Laughter Yoga is a complete package for physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being of an individual. It has all the elements of perfect health building activity. Therefore, it is not about the concept or the philosophy which attracts them; it is about what they get and how it benefits their lives.

Best cardio workout: As life has become more sedentary and stressful, people find it hard to stick to any exercise routine. Laughter Yoga is an ideal alternative as it can be compared to any aerobic exercise. Just 10 minutes of hearty laughter is equal to 30 minutes on the rowing machine. It is ideally suited for busy professionals and business people who have very little time to exercise.

More oxygen: Oxygen is one of the primary catalysts for all metabolic reactions in the human body. Ongoing scientific studies show that lack of oxygen is the major cause of most diseases. Negative emotions constrict the supply of oxygen and induce shallow chest breathing. Laughter Yoga exercises facilitates longer exhalation and deep breathing through the diaphragm. This helps in flushing the lungs of stale residual air and increasing the net supply of oxygen.

Increases blood circulation: Physical disease or mental problems restrict circulation and slow down the body system. Research has shown that laughter causes an ‘internal jogging’ that massages and increases circulation to flush the body and organs of waste products leaving us ready to operate at peak performance.

Maintains emotional balance: It is comparatively easy to manage physical or mental stress, but very complex to handle emotional stress which arises due to problems at home or at work, faulty relationships and several other strained situations. Faced with such circumstances, people find it hard to express their feelings and emotions. As a result, they suppress their emotions. Laughter Yoga helps free flow of emotions and releases pent up feelings. It defuses painful emotions like fear, anger and resentment; instead cultivates positive emotions like unconditional love, generosity, openness, compression and willingness to help and serve others.

Laughter Yoga strengthens the immune system and one does not fall sick easily. Our experience with regular laughter club members is that they don’t suffer from frequent cold & cough and upper respiratory tract infections. This indicates that their immune system has become stronger. Scientific studies show that it takes at least 2-3 months of regular laughter practice to bring about changes in the immune system.

Depression

Depression is the number one sickness in the world today. Depressed people seldom laugh; but if they do laugh regularly, they are less likely to be depressed. Laughter increases the levels of dopamine and serotonin in the brain cells. We have seen that many laughter club members were able to reduce anti-depressant medication doing laughter exercises. In fact, some have completely stopped the medication.

Laughter Yoga provides social support which helps to prevent depression, usually brought on by loneliness and isolation. It is like an extended family which connects people and creates lifelong relationships.

When in a stressful emotional state or turmoil, breathing becomes faster, shallow and irregular. People hold their breath which leads to an accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood. Laughter Yoga provides an excellent cardiac workout. It lowers the amount of residual air in the lungs, replacing it with oxygen-rich air and reducing the level of carbon dioxide in the lungs, thereby reducing the risk of pulmonary infection.

By shifting the breathing pattern from shallow to deep diaphragmatic breathing, Laughter Yoga stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the cooling branch of the autonomic nervous system and the opposite of the sympathetic stress arousal system. This scientific phenomenon coupled with yogic breathing helps to loosen stress and relieve anxiety.

Dr. Michael Miller, a leading heart researcher from Maryland University & Medical Center discovered that laughter dilates blood vessels promoting circulation and reducing blood pressure. Having too much cholesterol in the blood can lead to the hardening and narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis) in the major vascular systems. A daily dose of laughter reduces cholesterol, improves blood circulation to the heart thereby proving to be a great preventive to hypertension and heart disease.

Diabetes like heart disease is a major health hazard worldwide. Laughter Yoga exercises help to control fasting and postprandial blood sugar as proved by scientific research done in Maribor University, Slovenia. It also reduces the stress hormone cortisol responsible for increase in sugar levels; in effect lowering the blood sugar and helping a diabetic patient. It even increases the blood flow to the pancreas, which improves the production of insulin.