Laughing your way to better Health
Laughter Yoga
Everyone knows that laughter is the best medicine and life is better when you’re smiling, right? And some believe that yoga adds years to your life and life to your years. Somewhere along the line a clever, enterprising boffin had the smart idea to blend the two (although this writer expects that monks have been doing both naturally for centuries) and offer classes in laughing yoga! According to some, it is the idea of Dr Madan Kateria, an Indian physician from Mumbai who started the first laughter club in 1995 in a park with just 5 people.
Humour is infectious and Sydney Laughter offers regular laughter yoga classes designed to get you in touch with your ‘natural and healthy desire to laugh freely and express joy’. Run by an internationally certified Laughter Yoga Master Trainer (yes, they exist!), Kylie Willows (one of only two Master Trainers in Australia), uses her background as a professional speaker, as well as her commitment to health and well-being, to provide insight and support (as well as laughter and yoga) to aid in personal development and to connect with people, helping them achieve maximum benefit from her classes.
Kylie’s classes have proven very popular across a wide demographic, from corporate stress relief seminars and laughter for seniors to children’s laughter yoga. As well as general laughter classes, Kylie is open to new ideas for laughter sessions and gives public talks about laughter therapy and the benefits of laughter. Some of these benefits include boosting the immune system, anti-ageing effect, improved circulation, reduced blood pressure, reduction of stress hormone levels, as well as positive effects on psychological problems such as anxiety, depression and sleeplessness. For maximum overall scientifically-proven benefits, students are taught to laugh vigorously from the diaphragm for at least ten-fifteen minutes to enable participants to experience sustained laughter, thus reaping the health benefits.
Laughter Yoga Australia offers laughter workshops in most states of Australia and describes their classes as combing unconditional laughter with yogic breathing (PRANAYAMA). Their laughter clubs are free for everyone and promote non-political, non-religious and non-competitive associations that are community-based. Everyone is welcome regardless of age, gender, physicality, social or economic backgrounds. A common question and hesitation that many people have is ‘Will I feel silly and embarrassed?’, and although you may initially, the idea is to get in touch with that inner-child who is playful and free. Laughter Yoga guarantees that releasing inhibitions and shyness will enable you to experience joy and relaxation from within, something we could all do with improving upon in our busy, serious and responsible lives.
There is a lot of pressure in life today and one of the most motivating factors for people to partake in laughter yoga classes is the multiple health benefits believed to derive from embracing a regular exercise routine, in this case a routine revolving around having a jolly good time. It is a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between real and fake laughter so why not get the same physiological and psychological benefits. I’ll laugh to that!
HIF: Health Insurance Fund of Australia: Your health, Your Choice
