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‘Happy hour’ with a difference

| HeatherJoy Campbell |
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Tomorrow being World Cocktail Day prompted me to think about the happy hours I bring to workplaces.

Now when I started working fulltime after university, happy hours of the liquid variety were still very common among senior management at least. Those days have gone.

When I enter a workplace, I deliver a happy hour with a difference for all participants, regardless of their position description.

While I’m no mixologist, I serve up a magnificent cocktail that will has team members smiling, feeling much connected, enthused and lively yet relaxed, and all 0.000% alcohol?

That cocktail is in all of us. When we do Laughter Yoga, we tap into the happy chemicals within:

  • Dopamine – the brain’s reward chemical, which also happens to encourage focus and long-term retention
  • Oxytocin – the great connector, strengthening emotional bonds
  • Serotonin – a mood enhancer
  • Endorphins – Nature’s pain killer and mood booster.

When we do Laughter Yoga, our brain also gets the message to wind back cortisol, a key stress hormone.

What is Laughter Yoga?

Laughter Yoga is a body-mind practice, developed by a medical doctor, Dr Madan Kataria, in India in 1995.

It’s a unique blend of laughter exercises and yogic breathing techniques that has garnered attention worldwide for its many and varied physical, mental and social health benefits.

Participants laugh, clap, chant, move playfully and breathe deeply. There’s no reliance on jokes or humour. You don’t have to be ‘in the mood’ to laugh.

Why serve up Laughter Yoga?

Laughter Yoga serves as a powerful team-building exercise that fosters better communication and understanding among employees.

By creating a shared experience of laughter, it dissolves hierarchical boundaries and builds a sense of camaraderie and trust among team members.

When we laugh together, we ‘click’: we are more open with one another. That in itself can give us the confidence to not just think outside the box with new ideas, but to also share those thoughts.

It’s also a proven stress buster. In the course of a playful laughter-filled ‘happy hour’ workshop, seriously effective simple happiness hacks are shared which, when practised regularly, can help make for a happier, more relaxed, more engaged workplace.

Will your workplace be hosting a ‘happy hour’ soon? Don’t put it on ice: let’s start a conversation. 

A group of people in a pose with Heather Joy all smiling with hands out

HeatherJoy Campbell is Queensland’s foremost professional laughter wellbeing facilitator and global ambassador of Laughter Yoga International.