Loose Leaf Notes

~ The following was published in The Floyd Press in February 2010.

The warm-up exercises are silly and the class members are giddy, but the proven health benefit of Laughter Yoga is no joke.  Studies have shown that laughter can reduce pain, boost cardiac health, strengthen the immune system, elevate the mood, and more.

“The body can’t tell the difference between faked and real laughter,” said certified Laughter Yoga instructor, Cheri Baker.  Baker, who leads a class at the Floyd Fitness Center on Monday evenings at 5:30, explained that simulated laughter can stimulate real laughter, and both cause the body to release endorphins (the body’s natural opiates).

Because laughter is contagious, it’s easy to create, especially if you couple it – like the students of Baker’s class do – with playful warm-up exercises that involve strutting like sumo wrestlers, making a milkshake, neighing like horses, talking gibberish, or winning the lottery,

The Laughter Yoga movement was made popular by Dr. Madan Kataria, a physician from India who, in the mid 90’s, began meeting in a park with a few other people to practice the techniques.  Today, according to Kataria’s webpage (laughteryoga.org), there are more than 6,000 chapters of Laughter Yoga in about 60 countries.

Baker, who is the owner of Tuggles Gap Restaurant, had already heard about the practice when an announcement in the New River Current about a Laughter Yoga seminar at Virginia Tech caught her attention.    After completing the seminar, she began taking classes with a certified teacher in Blacksburg.   Eventually, she pursued the completion of her own certification so that she could share the fun loving practice with others in Floyd and because she “got tired of making the drive to Blacksburg.”

A core group of about 8 laughter yogi students have been meeting with Baker since July, while others attend more sporadically.  Although there are no traditional yoga positions done in the class, the practice does involve deep breathing, stretching, and clapping.  Belly laughing, which has been referred to as “internal jogging,” relaxes and tones muscles.

“When you laugh you can’t think of anything else,” Baker said before directing students to settle down for the meditation portion class.  Lying on their yoga mats, and with eyes closed, they began a 5 minute session of sustained group laughter.  Sustained laughter was followed by 5 minutes of silence, when good feelings seemed to soak in.

Health benefits aside, there is another reason to practice Laughter Yoga.  “Laughter has no language but has the power to unite,” writes Dr. Kataria in his book, Laugh for No Reason.   Both Kataria’s book and the Laughter Yoga website make it clear that the movement’s highest goal is “connecting people from different cultures and countries to spread Good Health, Joy and World Peace.”

Another reason to laugh, or at least break out a smile:  the Monday night class at the fitness center is free and open to the public.        ~  Colleen Redman