I recently saw a piece on Oprah about laughing yoga, and
I have to say that it got me thinking about how good it feels to have a
gut wrenching laugh.
Unfortunately, many people are so stressed out or
depressed that they cannot remember the last time they had a good
laugh.
However, according to a study done by Beckman, Regier,
and Young (2007), a good belly laugh has the ability to improve your
mood, motivation, and creativity, especially in the workplace.
In this study, called “Unconditional Laughter and
Workplace Efficacy,” the researchers found that when employees
participated in a 15-minute laughter session for 15 straight workdays,
work morale and “self-efficacy” improved.
In other words, the employee’s assertiveness,
optimism, motivation, adaptability, self-regulation,
self-actualization, self-acceptance, and self-awareness skills improved
after they practiced 15 minute laughing sessions.
So, with all that being said, what exactly is "laughing
yoga" anyways?
This type of yoga is, according to yogalaughs.com, a
combination of laughing and deep breathing exercises. Yet, what's even
better about this is, the laughing exercises will improve your
willingness to laugh and the yoga will improve your ability to build
muscle. What a great way to heal from depression and stress!
If you are interested in this type of yoga, all you have
to do is type “laughing and yoga” into the search engines
and you'll find some great sites. However, before you do that, check
out some clips from youtube.com. These clips will get you laughing
without the yoga!
Just allowing yourself to have a gut-wrenching laugh at
least once a day can relieve so much stress from your life. So, make
sure you take some time today and laugh really, really hard. Or in the
words of my favorite supervisor, “Laugh until you have some milk
come out of your nose!”
