Laughter Yoga: The Backwards Step

I led a "play"shop today and began to teach something I've always known but not had words for about Laughter Yoga:  instead of seeking another exercise routine or modality to bring "life change" - the energy of yet again going forward into something new - the experience of Laughter Yoga is about taking a step back into what has been there all along. 

Laughter as communication pre-dates even humanity. We laugh in the same rhythm worldwide, studies show. No matter what the language, dialect, culture... our laughter "ha ha ha" sounds beat in a very similar percussion, so mirthful laughter is rarely misinterpreted, no matter where we are in the world. This points to universal, ancient behavior and communication. Laughter is intrinsically human. And because laughter is so innate, it's easy to overlook. 

Studies show young children laugh about 400 times a day; adults laugh, if we're lucky, 15 times. Then, we laugh only in little spurts. Modern day living stresses the laughter right out of our daily lives. We're preoccupied with going forward, forward, forward, when our laughter is calling us back, back, back - into the wealth of what's been there all along.

Laughter Yoga also reverses typical thinking around mind-body practices. Generally, we begin by quieting the mind, then expect the body to follow. In Laughter Yoga, we begin pumping our diaphragms using laughter simply as breathwork or exercise. Our diaphragmatic pumping stimulates the vagus nerve, consequently the parasympathetic nervous system, and then the mind calms down. Once the brain realizes we're laughing, the happy cocktail of neurotransmitters and hormones begin to be released, and then... we feel good. Laughter yoga is my cheat sheet for almost instantly obtaining a clear, cheerful and calm mind. 

Laughter Yoga flips the cultural norms about how and when mirthful laughter should happen upside down. We usually wait for something to be funny to laugh. The reverse happens during laughter yoga. We start laughing with no comedy or jokes, just as exercise, and because of the humanity of how laughter works, things begin to be funny. 


Why bother? I think we're yearning to step back into the wisdom of our ancient roots these days, especially in diet and health care. We're also wanting duct-tape-like mending for our relationships. Healing that goes deeper than the mind and emotions. Laughter has it's own wisdom and impacts every layer of consciousness, creating health and intimacy. It's a unique part of each of us and common to all of humanity. Take a step back and see.

Smile and Ditch the Pain Pills

LAUGHTER IS CHEAP MEDICINE

I know a couple who works in the pharmaceutical industry. He is a sales representative and she is a pharmacist. When asked what they do for a living, he is quick to reply, "She makes drugs and I sell `em."

I believe it was Lord Byron who said, "Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine." And researchers are finding that to be true – quite literally.

A woman diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis wrote to me and talked about how painful the disease had become. Debra said that no drugs would touch the devastating pain. "At times I prayed to die because I did not think I could go on this way," she said. But in two and a half years she weaned herself from most of her medication, which had reached a high of 21 pills a day. This is how she did it.

"I began seeing a doctor who gave me the most important prescription that I ever could have received," she said. "He excused himself from the room. I watched him walking back and forth in the hall; he seemed to be in deep thought."

The doctor came back in with this prescription: he told Debra to get some funny movies and to begin laughing (the doc was a Norman Cousins fan, no doubt). If she didn't feel like laughing, then she should smile. If she didn't feel like smiling, she should smile anyway. He said that it would increase endorphins in her brain and help with her pain. In other words, fake it until you make it, like they say.

She did just as he suggested. She laughed when she could. She smiled when she couldn't laugh. She smiled whether she felt like it or not. Her children teased her about her fake smile, but she told them that it was going to get rid of her pain.

And here's the amazing thing: it did. Of course, not all of it, but a great deal of her pain eventually dissipated and in time, what was left became manageable – without all of the drugs.

Today, Debra laughs easily and is never seen without her smile. She says that she would not even feel normal without it.

It's true that laughter really is cheap medicine. It's a prescription anyone can afford. And best of all, you can fill it right now.

Submitted by Steve Goodier

Laughter as Meditation: A Pointer to Transcendence

Laughter as Meditation: A Pointer to Transcendence

By Leigh Meredith, Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher. Published: ECHO Monthly, 2011. 

Our modern minds like for things to make sense. We prefer linear, logical precepts we can read up on and become the experts. With so much available to study, gaining knowledge can often become the extent of our experience; simply knowing about something can feel adequate.

Before her trip to Manhattan, a friend studied maps of Manhattan extensively, planning her day trips and walking tours. She “knew all about” Manhattan. Then, she called me from her trip while walking the streets of Manhattan. She enthusiastically talked about “experiencing” everything (what wasn't on the map.) The quicker pace of living, smells in the air, the loud traffic and the way you almost can't see the sky between the tall buildings. Just because she had studied the map didn't mean she knew what it was to actually be in Manhattan. She knew the pointer - the instrument that would help her find her way once she got there. But the instrument isn't the experience. Knowing about something isn't the same as realizing it.

We seem to agree, based on scientific studies and ancient teachings, laughter helps us. However, realizing you truly needed that good, hard laugh just shared with a group of friends is different from knowing that research suggests laughter decreases your blood pressure.

Our society welcomes children playfully laughing together, then we graduate to knowing we need to laugh more as adults. Also, if we laugh, we require a good reason. Laughter is the first language we speak as babies and the first language we stress out of our lives as adults. Our experiences of laughter helping us, long-term, can be sparse.

When we share a mutual, uproarious laugh with a group of people, for that moment, everything falls away. All of our feelings of separateness disappear. We automatically step outside of our hard working minds. When we come back from a guffaw, even though our minds can't quite grasp why – we feel more connected to the group and to ourselves.

Could we observe that again? With no effort but to chuckle a bit, we are endued with the following power: To quickly release separation from others and reconnect with them indescribably; to easily step outside of tired thinking patterns and perceptions; and to instantly access who we truly are.

I've read many spiritual books for “seekers” and stuck with a few beliefs and disciplines to help me, well, transcend. I wanted to be here only if I wasn't really here and felt lonely because of not really being here when I was here. That may make sense to a few people.

Laughter is intrinsically transcendent. When we laugh mirthfully, we can't think. It's not that the mind is at rest. It's simply not present. With practice using laughter as meditation, stress loses it's grip on our day-to-day living. The great tyranny is gradually overthrown.

I started laughing as meditation when I adopted the practice of Laughter Yoga. I really needed to laugh to control depression and anxiety. Thankfully, there were no jokes. Please note: Laughter Yoga wasn't “the cure” for me. Wellness needs to encompass all of my habits.

I received training on how to lead Laughter Yoga through Bharata Wingham of Yogaville and from the founder, a medical doctor from India, Dr. Madan Kataria. I've been holding Laughter Yoga club meetings for almost five years in Charlottesville. Laughter Yoga approaches laughter as breathwork and exercise at the beginning of a session. The group's laughter inevitably becomes naturally funny by the end of the session. The many benefits, including transcendence and deep relaxation, are easy to access after laughing for 30-40 minutes.

Julie, a dedicated Laughter Yoga leader, has been coming to laugh with us weekly for over two years to control stress. She says it's preventative medicine. If she doesn't laugh regularly, anxiety and health problems will creep in again. This “preventative medicine” story is common among the group. Nancy, a retired high school teacher, who helped found the club, loves the sensation of being 7 or 8 again and having permission to play. She's also noticed her youthful energy returning.

Spiritual personalities usually want to be transcendent. Instead of a glowing halo experience, in Laughter Yoga, it's hugely practical and comparatively mundane to what I've been told about transcendence. We step aside and let our laughter do the work. Miracles do indeed happen. Which ones? That depends on what you need. Laughter is part of us as well as something we do. It seems to have it's own wisdom.

I need to laugh as discipline to escape my tired thinking and occasional bleak moods. That's not a big deal. Not complicated. Not a new idea. The challenge: Laughter Yoga doesn't make logical sense. It doesn't follow a complex method of thinking my way into not thinking. I can't become an expert laugher. My laughter, the map, the pointer, can't improve and can't get worse.

Practicing Laughter Yoga – going “on location” – frees me to experience the deeper reality of letting go of the mind and receiving emotional healing. I'm spontaneous. It's quiet. I can see the open sky.

The Laughing Frozen Hiker

The Laughing Frozen Hiker, by Leigh Meredith, Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher, Published, ECHO Monthly, 2009

We are born to laugh. We can’t avoid feeling better after a good belly laugh. But what if we have nothing to laugh about? We laugh at nothing, for no reason. By laughing at nothing for no reason, we revive our spirit of play. We create our own fun, aerobic exercise and a new yogic discipline.

We usually wait for an outside influence to help us laugh…a funny movie, pets, silly babies. Our daily logic dictates: “Something is funny, therefore I laugh.” However, Laughter Yoga posits we don't need any outside influence to help us laugh. We can laugh without a sense of humor. If nothing is funny, we laugh in spite of it all. As we practice laughing at nothing during laughter sessions with others, things often become very funny.

Laughter Yoga was developed about twenty years ago in India by a Mumbai physician who knew he needed to laugh to survive the stress of his job. Since then, Laughter Yoga has spread to over 70 countries with several thousands of  laughter clubs worldwide. in the United States. This success speaks to our global need to reduce stress, elevate mood, and increase immunity - and health in general.

Haysa or Laughter Yoga is not typical Hatha-style yoga. We don't employ any strenuous postures and laugh at the same time. Our deliberate discipline of laughing becomes our meditation and door to deep relaxation.
We start with some clapping exercises to activate the meridian points in our palms. Then we play "laughter games", which are short, silly episodes of child-like playfulness to get our laughter warmed up. Pranayama or yogic breathing is also a part of most sessions.

The session crescendos into a laughter meditation, during which everyone laughs continuously for about 5 minutes. Then we easily sink into deep relaxation during the silent meditation, lasting 6-7 minutes. After completing a session, many people find it difficult to remember the worries and pain that arrived with them to class.

With practice, laughter becomes more natural than stress and panic. Contentment and peace replace annoyance and dissatisfaction. I have a story about this phenomena.

On a cold day last February, I went on a hike; just a little Sunday excursion off Skyline Drive. I was with a great group of friends. It was a 9 mile loop hike. Winter rains had swollen the streams, erasing the usual “stepping stones”. So we resorted to other ways to cross.

The first of these was a long shaky log, where I promptly fell and plunged completely under water. With the help of others, I managed to get out of the stream. Landing on my pack in the stream had saved me from injury. But, I was very cold and all of the extra dry clothing I had brought in my day pack was drenched.

My first reaction after all of this drama was to laugh. Hard. I couldn't help it. When we get into a habit of laughing, we start to see ourselves and the world with much more levity.

As we continued to hike along, I started to get “weird” cold and exhausted. That’s when I started weeping. I went from weeping to laughing to weeping to laughing. Jere, the leader, kept wiping away my tears. I started laughing with each step I took. Step. “Ha.” Step. “Ha ha.” Eventually, a sense of calm took over and I
was fine for the rest of the 5-mile hike.

During the return hike, the group split up along the way and lost touch with each other. When our group returned to the cars, we realized none of us had driven. All of the drivers (and the keys) were abiding with the “lost” group. We waited in the cold wind.

Within minutes, a young couple from West Virginia pulled up at the overlook and asked me to take a picture of them. The guy had many piercings and the young woman was pregnant. After hearing my story, the young man started taking layers of his shirts off and literally gave me the warmest shirt off of his back. Then they asked what else they could do to help.

I was scheduled to lead Laughter Yoga later that afternoon and was running out of time. I asked my new friends for a ride back to Charlottesville. They were happy to take me. We rode along in their somewhat beaten up car, chatted, and occasionally stopped for me to take pictures of them. It was fun. I filled their tank, got into my warm SUV, and arrived exactly on time to lead Laughter Yoga.

I wanted to share this because it’s a real world example of how intentional prolonged laughter can truly fortify us to survive emergencies and opens our world to take chances without fear. We come to rely on our intuition much more than our logic because laughing for no reason makes logic take a back seat. We live more in our authentic selves. It’s nearly impossible to laugh and think at the same time.

Oh, and about laughter building immunity – I didn't even get a sniffle from this.

A friend recently said she thought the cure for cancer was right under our noses, we just hadn't found it yet. I agreed but didn't say I thought it was “preventative”, prolonged laughter. A growing body of academic research is supporting this. By building immunity, increasing helpful neurochemicals, reducing stress and helping us live spirit-centered lives, Laughter Yoga must surely contribute to sustaining the most wonderful life for each of us.

Article About Leigh from the "Bodies in Motion" Series, c-ville weekly magazine

This is an article written by Cathy Harding, editor of c-ville weekly, about her Laughter Yoga experience with Leigh Meredith, Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher.

Laughing robustly to oneself for no apparent reason: It’s a sign of madness, yes? Not if you’re Leigh Meredith. For her, it’s a sign of a life pointed in the right direction.

Meredith teaches Laughter Yoga, a highly physical practice that is almost zero percent yoga in the traditional sense and 100 percent laughter in the nontraditional sense. Meredith guides people towards their internal wellspring of joy and acceptance by getting them to laugh for no reason whatsoever.

“We’re very used to living in our logical minds and they say, ‘Something is funny and therefore I laugh.’ Laughter Yoga says, ‘I laugh and therefore something is funny.’”

In her classes, Meredith builds through a series of laughing exercises (chucking, laughing without sound, laughing melodically, laughing in character—a party hostess, or a hale businessman) to a five-minute crescendo of uninterrupted—and contagious—laughing. You lie back, gaze at the ceiling and pump that diaphragm to keep the sound coming until your stomach muscles ache and your lungs are refreshed and you can’t quite remember what had you so stressed an hour ago when you walked in.

Still, let’s face it, the rational mind, as Meredith terms it, might scoff at such foolery, harrumph at such hearty letting-go. In that case, Meredith herself is an inspiration. With her corkscrew curls and sparkly eyes and that wide-open, at-the-ready smile, Meredith is…twinkly. Lighted from within. Joyful. Easy to laugh with.
It was not always so.

Meredith struggled for years with depression and anxiety, she says. But a course in Laughter Yoga at Yogaville motivated her to dedicate time every day to laughing—and she’s seen big changes in her life ever since. “The more I practice, the less depressed I am, the less stressed,” she says. “I laugh so much more and have noticed…it’s so much less problematic for me to be kind and more loving and less judgmental of myself and others.

“We teach,” she says of her new calling, “what we need to learn.”

She says there’s real science to back up these observable changes, too. Laughing releases feel-good endorphins, promotes greater absorption of oxygen, increases mood-lifting seratonin, and more. Indeed, it was reintroduced as a therapy in the past couple of decades by an Indian physician. And it’s said there are more than 5,000 Laughter Yoga clubs that meet around the world.

Locally, Meredith teaches workshops at Studio 206 and has plans to take her courses into the regional jail and city parks, where she hopes to connect with homeless people.

And along the way, she’s chuckling and smiling and guffawing and tittering to herself as much as you can. “The more you laugh, the more you laugh. The more you laugh,” she says, “the more you love.”—Cathy Harding