Laugh Your Way to Health

Laughter therapy, based on laughter yoga, can improve the quality of your life.

By Jovo Mićić
Illustration by Nebojša Milosavljević

Laughter yoga was developed in India in 1995 by Indian physician Dr. Madan Kataria. It involves a system of exercises, including deep breathing, gentle physical exercises and laughter exercises. This is a completely new approach to laughter implying that anyone can learn to laugh whenever one wants, without the aid of humour, jokes or comedy. Laughter is approached as a kind of bodily exercise, thus offering a unique opportunity to laugh even when one is not in the mood to laugh, even when one is sad or depressed. It has been scientifically proven that regardless of its origin, laughter has an equally positive effect on human health. Laughter is one of the easiest and fastest ways to get in touch with our innate but frequently repressed joyous nature, resulting in almost instantaneous improvement of our disposition, in reduced stress and a positive effect on our health in a number of other ways.

Laughter exercises combined with breathing exercises increase oxygen supply to our lungs and then to our entire body. This is significant because oxygen is the basic element of metabolism. Scientists are learning every day just how important deep breathing is to our health, and just how harmful so-called shallow, quick breathing is, as it allows a certain quantity of oxygen-depleted ‘used-up’ air to always remain in the lungs.

In 1989, American scientists Dr. Lee Berk and his colleague Dr. Stanley Tan, from Loma Linda University in California, published a paper showing that laughter efficiently reduces stress and lowers secretion of the stressrelated hormones - epinephrine and cortisol.

Another one of Berk’s studies states that laughter represents a very useful exercise for the heart and can lower blood pressure, thus inducing a good mood as endorphins are released.

A study conducted in Japan in 2001 established that laughter increases the activity of natural defence cells, as well as the number of anti-bodies, thus helping prevent infections, allergies and even the gravest diseases such as tumors and cancer.

Essentially, laughter yoga is a very efficient aerobic exercise. According to Dr. William Fry, psychiatrist and professor at Stanford University, one minute of laughter equals ten minutes of indoor rowing. In 2005, researchers at the Baltimore Medical School, in Maryland, discovered that laughter causes blood vessels to expand, thus leading to increased blood flow that is a highly beneficial for the heart and the cardio-vascular system as a whole.

On an emotional plane, laughter tends to decrease depression and anxiety by releasing serotonin, a natural antidepressant, and endorphins, the hormones contributing to our feeling fine. In addition, it helps us deal more successfully with our own stress and anger.

Performing laughter exercises on a regular basis adds to our creativity and sense of humour. Laughter, as a type of therapy, also positively affects the psyche by reinforcing self-confidence and our ability for self-expression. People doing laughter exercises have an easier time hurdling psychological barriers and relate better to other people.

Laughter clubs are organised groups of people who come together with the sole purpose of laughing together by applying the techniques of laughter yoga with a view to improving their own health, mood and generating sound attitudes towards life. There are currently some 6,000 such clubs in the world, and only one in our country - Klub Smeha Beograd (the Belgrade Laughter Club). Laughter clubs are quite open and anyone can become a member, regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, political views, religious affiliation or any other preference. The club members’ meetings are in fact sessions of laughter with dynamics of their own. They begin with warm-up exercises, breathing and exercises inducing laughter. Very soon, because of the contagious nature of laughter, this self-induced laughter becomes authentic laughter, which thanks to a series of other exercises that are funny and easy to perform, is maintained throughout the session to its conclusion, which is called laughter meditation.

It is important to note that laughter clubs’ activities are not based on any underlying humour. Club members join club activities as active participants and not as passive observers waiting for someone or something to make them laugh. This is where a systematic approach relying on the principles of ancient practices such as yoga and meditation are is implemented in combination with modern-day medical science. This therapeutic laughter affects the body, mind and spirit. By developing the spirit of laughter, session participants can achieve better emotional balance, alleviate the harmful effects of stress and anger as well as predisposition to condemning others. In this way, they more easily find their way to achieving their own inner peace.

Being aware of laughter’s high potential to remove work place frustration, tension and stress, while creating a harmonious and confidencefilled work-station atmosphere, many world companies within their human resources departments are organising laughter training for their employees. Laughter is conducive to improved communication so that people who laugh together work better together. This is one of the reasons why laughter training is so efficient in team-building and leadership skills development. Furthermore, laughter has a positive effect on company employees as it lowers the barriers people put up, creates a sense of security, does away with criticism and power games, while increasing self-esteem and bringing out the best in us.

Apart from regular or periodical training among employees, laughter is used as a useful tool at seminars or specialised meetings because it is a good ‘icebreaker’ and an effective means for establishing positive relations within group members. By learning to laugh without a specific motive, training participants frequently note that they have discovered a power they always felt existed within them, but that they could not access it because it was blocked.

All those interested can find more about laughter, its effects and use by accessing www.smeh.org.yu on the Internet.