A few weeks ago, Jason was having a quiet weekend cycle through a Brisbane suburban park when he heard hoots of laughter. He stopped, watched and was invited to join in.
Within minutes, he was bitten by the joyous happydemic of laughter yoga and has since included laughter club at The Gap into his wellbeing schedule, saying of it:
I can laugh away any annoyances of the week just gone, there’s an ability to be ridiculous and not be judged, and a burst of all the natural feel-good chemicals.
Healthy mind and body are inseparable. To work on one without the other is pointless. Laugher yoga reinforces my perspective on life.
Banking executive Craig, a MAMIL and mountain biker, often adjusts his weekend cycling to fit in with his local laughter yoga club laugh-outs.
“What’s important to me from a health perspective is being at peace and less anxious about ‘stuff’. Laughter yoga gives me that sense of peace and a way to deal with life’s pressure. It’s also social: I enjoy the company of others, not just my work colleagues.”
Craig has also found the deep breathing exercises of laughter yoga beneficial.
Long-time laugher Dave refers to laughter yoga as part of his “sanity package” to cope with the pressures of his corporate workplace.
While, like Jason and Craig, he enjoys the social aspect of laughter clubs, there’s an element that laughter yoga brings to Dave that his other sporting passion—disc golf—can’t match: creativity.
“Laughter yoga provides opportunity to express yourself in a different way and that’s something I value.”
As Australia heads into Men’s Health Week (12-18 June 2017), and seeks to engage men and boys in exploring different ways to manage their health—both physical and emotional—I’m hoping more blokes will give laughter yoga a try.
Laughter yoga is a unique exercise routine blending the deep calming breath of yoga with playful exercises carried out as a group using ‘intentional laughter’.
Laughter yoga’s health benefits are numerous and far-ranging and can include improvements in:
- blood pressure
- mood
- stress
- pain
- stamina.
There’s plenty of good reason to laugh without jokes (or beer). Yet sometimes we need reminding that laughter is as natural (and healthy) as breathing. As Jason says:
It’s precisely because it is a busy world that we should make time to laugh.
Find out about The Happydemic’s workplace-based de-stress or team-building laughter yoga workshops or get along to a community-based laughter club, part of the global Laughter Yoga International movement.
(c) Heather Joy Campbell 2017