Laughter yoga is one unique practice. Its popularity has increased globally, proving that you don’t need the humour to laugh. Most people believe that laughing is impossible without humour, but you can entirely rely on it, and that’s where practices like laughing yoga come in. The beauty of this type of yoga is its inclusivity. Anyone can participate and benefit from it, whether the laughter is real or fake.
Many people are familiar with laughter yoga, but a few aren’t. Madan Kataria introduced it; since then, several laughter clubs have emerged. The fusion of laughter and yoga movements positively impacts the body, leaving you feeling great physically, mentally, and emotionally. We look at the basic principles of laughter yoga for better understanding.
Learn the 6 ways Laughter can improve Children's Wellbeing
Laughter yoga principles
The four basic principles or fundamentals include:
The theory of motion creates motion
This theory vividly explains why laughter is contagious. It is a fact that when you see people laughing, you are likely to laugh even without knowing or understanding the joke. This is because motion creates motion. The link between your mind and body ensures that whatever happens to one happens to the other. Your body notices the laughing movement first, and the mind soon follows.
Laughter yoga employs this strategy, i.e., the two-way body-mind principle to change your mind when you’re not in a laughing mood. You use voluntary gestures like breathing and laughter exercises, clapping, chanting words, and varying body movements to enhance laughter.
Laughter is more of joyfulness than happiness
Being joyful means unconditionally choosing to stay happy despite life stressors or challenges. On the other hand, happiness is conditional and only lasts for as long as things are great. Happiness is the immediate response to the situation when you fulfil your desires or what the mind wishes. Sadly, when one wish is accomplished, another arises; hence happiness is fleeting.
Laughter yoga aims at upholding joy in peoples’ lives. Activities like laughing, dancing, singing, and playing trigger that joyful feeling, which then initiates biochemical and physiological changes in the body. Regularly practising laughter yoga contributes to your overall well-being.
Learn the 6 ways Laughter can improve Children's Wellbeing
Laughter is playful
This statement is closely related to children at play. Kids laugh the most when playing because it is fun and not because they understand its humour. It means that their laughing comes from their body movements and not their minds as opposed to adults. Adults internalize or comprehend the joke first before the body picks up, and they laugh less often than children.
Laughter yoga emulates the childlike or body-to-mind model. It helps enhance the playful nature of kids, making it a natural occurrence. Whether you are in a laughing mood or not, you can induce laughter by engaging your body in play, and the mind will follow.
Laughter is programmable
It’s possible to program laughter in your body and laugh at will. Like learning to cycle, you can learn to laugh at any time. Participating in laughter yoga frequently or indulging in joyful acts causes your mind to develop emotions of laughter and joy. It is hard to regress when this conditioning happens, and the body generates neuronal circuits for laughing or joyfulness.
Conditioning your brain with positive activities overpowers what’s negative. Your body will always link up with the brain anytime the brain senses some exciting reflexes, which is what laughter yoga aims at.
In summary,
The four principles above explain laughter yoga and why you don’t need a reason to laugh. If your body picks up playful or exciting movements or gestures, the mind quickly joins in, and you laugh without necessarily understanding its basis. Laughing yoga is more about causing joy than happiness, and its playful nature is an excellent strategy for inducing laughter. Lastly, when you perform laughter yoga for some time, your brain is automatically conditioned to laugh when you wish, making it an exceptional practice.
