Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Laughter Yoga - A Growing Worldwide Phenomenon



Laughter Yoga is the brainchild of an Indian physician, Dr. Madan Kataria. While studying the effects of laughter on the body, he discovered a way to boost the immune system, raise feel-good endorphins, and lower blood pressure while reducing stress hormones naturally.
In 1995 Dr. Kataria offered his first class to five people in a park in Mumbai, India. This worldwide movement has blossomed into six thousand laughter clubs throughout sixty countries. Laughter Yoga clubs are in session from Asia to Europe and throughout America.
Laughter Yoga Better than Humor
Natural laughter in our everyday lives isn't enough to show beneficial results. Laughter Yoga, on the other hand, is a simple system to extend laughter. To receive the scientifically proven benefits, laughter has to come from the diaphragm and last for a longer period of time than naturally produced.
In Dr. Kataria's program, gut-busting laughter combined with yogic breathing is used to produce results. The participants laugh continuously and with great gusto for fifteen minutes with short breaks of yogic breathing. Since the body apparently cannot differentiate between forced and real laughter, positive physiological and psychological benefits can be obtained by this continuous and deep-reaching laughter.

No comments:

Post a Comment