Laughter yoga was back in the news this week. This story is about a businessman who decided to become a certified laughter yoga teacher. For those wanting to know more about this awesome health practice, this is for you.
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By LAURA TODE
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When was the last time you got a good case of the giggles and let yourself go until you snorted and tears rolled down your cheeks?
Sabastien Gendry, founder of the American School of Laughter Yoga knows it’s been way too long. He says you can’t laugh often enough and if you need a reason to laugh, he has plenty.
For starters, it promotes deep breathing, better blood circulation, improves your outlook, helps relieve stress and can play a role in healing after illness.
Friday, Gendry led a group of about 30 people in a Laughter Yoga session, and Saturday and Sunday he taught a seminar on becoming a Laughter Yoga leader. Three people, became certified Laughter Yoga leaders.
So what was so funny?
The short answer is nothing.
We all know how to laugh and we all know how good it feels, Gendry said. “There’s no contortions, no fancy movements. Anybody can do it.”
The basic exercises in Laughter Yoga combine gentle movements with deep breathing, much like the principles behind regular yoga.
Standing in a circle and facing one another, participants breathe and clap to a “ho, ho, ha, ha, ha” pattern and turn up the corners of their mouths in smiles as they shrug their shoulders. Activities progress and include some childlike silliness. Participants sometimes feign evil laughter, put their hands to their eyes and pretend to look through binoculars and do a “laughter dance.” Sometimes they make a “ha, ha, ha” sound as if they were starting a lawn mower and scoot around pushing their make-believe mowers.
“I don’t make people laugh. I’m not a comedian, I just inspire people to laugh,” Gendry said.
Science has found that fake laughter and true laughter cause the same chemical reactions in the brain that lead to feelings of joy and relaxation.
“Even if you go a whole session faking it, you’ll still get the benefits,” Gendry said. “Your own body will create the feelings of happiness.”
Although, it’s doubtful anyone could pretend to laugh through a whole session.
Adrie Min first learned the principles of Laughter Yoga at a workshop with Gendry in March in Salt Lake City. He said Laughter Yoga helped him learn to relax, and he came back to Harlowton where he works as a physical therapist and started a Laughter Yoga club that meets every Tuesday at Hillcrest Elementary.
Laughter Yoga clubs provide a positive, safe setting for grownups to play. They are usually free and public, Gendry said, and don’t sell anything, promise anything or require anything.
In addition to Min’s club in Harlowton, there are two other Laughter Yoga clubs in Montana – one in Belgrade and one in Bozeman. There is also a Laughter Yoga club that meets in Sheridan, Wyo.
Although Min has had as many as 20 people attend meetings, it’s usually a small group of five to seven regulars.
Although Min does not use Laughter Yoga in his physical therapy sessions, he has seen it aid in healing and help people overcome shyness. One woman’s flexibility was improved during a laughing session, he said.
Gendry advises people to respect their physical limitations in Laughter Yoga, and encourages participants to make eye contact and put passion into their laughter. He discourages jokes or any attempts to make others laugh, and says that if laughter isn’t genuine, that’s OK.
“In Laughter Yoga we go though the motions of happiness and motions lead to emotions,” said Gendry.
Mary Herman of Shepherd first saw Laughter Yoga and Gendry on The Oprah Winfrey Show and has been intrigued ever since. She laughed her way through the course and hopes to start a Laughter Club in Billings. She said that at first, she wanted to stay in the back of the group and not draw attention to herself or make eye contact. But she found she couldn’t resist laughing no matter how hard she tried. Now, her giggles are contagious and Herman’s motto has become, “Don’t think, just laugh.”
For most people, Laughter Yoga allows the release of a range of emotions and helps build resiliency and a positive outlook. Laughter places a focus on the present, Gendry said. Concerns of the past and worry for the future are set aside.
“When you laugh it just brings you back to center and it helps you bear the unbearable,” said Martha Jones, a nurse from Great Falls. Jones moonlights as a motivational speaker and was drawn to Laughter Yoga when she stumbled upon it while doing research for a recent speech.
She took the seminar to become a Laughter Yoga leader and hopes to offer sessions to businesses and local organizations.
“It just brings a huge amount of joy,” Jones said. “You can’t help but share joy.”
Gendry, a native of France, first heard of Laughter Yoga about four years ago, when it was primarily a movement in India and European countries. He ran a telemarketing agency at the time and said he was a serious businessman living in a fast-paced and stressful world.
“I sensed myself dying in a self-made box of anger and sadness,” Gendry said.
He took his first course in Mumbai, India, and left determined to bring Laughter Yoga to the United States. Gendry became the first American to become a certified Laughter Yoga teacher and founded the American School of Laughter Yoga in 2004.
“We don’t recommend anything, we don’t promise anything, we just laugh,” Gendry said.
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