"Laughter is exercise with the icing of amusement!”

That says the British laughter researcher Wiliam Fry. This goes in line with my first Laughter Yoga experience. After an hour session, I had the same energized feeling in my body like after a beautiful mountain hike. Filled up with oxygen and well supplied with blood down to the smallest cell.

A year later, after successfully completing the Laughter Yoga instructor training, I know that many positive effects of laughter have even been scientifically proven. Laughter leads to:

• higher oxygen concentration in the blood
• deeper breathing
•  short-term increase in the number of immune cells
• stress relief (lowering cortisol levels)
• activation of the reward system in the brain: release of neurotransmitters responsible for positive feelings (e.g. endorphins)

 
These are just a few of many positive effects that laughter has on the body.
 
The best part is, the body doesn't discriminate whether we laugh because something is funny or just because we choose to laugh. This is what we do in Laughter Yoga. We don't wait for an event that will make us laugh, we laugh for no reason. This conscious decision can have positive psychological effects:

• increase in self-efficacy: I can put myself in a positive mood
• increase in self-esteem: My laughter infects others
• a positive group experience: mutual appreciation and tolerance

In the 1990s, the Indian doctor Dr. Madan Kataria found positive effects of laughter in himself and his patients and set himself the goal of using this knowledge for the benefit of society. He started a weekly laughter group at a public park, starting out by telling jokes. However, he ran out of jokes after a while. So he invented playful laughter exercises. Since he had also studied yoga, he combined it with breathing and stretching exercises from yoga and thus coined the term laughter yoga.

With FrohNatur laughter yoga, you can expect a colorful mix of playful laughter exercises, mindful movements and soothing breathing exercises.

Experience for yourself what laughter yoga can do and sign up for a free trial lesson!

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