Laugh 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 is done in groups, with eye contact and playfulness between participants. Forced laughter soon turns into real and contagious laughter. Just 20 minutes of ha, ha, ha hee hee, hee, hee can benefit your health in the following ways

  • Cardiovascular health
  • Benefits in mood and less depression
  • Pain thresholds become higher
  • Physical body workout

Warm up starts with healthy and deliberate clapping, chanting and yelling to prepare the body for all the laughing that will take place. People are either standing or sitting, most are walking around engaging each other to laugh along with them. It is really funny and very easy to jump in and start laughing. The first time I actually witnessed this form of exercise was when I visited my Mother in her senior living facility. I watched them and soon I was apart of the laugh fest. It was so cute watching them laughing and not knowing why but still enjoying the tickle. After the session, I was in a better mood and felt like I had really worked out and I did because my ads were engaged the whole time. Who knew faking it could actually be funny!