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All joking aside, Laughter is therapeutic. Some say it's like medicine.
Are you sick, stressed or depressed? Are you lonely, and sharing a laugh sounds wonderful? Do you love to laugh but can't find a reason to laugh? Laughter Yoga may be the right choice for you. Laughter increases the body’s uptake of feel-good endorphins and reduces stress hormones, and laughing with friends is best.
Laughter Yoga is not a comedy. It is a unique exercise program developed by Dr Madan Kataria where we laugh together because we can. Laughter Yoga is a complete well-being workout. It involves mindful breathing (pranayama yoga) and mild aerobic exercises that stimulate prolonged voluntary laughter.
Laughter is a surprisingly complicated process, engaging multiple regions of the brain and the body. Yet Laughter Yoga is easy and accessible. It can be done by anyone regardless of age or physical fitness and the results are long-lasting vitality and enthusiasm for life.
Health Happiness and World Peace
are the goals of Laughter Yoga
​I am Cynthia Curtis, the teacher at Your Laughter Club. I am part of a worldwide movement dedicated to health, happiness, and world peace. I've been laughing for no reason for 14 years and sharing what I've learned with the community.
Laughter Yoga is breathwork, combined with intentional laughter. It is the most fun and effective exercise ever. It's like jogging on the inside.
Scientific research confirms that the body can’t distinguish between laughing at something funny, conditional laughter and laughing unconditionally, without jokes or humor, so we ‘fake it until we make it.’ We improvise playful situations and laugh. We use laughter as exercise to increase good health and our capacity for happiness.
Everyone is welcome to try. There are no age restrictions or language barriers. Special abilities and equipment are not necessary.
"Laughter keeps everyone feeling wonderful" ~Betty White
​Laughter is a Stress Buster
According to Hans Selye, a pioneering Austrian-Canadian endocrinologist, laughter is a powerful way of completing the stress cycle. It was Dr. Selye's prolific researcher, that first used the term stress to describe the unexplained sicknesses he observed.
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In his study of members of a laughter club who met once a month, people described laughter as an inoculation against stress.
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It is not possible to think negative thoughts (or any other thoughts)
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when you are laughing. So why not try having a good laugh with your friends or family when stressed? Research shows that laughing on your own has a similar effect.
Laughter is a freely available, fun resource with no adverse side effects. Next time you are feeling stressed, give LY a try at Your Laugh Club … and help restore a healthy balance to your mind, body and spirit.
“Laughter is the most inexpensive and the most effective wonder drug. Laughter is a universal medicine.” ~Bertrand Russell
Latest News About Laughter Yoga
Tony Robbins Endorses Laughter Yoga: A Divine Gift to Transform Your Life!
​Simulated Laughter has better effects than Spontaneous Laughter — New Zealand Research - February 20, 2023
Mikaela M. Law, Elizabeth A.Broadbent, John J.Sollers
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S096522991830030X
​Objectives: Laughter has long been regarded as beneficial for health, but the mechanisms are not clearly understood. The current study aimed to compare the acute cardiovascular effects of spontaneous and simulated laughter.​Design: A mixed factorial experiment was performed to examine changes in cardiovascular variables in response to experimental tasks across conditions.
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Interventions: A sample of 72 participants were randomised to one of three 6 min interventions. Participants in the simulated laughter condition were asked to generate fake laughter, the spontaneous laughter condition viewed a humorous video, and the control condition watched a non-humorous documentary. This was followed by a laboratory stress task.
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Main outcomes measures: Heart rate and heart rate variability (as indexed by rMSSD) were monitored continuously throughout the experiment using ECG.
Results: The simulated laughter condition had a significantly higher heart rate (p < .001, ηp2 = .26) and lower rMSSD (p < .001, ηp2 = .13) during the laughter task compared to the other two conditions. Follow-up hierarchical regressions indicated that the difference in heart rate was due to the fact that the simulated condition produced more laughter. The difference in rMSSD, however, was unique to the simulated condition even when controlling for the amount of laughter. The simulated laughter condition had a significantly lower mean HR during the stress task but this was not significant after controlling amount of laughter produced.
Conclusions: Laughter leads to increased heart rate and reduced heart rate variability, which is similar to the effects of exercise. This finding is more pronounced in simulated laughter.
"With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die." ~Abraham Lincoln
Stress relief from laughter? It's no joke​
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Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
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Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response, and it can increase and then decrease your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.
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Soothe tension. Laughter can also stimulate circulation and aid muscle relaxation, both of which can help reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.
Long-term effects​ — Laughter isn't just a quick pick-me-up. It's also good for you over the long term.
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Improve your immune system. Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can affect your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. By contrast, positive thoughts can actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more serious illnesses.
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Relieve pain. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.
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Increase personal satisfaction. Laughter can also make it easier to cope with difficult situations. It also helps you connect with other people.
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Improve your mood. Many people experience depression, sometimes due to chronic illnesses. Laughter can help lessen your stress, depression and anxiety and may make you feel happier. It can also improve your self-esteem.
Improve your sense of humor​ — Are you afraid that you have an underdeveloped — or nonexistent — sense of humor? No problem. Humor can be learned. In fact, developing or refining your sense of humor may be easier than you think.​
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Laugh and the world laughs with you. Find a way to laugh about your own situations and watch your stress begin to fade away. Even if it feels forced at first, practice laughing. It does your body good.
Consider trying Laughter Yoga. In Laughter Yoga, people practice laughter as a group. Laughter is forced at first, but it can soon turn into spontaneous laughter.
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Share a laugh. Make it a habit to spend time with friends who make you laugh. And then return the favor by sharing funny stories or jokes with those around you.
Laughter is the best medicine​ . Go ahead and give it a try.
Whether you're guffawing at a sitcom or quietly giggling at a newspaper cartoon, laughing does you good. Laughter is a great form of stress relief. A good sense of humor can't cure all ailments, but data is mounting about the positive things laughter can do.
Short-term benefits
A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn't just lighten your load mentally, it induces physical changes in your body.
"We don't laugh because we're happy –
We are happy because we laugh." ~William James
The medical benefits of laughter and humor on the human body are based on the research work done by scientists all over the world over the last 50 years. Science indicates that it doesn’t matter if laughter is self-induced or spontaneous, the results are the same. We humans just feel better when we laugh.
Before the introduction of Laughter Yoga in 1995, most of the scientific research on the benefits of laughter was based on humor. Researchers induced laughter by using humorous interventions such as comedy movies and joke telling. This required the cognitive ability to produce laughter, eventually creating positive physiological and psychological effects on the body.
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Since Laughter Yoga is not humor based, it bypasses our brains understanding of jokes and humor. There are no language barriers. We can laugh for 20 minutes, which science say is optimum. Laughter needs no special conditions or equipment to work. It is practiced anytime, under all circumstances.
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Laughter Yoga has spread around the world. There are Laughter Clubs in hundreds of countries on six continents, joining people of different cultures, religions, and ethnic backgrounds. It's a grass-roots movement grown out of the positive health benefits it produces, along with the friendships and understanding about ourselves that we've gained. Laughter is contagious, and practitioners of Laughter Yoga are happy to spread it to others.
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In Laughter Yoga Clubs, laughter is induced to begin with. As we laugh together, the laughter quickly becomes real and spontaneous.
Regular laughter exercise is proven to:
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Burn calories
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Reduce stress
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Boost self-esteem
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Strengthen and build muscle
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Increases heart and lung function
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Ward off anxiety and feeling of depression
Upcoming Events
Join Your Laugh Club every Sunday at 4:00 PM
at the historic stone farmhouse at Perfect Christmas Tree Farm, 999 US Highway 22, Phillipsburg, NJ, 08865, USA. We want to meet you and share some laughter! Be sure to reserve your spot— the first five people to register each week can join for free. All others can donate to NJ Farmers Against Hunger.
Call or text (908) 763-1945 or email info@go2laugh.com to secure your space. Hope to see you soon!
If you can't come in person try Laughter Yoga on Zoom with Dr. Kataria.
