Laugh Your Way To Wellness With Yoga Trend

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Laugh Your Way To Wellness With Yoga Trend

http://medicalnewscenter.com/out/out.cgi?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505225405.htm

" Ho ho, ha ha ha, " students in a fitness class. They're just getting

warmed up; in the next half-hour, they will stretch their muscles and

work on breathing exercises. They'll also laugh for most of the 30

minutes, from self-conscious giggles to uninhibited belly laughs. All

in the name of fitness.

This is a " laughter yoga " course, part of a growing trend in parts of

the United States, India and other countries. The students are re-

learning something children already know instinctively: that laughter

makes you feel better.

" Kids laugh about 400 times a day, and adults only about 15, " notes

Barb Fisher, a certified laughter yoga leader and the instructor of

this class offered by the U-M Health System's MFit health promotion

division. " Laughter is a gift that has been given to us to make us

feel better. "

Fisher teaches her students that not only is it fun to laugh, but

that laughter yoga (also known as hasya yoga) can provide many health

benefits:

Help to reduce stress

Enhance the immune system

Strengthen cardiovascular functions

Oxygenate the body by boosting the respiratory system

Improve circulation

Tone muscles

Help with digestion and constipation

Even with all of these health benefits, though, laughter yoga

shouldn't replace other types of aerobic and weight-bearing exercises.

" Studies have shown that 20 seconds of a good, hard belly laugh is

worth three minutes on the rowing machine, " Fisher says. " However,

that does not mean we want to stop doing all other exercises. It

means that incorporating laughter yoga can add to the benefits we see

from our regular exercise routine. "

Like more traditional fitness classes, laughter yoga requires a warm-

up period. Since students can't necessarily start a class prepared to

break out into deep laughter, they begin with the clapping and

chanting mentioned above. Then they perform breathing exercises,

followed by stretches and laughing games.

As developed by laughter yoga creator Madan Kataria, a family

physician from India, these laughing exercises can include many

varieties, such as:

Hearty laughter: Laughter by raising both the arms in the sky with

the head tilted a little backwards.

Greeting laughter: Joining both the hands and shaking hands with at

least four or five people in the group.

Appreciation laughter: Join your pointing finger with the thumb to

make a small circle while making gestures as if you are appreciating

your group members and laughing simultaneously.

Milk shake laughter: Hold and mix two imaginary glasses of milk or

coffee and pour the milk from one glass into the other by

chanting " Aeee...., " and then pour it back into the first glass by

chanting " Aeee... " Then, everyone laughs while making a gesture as if

they are drinking milk.

The students in Fisher's class have discovered the mental and

physical benefits of these and other laughter exercises.

" The biggest effect that I've gotten from laughter yoga is what it's

done for me mentally, and that it has lightened up my day and my

week, " says Deborah Slosberg. " I also think it has improved my

breathing. "

" It gives me a relaxed feeling, and yet I actually feel like I worked

out, " says Ann Twork. " You get back some of the child in you. "