What do we know about Laughter Yoga or about laughter in general. For many of us laughing is something far away and coming very rarely. But what is the role of laughter in self-development and human life, why did yogis come up with such a strange way of achieving “enlightenment”, and also why laughter became such a rare phenomenon for us and what should we do to make it a permanent attribute of our life. We will try to answer these interesting questions.
I must say that the positive impact of laughter on the body has been known for a long time. The presence of laughter means that everything is fine with you. Children often laugh – they have no problems. Adults create problems for themselves, but they do not want to laugh and do not know how to laugh at them, this is the problem.
Epidemics of laughter or laughter as a social factor
It happened in a small village of Kashasha in a distant and funny Tanzania. The very word Tanzania at me causes laughter and a smile, the truth I do not know, as at you.So, listen further, in 1962, at the girls’ school, 3 girls laughed and what do you think – 1000 girls all laughed at once. They laughed for several days. Well, probably with a break for lunch. And what do you say to this – the school was closed down, but the epidemic spread to other schools in the district, but already to boys.
Just imagine 14 schools, and everyone laughed instead of studying. And notice this, lasted more than a year. Well, the truth then the epidemic subsided somehow, by itself. All this is official facts about whole epidemics of laughter. So be careful, and, hitting the epicenter of the epidemic, immediately close your mouth with your left or right hand.
And now let’s talk seriously. After all, for a long time already there have been developments in the field of laughter. And first of all, we’ll talk about Laughter Yoga and its role in our “serious life”.
What is Laughter Yoga?
Hassia Yoga or Yoga of Laughter, this is the translation from Sanskrit of the word Hassia. So, Hasyu Yoga or Funny Yoga was invented by the famous Indian doctor Madan Qataria , in co-authorship with his wife, a yoga teacher.
And now, imagine, today such a direction of laughter therapy as Yoga of laughter is already spread in 72 countries of the world and is getting close to Russia . All the same better than war as you think? By the way about other directions and types of laughter therapy, including official medical, we already wrote in the previous article.
What is the essence of laughter yoga?
Personally I like the motto of Madan Catharia, which reflects the real essence of the yoga of laughter: “To create a society of people who believe in love and laughter. When you start laughing, your chemistry changes and your chance to experience happiness increases. “According to him, laughter has two causes: body and mind. So, adults, it turns out, use consciousness for laughter, in other words, they judge everything and decide what is funny and what is not.
But children laugh with their bodies, and often without special reasons. And that’s why Laughter Yoga is also based on children’s playfulness, which can often bring back the joy of life and the desire to live. After all, inside of each of us there is a child who wants to play and laugh.
Useful properties of laughter
According to Dr. Madan Kataria, the founder of Hassia Yoga, laughter has many useful properties, it can instantly improve mood, it is important to just start laughing. You will gain immunity, and you will less often get sick.
The doctor claims that he forgot when he suffered from a cold for the last time. Further, if you have chronic problems: depression, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension – laugh more, and the immune system will strengthen, and the body will self-repair.
By the way, a person can lose a few pounds due to laughter, and it’s not just a matter of laughter, but of the stresses coming out of our body and consciousness, because of which a person eats.
Treatment of diseases with the help of laughter
And what about people with low hemoglobin. People who say I have low hemoglobin. They are just often depressed, they can not express themselves.Headaches, fatigue, sometimes even fainting are all symptoms associated with a deficiency of hemoglobin. But the iron will be properly absorbed only if there is enough oxygen to enter the cells of our body. You just need to love yourself more, play and learn to laugh.
Shortness of breath, asthma and other problems with the respiratory system – the person breathes incorrectly, only the tops of the lungs.
In this regard, Laughter Yoga is simply indispensable – with its practice, unnecessary blocks and depressions will be eliminated, and deep laughter together with long and deep breathing will saturate the body’s most needed message with much-needed oxygen.
When a person laughs, he forgets about his problems, but is not it happiness, when you do not see your problems, they are artificially created that’s all.
The technique of laughter yoga
Yoga classes of laughter (Hassia Yoga) are usually held in a group. Remember the epidemic of laughter in Tanzania, and you will understand why such group therapy is based on laughter.
Yoga Laughter begins with a warm-up: people clap their hands and sing like “ho, ho, ho, ha, ha, ha, ha.” After that, they take deep breaths, and let out the air with a smile as they exhale. Breathing exercises saturate the brain and the body with oxygen, the person is filled with energy, and the diseases recede.
Exercises from yoga laughs
Here is one of the simple exercises of yoga laughter: you need to stretch your arms in front of you and breathe through your nose, and exhale through your mouth. And you do not have to exhale loudly. Then, on inhaling, we hold our breath, and on exhalation we laugh.
This exercise in Hassia Yoga is performed for at least 10 minutes, only then will it be of use. If you feel dizzy, do not worry, it means that oxygen has entered the brain. Since when a person laughs, the brain and body get more oxygen.
Another exercise from yoga of smiles and laughter is called “Mobile laughter” : put your hand to your ear, as if you are talking on the phone, and then you were told something very funny in the tube, laugh!Funny exercise for learning the ability to laugh motor boat : imagine that you start a motor boat, saying from the very diaphragm “ho, ho, ho”, then louder and louder “ha, ha, ha” and so on for a few minutes until get the boat.
Of course, group sessions are more effective, and the epidemic of laughter there arises quite easily. Each coach laughs and chooses his methods for the group. Adult people start jumping, for example, and jumping, so blocks are eliminated in the body. Then, on exhalation, they say “ha, ha, ha,” sit down in a circle and laugh each other. So there is a wave of laughter, at first though a little artificial, but then these earlier serious people can not stop.
Madan Catharia about the source of happiness
All people are striving for happiness, thinking that happiness is the fulfillment of our desires. I bought a car – happy, the house – too, married – again happiness. But people get used to this and want to get something else, and again a chase starts for something.
Leave this idea – nothing good will come of it. The source of happiness must be found within yourself . Learn to sing, play, dance and laugh. At this time, something happens to our body, the brain releases hormones of joy and the whole world becomes beautiful.
This is the kind of laughter Yoga from the Indian doctor Madana Kataria. And if you have the opportunity to attend group sessions on this technique in your city, it is probably more reasonable to start looking for happiness inside than somewhere else.
Laughter as a source of happiness
One of the followers of Laughter Yoga said that he practiced in India and Hatha Yoga and Kundalini Yoga, but could really relax only with the help of Laughter Yoga. And the fact is that before you practice these kinds of Yoga, you need to relax your body and mind. Usually this takes several months of retreat.And what does laughter in the human body do in terms of esotericism? Laughter supports youth and opens our chakras so that more energy will flow into it.
Why do yoga laughter?
Yogis are advised to practice this practice, since anxieties and problems forever leave those who laugh. Usually people do not laugh at all because they believe in difficulties and problems. And if you do not believe in difficulties, then you do not have them. If a person believes in reality, then he recognizes the problems of this world and suffers.
Constant haste and busy distract the person from his inner essence. Haste and busyness may not end in your life, and a person in pursuit of the outside simply misses himself.
Laughter as esoteric practice
Laughter is wonderful – when a person laughs, his thoughts stop. If you do not believe you can check, you can not think when you laugh. Laughter is a small enlightenment, so it is often used in esoteric practices. At this time you directly communicate with your inner nature, with your unchanging essence.
In conclusion, I can say that laughter is one of the attributes of happiness that is constantly in us. Why do children laugh 500-600 times a day unlike adults? Yes, because children are directly connected with their inner source of happiness, for which external factors are not needed.
And the inner child is in every person – it is intuition, it is a connection with the higher “I” or with the spirit, which are immortal.
Our laughing inner child is able to heal a depressed adult. The inner child is a very important source of happiness and peace, which is in the soul of every person . In childhood all were happy and protected – all had a connection with our higher self, with an inner child, intuition.
Ordinary adults have forgotten the most important part of themselves, and for example Dr. Catharia, wants to return lost happiness to all people. Good luck to him and all of us.