Laughter Yoga

Laughter Yoga : Laugh your way to good health

Laughter yoga is the latest fad in fitness as more people are embracing it to beat stress

There is nothing like laughter to beat the blues and feel really alive and zestful, as many are discovering to their delight. Laughter also works your muscles. Twenty seconds of a good, hard belly laugh is worth three minutes on the rowing machine. Incorporating hasya or laughter yoga can boost the benefits derived from a regular exercise routine.
The hasya laughter course is a part of a growing trend in the US, India and many other countries. Its followers are re-learning something children already know instinctively – that laughter makes you feel better.

A brainchild of a family physician from India, Madan Kataria, hasya yoga is being taught by Barb Fisher. She is an instructor at the class being offered by University of Michigan’s Mfit Health Promotion Division. The daily routine begins with chants like ‘ho ho, ha ha ha,’ a warm-up exercise, amid clapping of hands and walking around the room.
Over the next half-hour, students stretch their muscles and work on breathing exercises. They also laugh for most of the 30 minutes, from self-conscious giggles to uninhibited belly laughs. “Kids laugh about 400 times a day, and adults only about 15,” noted Fisher, a certified laughter yoga leader. “Laughter is a gift that has been given to us to make us feel better.” Fisher teaches her students that it is not only fun to laugh, but hasya yoga also reduces stress, boosts immune, cardiovascular and respiratory systems and helps overcome bad digestion and constipation. But even with all of these health benefits, laughter yoga should supplement other types of aerobic and weightbearing exercises, she adds. ANS