Extract from the book Laugh for No Reason by Dr. Madan Kataria
Over the past two decades, extensive research has been conducted all over the world and it has been proved that laughter has a positive impact on various systems of the body. Laughter helps to remove the negative effects of STRESS, which is the number one killer today. More than 70% of illnesses like high blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, depression, frequent coughs and colds, peptic ulcers, insomnia, allergies, asthma, menstrual difficulties, tension headaches, stomach upsets and even cancer, have some relations to stress. It has also been proved beyond a shadow of doubt that laughter helps to boost the immune system, which is the master key for maintaining good health.
People have forgotten How to laugh: Scientists are convinced that laughter has both preventive and therapeutic value. But these days, where is laughter? It seems as if people have forgotten how to laugh. According to a study done by Dr. Micheal Titze, a German Psychologist, ‘‘In the 1950’s people used to laugh 18 minutes a day, but today we laugh not more than 6 minutes per day, despite the huge rises in the standard of living.’’ Children can laugh up to 300-400 times in a day, but when we grow into adults this frequency comes down to just 15 times a day. Due to excessive seriousness, our sense of humor is also getting sick. The things at which we used to laugh heartily 30 years ago no longer stimulate even the faintest smile.
Sense of Humour is uncommon and uncertain: Today we can’t depend on the sense of humour to create laughter, since humour is a very mental and intelligent phenomenon. Everyone does not have a sense of humour. Everyone cannot tell jokes or understand them fully. It is true that one must have a sense of humour to be able to laugh, but this is also true that very few people have a sense of humour. That means that the majority of people are not able to laugh, because of a lack of the sense of humour.
How to laugh and who will make you laugh: Jokes can’t make you laugh every day and a sense of humour is not everyone’s cup of tea. The million-dollar question is how to laugh and who will make you laugh? Here is a breakthrough! For the first time Dr. Madan Kataria, a Mumbai (India) – based physician has developed a new technique: free group laughter based on yoga (Hasya Yoga). Anyone can participate in group laughter, every day for 15-20 minutes, without resorting to jokes. Each laughter session starts with deep breathing and a Ho-Ho, Ha-Ha exercise, followed by a variety of stimulated laughter techniques like hearty laughter, silent laughter, medium laughter, lion laughter, swinging laughter, one meter laughter, cocktail laughter, gradient laughter and many others.
It is not difficult to laugh without a reason: Self-induced, stimulated laughter can easily be converted into real laughter when you do it in a group. Laughter is infectious, laughter is contagious and it spreads when you laugh in company and have good eye contact. We have all laughed without a reason when we were children. Children can laugh for no reason because they have very few inhibitions. The very essence of laughing without a reason lies in developing your child-like spirit and playful attitude. If you can do that, laughter will come to you with great ease.
Developing A Sense of Humour through Laughter: If a sense of humour leads to laughter, the reverse is also true. When you try to laugh in a group for no reason, your inhibitions are broken and a sense of humour flows. This is exactly the breakthrough we have achieved in our Laughter Clubs. We are finding our sense of humour through laughter.
A sense of humour is the capacity of an individual to perceive, relate and experience a given situation in a more funny and humorous way. A sense of humour is nothing that one is born with, but it is a skill which can be acquired with practice. One thing that God has given everyone of us is a tremendous potential to laugh. As you can see, a child can laugh up to 300-400 times a day. The child does not laugh because it has a sense of humour, but because it is in the nature of the child to be joyful. As the child starts growing he is exposed to more and more information and his laughter starts getting lost under layers of seriousness, self-control, responsibility, fear and insecurity. As a result, an ordinary situation at which the child used to be amazed and amused, does not trigger any good feeling any more.
To develop a sense of humour, one needs to remove the layers of inhibition and the mental blocks which have been created by oneself, one’s parents and society. Once these barriers are removed, the infinite potential to laugh will unfold automatically and a sense of humour will start flowing. Teaching a person who has a lot of inhibitions to develop a sense of humour is like flushing a drain which is blocked with rubble. Once you remove the blockade, water will start flowing. This is exactly what has happened in Laughter Clubs. It is for this reason that we are successful in making thousands of people laugh in a country like India, where people hardly ever laugh or smile. The same people who never used to smile have started cracking jokes and enjoying jokes in a better way than ever before. They have started being playful and creative. Here, nobody was first trained to have a sense of humour and then laughed. We all laughed and laughed for no reason and without applying much logic. Therefore, it is not always the sense of humour that leads to laughter, but laughter can also help you to develop a sense of humour. Humour and laughter make one unity, each flows into the other.
By volunteering to laugh in a group we are preparing the grounds for a sense of humour to flow. Therefore, if you and I don’t have a sense of humour don’t worry: you have to laugh yourself silly and your sense of humour will start flowing. Laughter Clubs are the ideal platforms to laugh your way to silliness, because there is no fear of ridicule by anyone.
Philosophy of ‘Fake it Until you Make it’: There is sufficient data available from medical research to show that even if you pretend to laugh or act
happy your body produces happiness chemicals. According to the principles of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) whether you laugh spontaneously at a joke or a situation, or whether you stimulate laughter (with willingness), it is still a form of exercise. Our bodies do not know the difference between thinking about doing something and actually doing it. Therefore, whatever may be the source of laughter it leads to the same set of physiological changes occurring in our bodies? Many actors and actresses all over the world have experienced the effect of faking emotions. Many times they felt sick after acting out sadness. This clearly indicates that if acting sadness can make you sick, acting happiness can make you healthy. The idea of Laughter clubs is based on this philosophy of acting happiness. Another theory is called motion creates emotions. If you put your body into an act of happiness, your mind will follow.
Willingness Factor: The most important factor in a Laughter Club is your WILLINGNESS TO LAUGH. Though the members of laughter clubs laugh out voluntarily, it is with full commitment and willingness. If you are not willing to laugh, nobody in this world can make you laugh. On the other hand, if you are willing to laugh and give yourself permission to laugh nobody can stop you from laughing. You don’t even need any reason to laugh.
Laughter yoga activates laugh muscles: Yogic laughter exercise is not a SUBSTITUTE for the spontaneous laughter which we get throughout the day. As a matter of fact it helps to increase our capacity to laugh during the day. According to another research study, if you stretch your laugh muscles on a regular basis it will make them respond more spontaneously whenever there is something amusing. Group laughter exercises help members to reduce their inhibitions, which enables them to laugh more often.
Laughter and its yoga connection: A typical laughter session is a blend of yogic deep breathing, stretching, stimulated laughter exercises and cultivating child-like playfulness. The whole concept of group laughter exercises is based on yoga, which produces a unique physiological balance in our bodies, by connecting body, mind and spirit. Stimulated laughter exercises have been combined with deep breathing which is an important part of yoga. Deep breathing helps to stimulate the calming branch of our nervous system (Parasympathetic system) by rhythmic movement of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. Deep breathing helps to increase the net supply of oxygen, which is the most important component of our metabolism. According to principles of yoga, laughter gives a constant massage to the digestive tract and also improves blood supply to all the internal organs. Laughter stimulates blood circulation which helps to transport nutrients all over the body and it also strengthens our respiratory apparatus which supplies oxygen to the body.
Unfolding Infinite Potential through Laughter: The human brain has a left and a right hemisphere. The left side of the brain is analytical, logical, calculative and concerned with learning skills. The capacity of the left side is LIMITED. You can’t learn beyond a certain limit. The right side of the brain is concerned with intuition, imagination, inventions, music, art, creativity, meditation and healing. The power of the right side of the brain is UNLIMITED. One of the easiest ways to stimulate the right side of the brain is by playfulness. By being playful one can become more creative and imaginative. It will unfold the unlimited potential of our beings, but the problem with most of us is that we can’t be playful all the time or with everybody. A laughter club is an ideal platform which gives an opportunity to be playful in a group, without a feeling of embarrassment.
Adding new Dimensions to laughter: Most people think that laughter is only for amusement and entertainment, so that one can feel relaxed. Laughter is not merely a physical phenomenon. It does not make any sense if a laughter club member laughs a lot at the laughter club in the morning and keep screaming and shouting at his wife the whole day at home. Therefore, one should not laugh only for oneself. It is the responsibility of every laughter club member to make others also happy. Laughter should be reflected in one’s behaviour and attitudes towards others. The members of laughter clubs do not only laugh, but they also practice ways and means of sensible living.
Through group discussions we identify all the negative factors which stop us from laughing. For example: anger, fear, guilt and jealousy are some of the negative emotions which produce negative feelings in us. In a group effort we try to cultivate positive emotions like love, appreciation, kindness, forgiveness and joy. The motto of laughter club members is not only to make themselves happy, but also to make others happy. This is known as the SPIRIT OF LAUGHTER. The inner spirit of laughter can be cultivated easily in a group effort. As a group the members of laughter clubs inspire and motivate each other. We know so many good things in life, but we don’t get motivation to practise them, but if we do it in a group it happens in a much easier way.
Liberating Your Laughter from Reason: Normally, people look for some reason to laugh, but these days, because of the stress and strain of modern living, there are very few things which make us laugh, while there are hundreds of things that can make us frown, howl and cry. Like laughter, happiness has also become conditional. Our happiness depends upon so many pre-conditions. Our happiness and laughter has become dependent on material success and personal achievements. Laughter is an expression of happiness. If we can learn to laugh unconditionally our happiness too will become unconditional. Therefore, liberate your laughter and happiness from reason by joining a Laughter Club; it will give you joy forever.
Wisdom becomes Manifest in a group: We have a wealth of eastern and western wisdom which, if practised, can help us to lead a happy and
blissful life. One may acquire knowledge about swimming after reading a number of books, but all remains good for nothing if one does not get into the water and start to swim. This is the problem with most of us, that our knowledge about so many good things in life is not manifested because of lack of motivation. We know the theory but we do not put it into practice. The success of Laughter Clubs is attributed to a group effort. We know so many good things in life, but we don’t get motivation to practise them. If we do it in a group though, it happens in a much easier way. Nobody would have thought one could laugh without jokes. It happened only when we all ventured into trying laughter as a group effort. In a group the motivation levels are very high. You don’t have to do it, it just happens. You will do it because others are doing it. If we can laugh together, we can also practise ways and means of sensible living together.
Laughter Suits All and is User friendly: Laughter exercise is short and sweet and can be conveniently added to your existing fitness programmes. It will be a value addition at yoga groups, tai-chi groups, aerobic centre, meditation centre, health clubs, sports and fun activities. Already laughter yoga has been included in the curriculum of yoga sessions all over the world. Thousands of yoga practitioners have added 5-10 minutes of unconditional laughter at the end of their yoga sessions. You may not have to take special time out to laugh. The only requirement is that it should be practised in a group and on a daily basis if possible. Most important is that it does not depend upon external factors but on your own internal resources. Whenever, wherever the group decides to, they can laugh and gain the benefits. If you are a working person, group laughter will give you instant relaxation and help you to increase well being, so that you can work hard throughout the day. If you are the kind of person who needs to socialise and increase social contacts and become a part of a support group, it has a social medicine in it. This kind of format is ideally suited for retired people and the elderly. If you are a person with intelligent introspection and a spiritual inclination it has a lot of philosophy in it. You can learn the art of living through laughter. In a nutshell, the concept of Laughter Clubs has something for everyone to learn and get benefits from.
World Peace: the Mantra for the New Millennium: There is war in the world because we are at war within ourselves. If we can bring peace inside us there will be peace outside. If we can bring peace inside us by practising yogic laughter and following ways and means of sensible living and these Laughter Clubs multiply all over the world, there will be everlasting peace on this planet. Laugh for No Reason
A fun, positive and unifying workshop
Laugh for No Reason
A fun, positive and unifying workshop
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