 Laughter may well be the best medicine, quite literally, not just to make us feel good, it’s also been found, scientifically, to have massive health benefits.
Over the weekend I completed my ‘laughter yoga leader training’ which means I’m officially qualified to make you laugh and keep you laughing for extended periods. Hehehe
Laughter Yoga was developed in 1995 by an Indian Medical Doctor in Mumbai after he began researching the positive health benefits associated with laughter. He was completely drawn to the fact that laughter not only offered the internal medical benefits but it also released ‘happy’ endorphins throughout your body that make you feel great!
 Dr Kataria woke one morning at 3am with a great idea to start a laughter club, simply getting people together to enjoy the benefits of laughter, and at 6am he was off to the park to see who else he could rope in to this new social experiment. To begin with everyone brought jokes and read them out, which made people laugh, however the jokes soon turned derogatory and people began to leave the group. He promised them that if they came back tomorrow he would be able to make them laugh without jokes, and he did!
 The concept of laughter yoga is that anyone can laugh, you don’t need to be a funny person or have a massive sense of humour, much of it is based on simply being silly and having fun! There are numerous laughter exercises to stimulate the laughter and once you see other people crack up and completely lose it, you simply can’t help but laugh. The beautiful thing about laughter yoga is that you can’t take yourself too seriously and it really gets to the core of your personality very quickly. Those who are uptight and very serious have the most to gain from learning to let go and just be in the moment. You have to relax, breathe deeply and get connected to the other people in the group. What a great way to exercise!
Essentially the doctor found numerous health benefits associated with doing over 20 minutes of hearty belly laughter. These include:
 Oxygen flow is increased to the body, including internal organs, and the mind, improving focus and clarity.
Blood is oxygenated heavily due to the deep breathing and this improves the quality of your blood. (These healthy blood cells have the ability to begin killing off tumour cells.)
Increasing your lung capacity and releasing the stale air from your lungs.
Quickly reduces blood pressure and increases your heart rate giving your cardiovascular system a great work out.
Counteracts the physical impacts of stress on your body by relaxing your body and mind.
Increases our emotional mood significantly and enhances our limbic system enabling us to better communicate positively and notice others’ moods and emotions.
Creates a more positive, light hearted and optimistic attitude and builds resilience to stress.
Activates your right brain stimulating your more creative side and allows you to begin to find more creative solutions to challenges.
There are now over 6000 Laughter Yoga clubs in over 60 different countries and the movement just keeps growing. Laughter Yoga may even be the next big health revolution.
If you’re interested in learning more about Laughter Yoga or perhaps joining a class email me at jodie@advancedcoachingsolutions.com.au
What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.
~Yiddish Proverb
If you’re really ready to step up and start living life and need a little assistance to get started, please give me a call on 0409 224 303 for a complimentary coaching session and we can work on it together.
The next workshop on offer is ‘Building outstanding Relationships’, here are all the details:
In just 2 hours in this workshop, you will:
 Learn to take 100% responsibility for your relationships
Define what a quality relationships means to you
Re-establish an awesome relationship with yourself
Enhance your general communication skills
Accept and deal with challenges more effectively
Develop a plan to build outstanding relationships
Location: Wollongong Golf Club
Date: Wednesday 1st July, 2009
Time: 5.45pm – 8pm
Cost: $55 (Includes audio CD)
Bookings: Phone 0409 224 303; Email Jodie@advancedcoachingsolutions.com.au
to reserve your place.
To check out workshops available and what’s scheduled for the rest of the year, go to www.advancedcoachingsolutions.com.au/Workshops.html | 
