cover
Nils Horn

Laughter Yoga:

Exercises, Jokes and Spiritual Stories


May all people be happy. May the world be happy.


BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
80331 Munich

Contents

Laughter Yoga

Jokes

Laughter Yoga for Absolute Beginners

Happiness Research

Yoga with Positive Thinking

Get Positive in Five Minutes

Chair-Yoga with Laughing

Sayings from Yogi Nils

The Goddess

Shake Meditation with Laughing

Poems from Drugpa Künleg

Laughing Wave

The Fool

Breathing Meditation

Mulla Nasrudin

Healing Meditation

The enlightened being

The Laughing Buddha

Guru Yoga

Laughter Meditation

Laughter Yoga

 

 

Laughter yoga helps you to concentrate on the funny side of life. Laughter Yoga was started by Dr Madan Kataria in 1995. It combines gentle yoga breathing (Pranayama), stretching, and laughter.

 

Wikipedia: Laughter yoga (Hasyayoga) is a practice involving prolonged voluntary laughter. Laughter yoga is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter.

Laughter yoga was made popular as an exercise routine developed by Indian physician Madan Kataria. Kataria's first Laughter Yoga Club began on 13 March 1995 in Mumbai, with five people in a local public park. The concept rapidly spread worldwide, and as of 2011, there were more than 8,000 Laughter Clubs in 100 countries. Each group is run by a "Laugh Captain" and operates independently.

Fake laughter quickly becomes real. Anyone can laugh without needing to rely on humor, jokes or comedy. Laughter is initially simulated as a physical exercise while maintaining eye contact with others in the group and promoting childlike playfulness. In most cases this soon leads to real and contagious laughter.

Laughter yoga sessions start with gentle warm-up techniques which include stretching, chanting, clapping and body movement. These help break down inhibitions and develop feelings of 'childlike playfulness'. Breathing exercises are used to prepare the lungs for laughter, followed by a series of ‘laughter exercises’ that combine the method of acting and visualization techniques with playfulness. These exercises, when combined with the strong social dynamics of group behavior, lead to prolonged and hearty unconditional laughter. Laughter exercises are interspersed with breathing exercises. A laughter yoga session may finish with "Laughter Meditation". This is a session of unstructured laughter whereby participants sit or lie down and allow natural laughter to flow from within.