Practice Yoga For World Laughter Day
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – This Sunday is "World Laughter Day," and some people will celebrate it by doing yoga.
Most think of yoga as being a very quiet and serene activity. But the kind Kerry McNally introduced us to on Tuesday is designed to make you laugh.
Experts say laughing is as natural as breathing, but we tend to laugh less as we age.
"Children laugh like 300 to 400 times a day. Marly might laugh 400 times a day, and by the time we reach adulthood, we laugh 15 times a day," said Molly Dworsky, a local Laughter Yoga instructor.
Dr. Madan Kataria created Laughter Yoga in Mumbai back in 1995. It feels and sounds silly when you do it, Dworsky said, but it will give you several long range benefits.
Those include decreasing your stress level, lowering blood pressure, building the immune system and making new friends. Laughing also gets you in a better mood for the day.
"When you get together with a group of people for the purpose of being childlike and silly and playful and laughing for the health of it, that laughter comes spontaneously anyway," Dworsky said.
And there are several different kinds of laughs in Laughter Yoga. There's the "Meet and Greet," where you laugh and shake hands, the "Bow and Arrow," where you fire at each other and the "British Tea Party," where you lift your pinky fingers and laugh.
"You can do no wrong in laughter yoga. Any laugh is a successful laugh," Dworsky said.
If success is defined by popularity, Laughter Yoga is well on its way. The activity is currently being practiced in 80 countries.
"You come out of the experience feeling a lot more alive," Dworsky said.
So Mom was right after all when she told us laughter is the best medicine.
There are a number of different groups that sponsor Laughter Yoga classes in the Twin Cities.
To get more information on Laughter Yoga in the Twin Cities metro area, click here.
To contact a local Laughter Yoga instructor, click here.
