stress-related conditions
Eight of the top 10 prescription drugs marketed today are for stress-related conditions
Stress is directly associated with depression, anxiety, asthma, alcohol/drug addictions and other conditions that affect the nervous and immune systems
Approximately 100 million Americans suffer stress related from chronic health conditions: heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and cancer
Let Laughter Work For You
Leadership that encourages self-esteem, cooperation, creative thinking, job satisfaction, and a place where people want to be is the emerging demand from today’s work force.
Laughter yoga can help create this workplace environment. Laughter is the only management tool you’ll ever find that will do all the following:
Boost morale and motivate employees
Build resilience
Engender trust
Create a joyful environment
Deflect criticism
Get and hold attention
Make communications more comfortable
Manage conflicts
Reduce burnout
Alleviate tension, frustration and anger
Remove barriers between employees
Stimulate creative problem solving
Strengthen bonds between co-workers
Sustain a positive attitude on the job
Keep everyday hassles and problems in perspective.
How Can Laughter Yoga Do All This?
Laughter yoga is a radically different approach to stress management that combines simple laughter exercises with gentle yoga breathing techniques. This revolutionary technique, invented by a medical doctor from India, causes spontaneous, joyful laughter to flow without any jokes. You don’t even need to be happy or have a sense of humor to laugh. Because of the eye-contact and childlike playfulness that is initiated, participants discover a deep, human connection with other laughers. This experience is more than just fun, it can be transformational.
Energizing and motivating people to think creatively and work productively is easy with Laughter yoga. Consider utilizing it at the following events:
Conferences You can’t go wrong with Laughter yoga at conferences. These brief, large-group laughter experiences can provide an excellent ice-breaker at the start of an event, revitalize the group after lunch, or deliver a memorable send-them-home-with-a-bang closing session.
Workshops & Retreats Laughter yoga can enable people to work cooperatively and collaboratively from the start. The entire group dynamic shifts after laughing together.
Training Days Create enjoyable events that encourage everyone’s participation. Laughter yoga is a fun and powerful way to help participants leave their inhibitions at the door and get into a serious creative and learning mode.
Meetings Energize and renew your staff. It makes good business sense. Laughter sessions help to dissolve tensions within a group. Just after the session may prove to be the best time to promote new initiatives and strategies.
This is a 2 day workshop where you’ll not only learn more about how to lead a Laughter Yoga session with a variety of students, but you’ll have lots of time and support to practice your skills in your unique way.
All over the world Laughter Yoga is becoming known and sought after. Do it on the beach, at work, as part of a seminar, in your health care practice, community or meditation group...start a laughing club anywhere. We need more people who’d love to learn this and share it! The fun and the health benefits are amazing, plus we all know that laughter just feels great! It’s easy to lead, anyone can do it, all ages, all walks of life.
This experiential (and often life-transforming) Laughter Yoga workshop will:
Make you feel good about yourself (we will laugh a lot for no particular reason. Promised.)
Give you a thorough understanding of Laughter Yoga:
know how to laugh alone and add more laughter into your life
be able to confidently talk about it
never run short of laughter exercise ideas
Show you how to release tension in a safe and positive manner
Inspire and empower you to start and run a social Laughter Club both for your own as much as for your community’s benefit.
Teach you the skills and and give you the confidence to teach laughter yoga classes and take individuals and groups to deeper level of joy and happiness with the laughter meditation.
Participants will be able to:
Laugh more anytime, anywhere, for no particular reason
Discuss the history of Therapeutic Laughter and Laughter Yoga
Answer frequently asked questions about Laughter Yoga and Laughter Clubs
Describe the benefits and contra-indications of Laughter Yoga
Explain why humor, happiness or reason are not necessary to laugh
Start and run a Laughter Club for the general public
Describe and demonstrate the different components of a laughter session, including a Laughter Meditation.
Be familiar with group dynamics and know how to effectively manage group laughter with a variety of participants
Add more laughter into one’s life
Take groups to deeper levels of joy and inner peace through the Laughter Meditation
Why This Workshop Will Open New Doors For You:
Flexible And Empowering Beyond Your Wildest Dreams
Even though you will learn in this training a standardized and structured program of light laughter exercise, how you apply it is up to you. This is where our training becomes hugely different from others. Regular practice of this method will develop your creativity to levels you may not believe you had in you. Laughter Yoga is new to the midwest and the possibilities are endless of how you want to expand your business. You get to bypass the learning curve at the speed of light! And we have never met a group of people who have been so generous with their support, help and advice in getting our business off the ground. You will never be alone in your endeavors, your laughter buddies will support you every step of the way!
Complete Freedom
When you complete the training, you are independent in how or even if you organize as a business. This training gives you a foundation for systematic, repeatable, appealing and desirable laughter-related programs with healthy values, that leave plenty of room for your personality to shine through with your own creative expression. As such many Certified Laughter Yoga Leaders practice their newly acquired skills or add to their existing abilities as paid speakers, class instructors, seminar leaders, or provide other health-related services that are significantly enhanced with Laughter Yoga. But, there is no financial connection to the American School Of Laughter Yoga nor to the Dr. Kataria School Of Laughter Yoga. When you generate revenue with your laughter programs, it is all yours.
Official Affiliation
The “Certified Laughter Yoga Leader” diploma (trademark of Dr Kataria School Of Laughter Yoga and only official Laughter Yoga certification) will be handed out to graduates upon completion of the workshop. You may then acknowledge your affiliation to both Dr. Kataria’s School Of Laughter Yoga and its affiliate the American School of Laughter Yoga, and use our logos in print material.
