by Lesley Lyle | March, 2025 | Laughter
In a world that sometimes feels overwhelmed by serious news and challenges, moments of genuine joy and laughter have become more precious than ever. That’s why World Laughter Day on Sunday, May 4th, 2025 takes on special significance this year. This global celebration reminds us that even in difficult times—perhaps especially in difficult times—laughter remains essential for our wellbeing. When daily life gets busier and more stressful, genuine opportunities to laugh become rarer. We find ourselves too occupied and distracted to experience the deep, hearty, sustained laughter that truly benefits our wellbeing. Even when we do laugh, it’s often brief and fleeting rather than the hearty, sustained laughter that offers profound health benefits. Fortunately, there are proven techniques to bring more laughter into our lives, regardless of circumstances or mood. Let’s explore what you can expect from this special workshop. What to Expect at This Workshop This workshop combines several approaches to bring more laughter into your life. While it includes elements of “Laughter Yoga,” it’s important to understand what this actually means. Despite its name, Laughter Yoga doesn’t involve any traditional yoga poses or mats. Rather, it refers to the powerful breathing pattern that occurs during laughter—where you exhale more than you inhale, similar to Pranayama breathing in traditional yoga. This extended exhalation created during hearty laughter provides many of the same respiratory benefits as yogic breathing exercises. The workshop goes well beyond just laughter yoga exercises. You’ll also experience a variety of games, interactive activities, and playful strategies specifically designed to evoke natural, spontaneous laughter. These additional approaches help even the most reserved participants access genuine, heartfelt...
by Roland Majla | March, 2022 | Laughter, Roland Majla
Seriously… I’m not being ironic, I’m asking you, are you joking? Because why wouldn’t or shouldn’t you be joking? We know that being funny is not only good for those who are laughing at us but we the joker benefit from it as well. Humour is there for all ages, all cultures and in all languages, funny things are just funny things, since Ancient Greece it has been a tradition in Western Cultures to welcome humour in our daily lives (Hook & Grant, 1925) And there’s just so many types of humour that can make us happy, and happy is a word that we should remember, after all, if a joke does not make us happy then it is not a joke. Rather it is an offensive joke. The academic literature on the association of humour and wellbeing is vast, how it helps with coping, with stress and a powerful antidote to pain as well (Bennett & Lengacher, 2008). Let’s see some of these powerful antidotes to sadness, grief and pain: Physical humour This is straightforward, ever watched funny cat videos on YouTube, instant karma videos, people falling or tripping in, stumbling on something? This is the kind of humour where the act itself is the humour, think of Charlie Chaplin or Mr Bean. Some say a combination of laughter and a dose of vitamin C is all you need for a healthy life (Cousins, 1977). Aggressive humour This is the kind of a joke that is more than likely to be detrimental towards others, using sarcasm, cynicism, criticism at the expense of other people. It’s a...
by Anna Hatchard | June, 2021 | Laughter
Laughing just for fun is good for you. Origins of laughter yoga In 1995 a medical doctor in India was looking for ways to improve complete health. Not just physical health. Not just mental health. Complete health, including physical, psychological, social and spiritual health. He believed that laughter was good for all aspects of health and started to explore how it might be used. Dr. Madan Kataria had read about the healing power of laughter. The moving story by Norman Cousins, in his book “Anatomy of an Illness” tells of his struggle with a potentially fatal disease that gave him considerable pain, interfering with his ability to get comfortable and rest. What he found was that, after laughing for several minutes, he could rest and sleep. He attributed his recovery to the use of laughter, his belief in designing his own treatment and a close supportive relationship with his physician. Laughing in the park Dr. Kataria and his wife and a few friends started going to the park in the early mornings and generating laughter by telling jokes. After only a few days the jokes became unfunny, verging on the offensive. There had to be another way of generating laughter. Dr. Kataria came up with the idea of using laughter exercises that did not use humour to generate laughter. He invented many exercises to get people laughing together. The yoga part of laughter yoga Dr. Kataria’s wife is a yoga teacher. Laughter exercises were combined with yogic breathing. Deep breathing exercise, pranayama is part of many yoga practices. Prolonging and extending the breath and slowing breathing down...
by Silvia King | April, 2019 | Laughter
You don’t need to be happy to smile or laugh, but they can make you happier. The benefits of it go beyond the present moment. “How do you know if somebody is happy?” Usually people reply: “The person laughs or smiles.” Does that mean that all laughing and smiling people are happy? As we all know, this is not true. In fact, laughter is much more than just an outward barometer of somebody’s internal emotional state. Three types of laughter Ruch and Ekman (2001) distinguish three types of laughter in non-clinical contexts: – Speaking or singing “hahaha” – Fake laughter – Real laughter The type of laughter generally associated with happiness is the real laughter, also referred to as Duchenne laughter. It is recognisable by the wrinkles around the eyes when a particular set of facial muscles are activated. Positive emotions are at the root of this type of laughter: We need to be happy first, before we can produce a real smile. The other two types of laughter don’t require any positive emotions because all a person does is say “hahaha” or raise the corners of the mouth. It is a controlled action, maybe to be polite or to hide real thoughts or emotions. But only because positive emotions are absent at the start, doesn’t mean they can’t emerge through fake laughter. Getting from fake to real The physical act of laughing – especially when sustained – is hard work. Laughing for 10-15 minutes can burn between 10 and 40 kcal (Buchowski et al., 2007). Research suggests that laughter exercises the trunk muscles (Wagner, Rehmes, Kohle, & Puta,...
