Are You Havin-A-Larf?
Laughter Yoga is coming to Hastings. If the very idea makes you snigger then read on. Susan McFie looks into the history and benefits of a remarkable therapy.
Laughter they say is the best medicine. I think many would agree with that sentiment. The old adage has been around for a long time and certainly long before scientists began investigating such claims. Most of us get our dose of laughter medicine from get-togethers with friends or watching the lighter stuff on Netflix or You-tube. Some of us get a similar buzz and lifted spirits from sports, dance, singing or yoga. I remember many years ago reading a book called Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient, first published in 1979. Norman Cousins suffered from inflammatory arthritis and found that a daily 10-minute laughter session with Marx Brother’s movies would give him two hours of pain relief and undisturbed sleep.
Then in the 1990s I watched a film showing a group of people in India gathered on a beach for an organised laughter session. It was both strange and hilarious. The laughter was contagious, a bit like someone yawning in a crowded room. The concept of laughter yoga began in Mumbai in 1995 when Dr Madan Kataria and his wife took three people to a public park and encouraged them to exercise and laugh together. Kataria had been researching the physiological effects of laughter and came across some interesting studies. It seems that the body cannot distinguish between real and fake laughter.
At first Kataria got the groups laughing by telling jokes but when he ran out of material he simply encouraged the groups to laugh spontaneously. He noted that after about a minute the fake laughter became the real thing. Laughter whether real or fake is in many ways rather similar to the yogic practice of pranayama breathing. Kataria incorporated some of these breathing techniques into his workshops and within a week of that first small group there were more than 50 people taking part.
NO LAUGHING MATTER
Since those early gatherings the movement has spread to more than 100 countries. Every day thousands of people are enjoying the benefits in classes which are often free or by donation. So why are these groups so popular? We know that laughing makes us feel good but research has begun to reveal what happens in our bodies during a prolonged giggling session. It turns out that laughing is good for almost everything. It improves our mood and can counter depression by increasing levels of endorphins and decreasing the stress related hormone cortisol.
Laughter improves circulation by dilating blood vessels and carrying oxygen around the body. We feel a sense of peace and relaxation as our muscles relax spontaneously. The heart benefits from increased oxygen and improved blood circulation and in addition blood pressure decreases. In a study of 200 laughter group participants, researchers saw an impressive reduction in blood pressure.
CREDIT: Elaine Bernadine Castro/Pexels
Low oxygen levels are involved in most health problems including cancer. According to the molecular biologist Dr Stephen Levine “In all serious disease states we find a concomitant low oxygen state… Hypoxia or lack of oxygen in the tissues is the fundamental cause for all degenerative disease.” So what causes low oxygen levels? This can be anything from pollution, stress and shallow breathing, anaemia, sleep apnea, certain pharmaceutical drugs, lack of sunlight and even poor dietary habits including a high sugar intake.
Dr Otto Warburg was one of the 20th century’s leading biochemists. He was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1931 and nominated for the prize 47 times during his career. Warburg showed that cells could be made cancerous by subjecting them to periods of oxygen starvation [hypoxia]. He also found that sugar impairs a cell’s ability to use oxygen. One of the ways in which sugar does this is by creating inflammation in the tissues and capillaries. Inflammation has been found to be a major cause of low oxygen levels.
BETTER THAN MORPHINE
When we laugh we not only feel good but we dramatically increase our oxygen levels. The worldwide success of the method has resulted in considerable medical interest particularly in the field of pain relief. Professor Robin Dunbar led a research team at Oxford University. He says “There is no doubt that laughter therapy can be used in a medical context, for both physical and psychological pain…” The prolonged laughter exercises result in a release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. And as Professor Dunbar points out endorphins are “30 times more powerful than morphine”. He also says that endorphins will work for both physical pain and emotional stress as both states involve the same areas of the brain.
Children laugh a lot more than adults. Some say the average 4-5 year old laughs about 300 times a day and the average 40 year old only manages four chuckles a day. Well who’s counting? But the fact is we lose our natural readiness to laugh as we move into adulthood. Maybe that’s social conditioning or the fact that we have a lot more responsibilities. And it’s not just a few extra laughs each day that can improve the way we feel. The expressions on our faces are directly linked to our brains. Our brains read our expressions. So swapping a frown for a smile can have surprising benefits. Even if we don’t really feel like it, smiling can trick our brains into believing we’re happy. And the more we do it the easier and more genuine it becomes.
Laughter Yoga aims not only to improve your breathing and get you laughing but also to help you release your inner child who may not have been allowed out to play for a long time. You get to be
silly in good company and maybe even start to look younger. But where can you do it? Laughing hysterically while doing your weekly grocery shop is probably not a great idea. If you want to try it alone there are plenty of clips online to encourage you. But laughter is something that is best shared. And fortunately there will be a group starting up in Hastings in September.
Bev Jones has a background in group therapy and counselling and has recently gained an accreditation as a yoga therapy leader. She explains that laughter yoga benefits include lower stress levels, pain relief, abdominal workout and protective effects for the heart and lungs. Sessions start with a gentle warm up of stretching and yogic breathing. This is followed by laughter exercises, which rapidly become genuine and contagious. The next element is what is referred to as laughter meditation. In this phase spontaneous relaxed laughter takes over from laughter exercises. The final part of the session involves deep relaxation and meditation.
• The first session will take place 15 September, 6.30pm-7.30pm at Jenny Lind, 69 High Street, Hastings.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply