Laughter therapy techniques. Laughter and health

The most fun type of psychotherapeutic treatment is certainly laughter therapy.

We first learned about this method from Norman Cousins, who overcame a serious illness. sincere laughter, watching the best comedies. EIf you don’t know who Cousins ​​is and what happens to the body when a person laughs, be sure to read the previous article in the section - laughter therapy.

Since then, the amazing possibilities of laughter have been studied by many medical scientists and began to appear various theories about our emotions.

Two opposing theories of laughter

For example, Cousins ​​and his followers believed that in order to laugh you need to see or hear something funny.

But two doctors, professors, psychologists who lived in different countries, (William James in America, and Carl Lange in Denmark) at the end of the 19th century almost simultaneously came to the same conclusions. In a nutshell:

Everyone believed that a person can laugh only when he is having fun, but according to the James-Lange theory, a person becomes happy because he laughs.

You can test this theory for yourself. Even if you are in a bad mood and even tearful, try to remember something funny and laugh. Even if this laughter is artificial and not sincere. But gradually laughter becomes easier and more contagious, and your mood will improve significantly.

We know about the power of thoughts and emotions, right? This means, without any doubt, we can control not only our emotions, but also what surrounds us. Smile at the world, at a flower, at a swallow, at a random passer-by - and you will see that people around you are becoming more and more friendly and joyful. And you begin to feel happier and more cheerful.

But if you look at everyone gloomily and sadly, then the world around us will frown and get angry. And your mood will fall catastrophically.

What is the best way to practice laughter therapy?

You can use already known exercises, but soon you will want to come up with exercises yourself that will make you laugh.

Exercises for home laughter therapy

♦ Try the simplest one. When you wake up, but without opening your eyes yet, smile at yourself and wish good morning, health and good luck. Make it a habit.

♦ Smile at everyone you interact with: at home, at work, while walking – everywhere. Just smile sincerely, you don’t need to put on the “American” smile on duty. Only a smile from the heart is returned by the smiles of the people around you.

♦ In your busy schedule, find regular time (even if it's just a few minutes) to laugh. Just start laughing. This may seem ridiculous at first - laugh at the absurdity. With every minute the laughter will be more and more captivating. Remember how in childhood we laughed at seemingly completely ordinary things. We couldn't stop. Adults used to say: “If you show your little finger, you’re already laughing.”

♦ Of course, it’s more fun and enjoyable to laugh in a group. But the team can even consist of 2 people! Find a friend, relative, just a neighbor with whom you can just laugh.

We develop the main energy centers

There are 3 main energy centers in our body. It turns out that depending on how we laugh, what syllable we pronounce when laughing, one of these centers begins to become active and develop.

1. Try laughing while saying ha ha ha! You can do it in short portions, 2-3 syllables each, or you can do it in longer ones. Listen to the sensations in your body. Did you feel it? With every “ha”, the abdominal muscles and diaphragm actively work! Laughing “ha-ha” opens the lower energy center and, in addition, perfectly trains the diaphragm and strengthens the abdominal muscles.
2. Calm down and get ready for a new experience. We change the syllable “ha” to “ho”. All attention to the sensations... “Ho-ho-ho” works with the middle energy center. And this is the heart, the center of our “I,” the soul is the emotional center.
3. And the third syllable with which we will laugh is “hee”. Giggle, just not quietly into your fist, but loudly, from the bottom of your heart. Notice where that giggle gurgles? That's right, right at the top energy center– in the throat and brain. And this is our communication center: our ability to communicate, learn, convey our experience, express our feelings.

You can laugh while sitting, lying down, standing - in each position additional muscles will be involved in the work. One indispensable condition is that the back must be straight, because there are 2 main energy channels along the spine. And laughter is a huge energy!

♦ Very interesting exercise- growing laughter. Start laughing quietly, as if holding yourself back. Then - louder, holding back so as not to disturb others. And finally, unrestrainedly, from the heart.

Look at the video to see how such growing, contagious laughter works: just one person “infected” an entire carriage of passengers with laughter in a matter of minutes.

Laughter prolongs life - it's not easy beautiful phrase . A good mood, joy and fun helps to cope with any ailments, many psychologists and doctors of alternative medicine, and traditional ones too, are sure. So let’s take a little look at how the laughter therapy method works.

Norman Cousins ​​- the man cured by laughter

Laughter therapy is a great cure for stress. Any emotional or physical stress needs to be released, and laughter does this simply unsurpassed. Psychologists recommend venting your aggression and fatigue by, for example, beating a pillow or crying, and this is correct. But, you see, it’s much more pleasant to relieve the burden from the soul with the help of laughter. It is no wonder that fun can overcome illnesses such as ulcers, asthma, colitis, which usually arise due to... Laughter also heals depression, bronchial, pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases, heals nerves. Laughter therapy is designed to help people stay cheerful, accept right decisions and survive in the most difficult situations:

What happens when a person laughs (benefits of laughter):

And now some tips:

Laughter therapy exercises

2. Walking down the street, smile at passers-by, within reason, of course. If someone still thinks that something is wrong with you, it doesn’t matter. You know why you need all this and that with every smile you only become healthier. Plus, it's very, very fun! And yet, according to psychologists, this is much more to a greater extent favors communication rather than seriousness and “correctness.”

3. At work, also smile, encourage your colleagues, joke at the right moments, . As it is sung in famous song: “After all, a smile is the flag of a ship.” Let everyone know that you are in a great mood today.

4. If not very pleasant things happen, try to treat them with humor - after all, no one is immune from this.

5. If the work day has been hard and you are close to stress, you can use a very effective exercise- humorous. It is simple, like everything ingenious: you just need to be alone, breathe and laugh. Just be careful so that you don’t get caught doing this “secret” activity :-)

6. Try to pay more attention to the positive and comic aspects of life. Even better, write down in a notebook everything that is positive and fun that happens to you during the day. At the end of the week you can also re-read it. By doing this, you will learn not only to ignore the negative and see only the good in many ways, but also learn to be more resistant to stress, reorganize your thinking to be positive, creative and constructive, and also begin to suck everything good and cheerful into your life like a magnet.

7. No time to do fitness? Laugh! At the same time, the heart rate increases, the level of cholesterol in the blood decreases, and the glands internal secretion produce substances that relieve headache. One minute of laughter therapy can be equivalent to twenty-five minutes of aerobics.

Visual Fact About Laughter Therapy Treatment

It is known that thoughts and feelings influence our physical condition. Positive emotions and laughter can work wonders: cure diseases, strengthen the immune system, cope with seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

Laughter used to be an integral part of culture - both Slavic and Western European. Carnival, fun youth games, calendar holidays with funny rituals, games, antics and fooling around were an indispensable component of the life of any person. Now the ancient customs have been forgotten and gone out of fashion. And we are in our everyday life We usually lack laughter. For example, 6-year-old children laugh about 300 times a day, adults - 15 times. That is 20 times less than children!
There is a whole science about laughter -
A lack of positive emotions is one of the reasons for the development of depression, poor health, and the inability to withstand failures. And simply without laughter, the colors of life fade, which turns into a dreary existence. That's why to modern man you just need to learn to enjoy life and laugh.

Laughter instead of pills. Psychological healing through laughter.
Constant stress our daily life, our complexes and problems lead to the fact that our body is in constant voltage. It is known that the body and emotions are interconnected, and a tense body does not allow emotions to be fully experienced. We become, as it were, “frozen” and because of this, life loses its colors. Loosening the body with the help of laughter relaxes it and relieves tension. Moreover, blocked painful emotions gradually dissolve into laughter, and we become more alive and joyful. In addition, it is known that laughter gives a person magnetism and attractiveness.

What we get while laughing: endorphins - “happiness hormones”; we get pleasure and joy after stressful everyday life; we increase our vitality; we remove destructive and negative programs We develop a sense of humor and self-confidence We increase creative activity This increases our sense of inner freedom... When we laugh, our breathing rhythm changes (inhalation becomes longer and exhalation becomes shorter), which dramatically improves blood supply to organs and tissues - for the body this is equivalent to a walk in the forest or an oxygen cocktail. Consequently, both a person’s well-being and his mood improve - the laughing body produces “happiness hormones” - endorphins, and the level of serotonin increases.

In addition, laughter stimulates the immune system and nervous system, soothes pain, relieves stress and normalizes intestinal function. Laughter increases creativity and the ability to solve various problems and even improves appearance(tonic facial muscles). Facial expressions when laughing are caused by the contraction of certain groups of facial muscles that give the face famous expression characteristic of a laughing person. There are many similarities in changes in breathing and facial expressions during laughter and crying or sobbing, as a result of which these states, with outside, can be mixed with each other, and in children these states even easily transform into each other. Mark Twain said that wrinkles are traces of former smiles.

Scientists have noticed that people who do not know how to laugh, and, therefore, relax, are more susceptible to attacks of depression, do not eat healthy food and smoke a lot. And how important it is to be able to laugh at your failures, mistakes, which immediately change into positive emotions and fade into the background. Laughter is not only the universal key to longevity, but also the path to health and well-being. In a number of countries they are used special programs laughter - laughter therapy. Among them, two main directions are distinguished: “Yoga of laughter” - a complex very simple exercises, invented by the Indian doctor - Madan Kataria and Western laughter therapy - gelotology, which studies laughter and its effect on the physical and mental health person. It originated in the 70s of the last century and owes its emergence to the American Norman Cousins.

Why should you laugh? First of all, laughter is good for your health. When we laugh, muscles contract, pulse and breathing increase. By increasing the depth of inspiration, gas exchange accelerates. At the same time, the blood is saturated with oxygen. Laughter activates the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, improves blood supply to tissues and organs. In addition, happiness hormones - endorphins - are produced, and the level of stress hormones - cortisol and adrenaline - on the contrary, decreases.
Positive emotions improve the functioning of the immune system. Special studies showed that laughter increases the number of killer cells that kill viruses and destroy cancer cells.

How did such an unusual direction appear?
Journalist Cousins ​​was diagnosed with a serious spinal disease, which developed so rapidly that soon he could no longer move his arm or leg, or even open his jaw on his own to eat. When the doctors directly told Norman that his chance of survival was negligible: only 1 in 500, he did not sleep all night. And I met the morning with a firm decision to fight for life. Moreover, very in an original way- with the help of comedies. “If negative emotions are considered the causes of many diseases, then positive ones, in heavy doses, will perhaps lead me to recovery? Well, if I’m destined to die, then at least I’ll spend the rest of my life having fun...” reasoned Cousins. For 5-6 hours a day, this bedridden, absolutely motionless man laughed at funny films, and during the breaks he listened to funny stories that entertained his relatives and friends. And, amazingly, after a week the terrible pain began to disappear. A month later, he began to slowly move his fingers, and after a while, the “incurable patient” got to his feet. When, a few years later, Norman Cousins ​​accidentally met on the street one of the doctors who sentenced him to death, he was speechless with amazement. To make sure that there was no ghost in front of him, the doctor extended his hand to Cousins, which his former hopeless patient squeezed so tightly that the aesculapian had no doubts: standing in front of him was a living and healthy person. This story miraculous healing became a real sensation in its time. It was after her that such a seemingly frivolous matter as laughter began to be studied quite seriously.

The current yoga of laughter is the invention of the Indian doctor Madan Katharya. In 1995, after reading about the health benefits of laughter, he and 4 other people began meeting every morning in a Bombay park and telling funny stories. Having exhausted their supply of jokes, they began to make fun of each other and laugh. And then it dawned on Katarya: it is very easy to laugh for no reason when you see others laughing. Based on this concept and own research he developed a combination of respiratory and game exercises, intended for group classes. This is how hasya yoga arose, which in translation means smile, joy, laughter.
Laughter is one of the human reactions to the funny, the manifestation of which is known to everyone. In some cases, laughter may be a reaction to nervous tension(nervous laughter) or be a sign mental disorder. Laughter is one of the types of human breathing, according to Wikipedia.

Mechanics and physiology of laughter
Laughter - for diseases Research shows that when we laugh, amazing processes occur in our body: the level of production of “stress hormones” - cortisol and adrenaline - decreases. While the “hormones of happiness” - endorphins - actively enter our blood, they dull pain and cause a feeling of satisfaction. Laughter also has a beneficial effect on immune system: so-called “killer cells” are activated, which kill viruses and fight tumors. Besides, laughter is real breathing exercises. Laughing, we breathe deeper and more often, gas exchange accelerates, and the blood is saturated with oxygen. And, of course, laughter and humor are wonderful spiritual healers that allow us to forget about our problems and hardships at least for a while.
Laughter is a complex act consisting of modified breathing movements in connection with certain facial expressions. As for the former, when laughing, inhalations are followed by not one, but a whole series of short, sometimes long, spasmodic exhalations with an open glottis; If vocal cords are given in oscillatory movements, then you get a loud, ringing laugh - laughter; if the ligaments remain at rest, then the laughter is quiet, soundless.

The only rule: you can laugh with each other, but not at each other.
The popularity of laughter yoga has arisen at a time when yoga as a whole continues its victorious march to the world. According to experts, the spread of yoga leads to the emergence of more and more hybrids, and laughter yoga is only one of them. Other branches of traditional yoga include yo-shi (a combination of yoga with tai chi), yogiata (yoga and Pilates) and spinning yoga (a combination of yoga with cycling), yoga for dogs (classes for owners with their pets). Laughter yoga, or, as it is also called, Hasya yoga, is now experiencing a real boom all over the world. Its adherents practice group laughter combined with traditional yoga exercises and gentle stretches. It goes something like this.

Those who love to laugh in a large company get together and get down to business. If you don't want to laugh, you just need to imitate laughter. At first glance, the idea of ​​“squeezing out drop by drop” the fun in society unfamiliar people may seem ridiculous. But, as the experience of those who have joined “laughter yoga” shows, literally after a couple of minutes artificial laughter turns into the most natural laughter. Perhaps the point is that laughter is mainly group phenomenon- Alone we laugh much less often. Or maybe this is because one of the most popular exercises in Hasya yoga is to imitate the laughter of animals and even inanimate objects. As a result, seeing others imitate the Homeric laughter of a soccer ball, a cucumber bursting with laughter, or a giggling alarm clock, even the gloomiest members of the group begin to laugh uncontrollably.

After all, laughter is contagious.
“Laughter yogis” also believe that different tones of laughter provide health improvement different parts our body. For example, a low “ho-ho” has a beneficial effect on the abdominal organs. “Ha-ha” - stimulates cardiac activity. And a subtle “hee-hee” improves blood supply to the brain and throat. A typical laughter yoga session lasts about 30 minutes and begins with deep breathing and stretch marks. Participants do a series of exercises that include chanting “ho, ho, ha, ha,” moving around the room and making eye contact.

There is an exercise called “laughing on the phone”: participants pretend to talk on mobile phones, and then, having established eye contact, begin their “ho, ho, ha, ha”. During the “vengeful laughter,” participants threaten each other index fingers and shout “ha”. Another popular “why am I laughing” exercise involves putting your hands on your hips, looking at others and asking, “Why me? Ha, ha, ha." Each exercise lasts about a minute and is interspersed with deep breathing and stretching before moving on to the next pose. Proponents say the combination of deep breathing, “ho, ho, ha, ha,” and exercise is great for stimulating the diaphragm, abdominal muscles, and lungs. As with other types of yoga, everyone is free to invent their own exercises. Participants say that being in silly positions and seeing others in them quickly leads to real laughter. Combination breathing exercises traditional yoga with gentle stretches and exercises that imitate laughter - the new yoga, according to the plan, should cause real laughter. Its proponents say it helps relieve stress and has health benefits, such as relieving asthma. Research on laughter and health is in its infancy, but there are suggestions that laughter strengthens the immune system, increases pain tolerance, and reduces stress hormones, thereby reducing the risk of heart attacks. According to instructors, laughter yoga provides all these benefits and also relieves bronchitis and asthma, increases self-esteem and self-confidence, relieves depression and anxiety, and tones the facial muscles. Almost everyone agrees that it does no harm.

In essence, laughter, as you already understand, is breathing exercises. “Ho-ho” comes from the stomach (from the diaphragm), “ha-ha” - from the heart, from chest, “hee-hee” - from... the third eye. Ideally, of course, it would be necessary to master and develop all these types of laughter, but the greatest therapeutic value today is attributed to deep laughter - laughter. Laughter in its energy is the opposite of sadness and fear. It has been observed that when a person laughs, his blood pressure, heart function is normalized and breathing improves. Researchers have calculated that a minute of laughter replaces 25 minutes of aerobics!

Are there any contraindications?
According to statistics, over the course of 70 years of life, a person laughs on average 623 days and cries 50 days. But, like any medicine, hasya yoga also has contraindications. It is not recommended for people who have eye disease, hernia or pulmonary diseases: chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis, pneumonia. This is also dangerous when there is a general severity of the condition, recent operations or injuries, when any load is contraindicated. In this case, you need peace. Well, for other people, laughter combined with yoga is an excellent medicine.

Laughter is one of the processes that helps to approach painful feelings such as anger, fear, shame. Their manifestation and living are hampered by the sense of control that is instilled in us with early years. Acting with the best intentions, our educators often do not allow us to show our true feelings, considering them unacceptable for society. “Get that stupid smile off your face. Stop whining. It is forbidden. Don't you dare." And then, when we grow up, we are taught “must, must, should.” And we drive ourselves more and more into the framework of decency and accepted stereotypes in society, without noticing our true desires and feelings. It is known that our complexes, problems, fears settle in the body in the form of tensions, blocks, clamps, which makes us less alive and joyful. As long as we wear these clamps, no other feelings can come to us. Hasya yoga is aimed at returning natural, natural laughter, which relieves tension in the body: it softens and is gradually freed from pressure and tension. According to Darwin, “laughter is a convulsive discharge of muscular energy.” When they clean muscle clamps, contact with the body appears, and suppressed emotions are released.

Among other things, laughter is a guaranteed powerful anti-stress factor, reduces asthma attacks, increases stamina, eases arthritis pain, guarantees good sleep and lifts your spirits.
It is known that the emotions we experience and the actions they cause are interconnected. That is, when we feel good, we smile, when we feel bad, we frown. But this mechanism also works in the opposite direction. Therefore, even if we are not having much fun, but we “put” a smile on our face and hold it for a while, then soon our facial muscles “remember” positive emotions and transmit appropriate signals to the brain. Internal state returns to normal: tension and anxiety disappear, sadness recedes, giving way to joy.

It just so happens that in “our area” it is not customary to smile a lot, much less laugh for no reason. What a sign of what unreasonable laughter is was popularly explained to us back in childhood. And a wide smile that constantly lights up someone’s face is often perceived as a sign of inadequacy, while gloomy, incredibly serious, unfriendly faces around are considered the norm. “I understand what your problem is...You are too serious. But an intelligent face is not a sign of intelligence, gentlemen. The biggest stupid things on earth are done with this facial expression. Smile, gentlemen, smile,” says Baron Munchausen in the film. I would like to add: do this at least for your own health...

Your own laughter therapist
What if you can’t afford special training or simply don’t want to work with a psychologist? It’s very simple: do laughter therapy yourself.

Funny problems
Some laughter therapy techniques can be used in everyday life. For example, taking a problem to the point of absurdity. Let's say a child breaks a vase. Imagine that he broke all the vases in your house, all the vases in your city and even got into the Guinness Book of Records for this... Picture horror on your face: “He broke a vase!”, tear out your hair in despair: “Oh horror! What should I do, he broke the vase!”, jump on one leg, repeating “He broke the vase!” Eventually, laughter will arise. When you laugh, the problem is devalued and ceases to seem so scary and insoluble. Having calmed down, you can already without unnecessary negative emotions decide how to deal with it.

Let smile and laughter become your constant companions, decorating every day of your life.
When you wake up in the morning, smile, even if you didn’t get enough sleep, you have Bad mood and you absolutely do not want to do this. A signal will be sent to the brain and endorphins will begin to be produced. When you look at yourself in the mirror, smile at your reflection; when you do exercises, also with a smile, brush your teeth and smile. If you smile for ten minutes, even the worst mood will improve.
Learn to enjoy the everyday, to see the bright side of life. Stop muttering for any reason: “What is the weather like: rain and slush. Ugh!”; Isn’t it better this way: “It’s finally getting warmer! Slush, puddles, but there’s a smell of spring in the air!” Maybe you won’t be able to laugh joyfully right away, laugh simply because it’s spring outside. But this is not scary: the one walking will master the road. Start small: smile: a smile will give you wellness, a great mood, will endear you to those around you and make you more beautiful. Smile now!

We have already discussed in the previous article what principles laughter therapy is based on. And today we will learn how to heal with its help.

Almost all human problems arise from internal tension, which accumulates gradually throughout life. These problems also appear in physiological level, and on the mental. Accumulated tension interferes with normal circulation vital energy person. And for human health it is very important to freely receive energy in the right amount and give it away just as freely. Accordingly, in order to feel happy, a person must, first of all, get rid of the “pressures” accumulated since childhood.

The lightest and effective way to do such a “cleaning” - laugh. If not all internal tensions go away, then most of them will definitely disappear. Thus laughter therapy was born. Treatment with laughter therapy is not just fun and not only laughter.

This is a series of events harmoniously merged into a single program:

* yoga - a series of simple exercises where the emphasis is on the spine, its development and alignment, as well as relieving tension from all muscles of the body;

* stabilization of the psyche and nerves through special breathing exercises;

* achieving internal calmness in order to relax as much as possible and feel true peace.

Laughter therapy. Results:

Specialists involved in laughter therapy say that the most difficult thing is to make a person laugh. Comedians on cassette tapes, various comedy videos and audio recordings are called to help; the atmosphere is matched by clothing and surroundings. True, if a person is in a fairly seriously bad mood, then even experienced laughter therapy instructors cannot make him laugh.
You have to work with such people separately or work with them in small groups (laughter therapy is practiced in rooms of two hundred people!). Special attention weakened people also demand. After all, laughter is both difficult to kindle and stop. Sometimes the laughter turns simply hysterical. For some sick or severely weakened people, this can turn into a disaster. Therefore, only individual lessons are conducted with such people.

Any regular laughter yoga session lasts 30 minutes. Its cost is up to 15 dollars. I will introduce you to some exercises, and you can practice laughter therapy on your own and for free. At least three people must be present at the lesson.

And so we begin:

1. Deep breathing exercise

Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Then inhale deeply and exhale slowly. Breathe through your nose. Fill your stomach with air first, then your chest. Fill all sections of the lungs: first the lower ones, then the upper ones. After inhaling, exhale completely and deeply. The air must first come out of the lungs, then from the stomach until there is no air left in the body at all. Imagine that when you inhale, vital energy flows into your body, and when you exhale, negative energy leaves you.

2. Stretching exercises

* Starting position standing. Step your right foot far forward and bend your knee. Keep your left leg straight. Try to squat down as deeply as possible so that the knee of your left leg almost touches the floor. Fix the pose. Turn around and repeat the same exercise for your left leg. This great exercise for legs and pelvis.

* Starting position, sitting on the floor, legs straight. Bringing your legs together, make a springy bend forward. The exercise is very beneficial for the muscles of the back and legs.

* Starting position, lying on your back. Bend your right leg at the knee and pull it towards your chest with your hands. Hold the pose. Do the same exercise for your left leg. Then pull both knees together toward your chest and roll back until your knees touch your forehead. This exercise develops the biceps femoris muscle as well as the spine.

* Starting position, sitting on a chair. Turn back and grab the back of the chair with your hands. At the same time, do not lift your legs off the floor and your buttocks from the seat. Fix the pose. Then turn the other way. The exercise is very good for the muscles of the spine, back, shoulders and neck.

Chanting exercises

1. Do a series of simple exercises (your imagination), which include chanting “ho, ho, ha, ha,” moving around the room, making eye contact.

2. Exercise “laughing on the phone”: each participant pretends to speak on the phone mobile phone, and then, having established eye contact with each other, chant their “ho, ho, ha, ha.”

3. Exercise “vengeful laughter”: all participants threaten each other with their index fingers, shouting “ha”.

4. Exercise “why am I laughing”: participants put their hands on their hips, look at others and ask: “Why me? Ha, ha, ha.”

We perform each chanting exercise for 1–2 minutes. Then we do deep breathing and stretching exercises, and then move on to the next exercise. The combination of deep breathing, stretching and chanting “ho, ho, ha, ha” is a great stimulation, activating the diaphragm, lungs and abdominal muscles. You can invent your own exercises. The main thing is that it is funny and useful. Being in extraordinary, stupid positions and having others in them quickly causes contagious, real laughter. The only rule in this case: we laugh with each other, and not at each other.

Laughter therapy- the youngest and increasingly popular method of psychotherapy, successfully used throughout the planet. Step by step, laughter therapy is spreading to all areas of medicine - it is practiced by both traditional healers and prestigious clinics.

The method of laughter therapy is especially popular in Japan and Germany, where practitioners come to patients in clown outfits. And in India there is even special kind yoga - laughter yoga– special yogic exercises that return healthy natural laughter to a person.

A cheerful heart lives long

William Shakespeare

Today there are more than 10,000 Laughter Clubs in the world, uniting people who regularly engage in laughter therapy. They also exist in Russia. And this is great, because you will agree that in our time of crisis healthy laughter is a rather rare phenomenon, and sad pessimism has never brought anyone any benefit.

Norman Cousins

An American journalist is considered the founder of laughter therapy. Norman Cousins, to whom medicine pronounced a death verdict due to an incurable disease. Norman left the clinic, rented a hotel room, and for a whole month watched only comedies and laughed heartily. After this, the disease receded, and laughter therapy was declared a miracle, and since then even venerable scientists began to study it closely.

What is the secret to the success of laughter therapy?

Masters of laughter therapy claim that laughter from the heart has a positive effect on human physiology. When we laugh uncontrollably, our body begins to actively release so-called laughter hormones - endorphins, the lack of which leads to depression.

Scientific methods have proven that 5 minutes of carefree laughter are equivalent to forty minutes of relaxation, so if you have little time for relaxation, have a short session of laughter therapy.

Smile, gentlemen, smile!

Baron Munchausen

Healthy laughter is God's medicine without side effects and contraindications, this is a natural healer that is originally inherent in each of us.

Look at children - they laugh more than three hundred times a day! And from the heart and for any reason. This is who you need to follow as an example!

Laughter therapy howspopersonalcleansing the body

Majority human problems with health is accumulated throughout life internal tension. All negative emotions, disappointments, failures, problems place a huge burden on our psyche and nervous system.

Thus, over time, we develop internal energy “clamps” and “traffic jams” that interfere with the free circulation of vital energy, without which there can be no talk of any health.

Laughter is a convulsive release of muscle energy

Charles Darwin

The simplest and most accessible way for anyone to cleanse themselves of excess tension and remove all energy blocks is a carefree laugh from the heart.

Benefits of laughter therapy

What good will it bring you? regular activity laughter therapy?

• Emotions of joy and happiness after a stressful day
• Active production of endorphins – hormones of happiness
• Inflow vitality and energy
• Getting rid of destructive subconscious programs
• Promotion creative activity and self-confidence

Laughter therapy: examples of exercises

All laughter therapy exercises are performed in groups. It has been proven that in this way it is achieved maximum effect. Although you can do some of them yourself.

Exercise “Funny Sugar”

Take a piece of regular refined sugar and press it with your front teeth and then go to the mirror. You are guaranteed to not be able to contain your smile!

Exercise "HA-HA"

Turn on your imagination and start walking around the room, making comical movements (bending, squatting, bending, rotating, etc.), and start shouting loudly: “Ha-ha-ha!, Ho-ho-ho!, He- hehe!, Hee-hee-hee!”

Exercise “Funny Phone”

Participants act as if they are talking on a mobile phone, after which, having found the other person with their eyes, they begin to shout out phrases from the “HA-HA” exercise.

Exercise “Vengeful Laughter”

The participants stand opposite each other and unanimously begin to shake their index fingers at each other, while saying the same “Ha-ha-ha.”

All exercises are performed for at least 2 minutes, after which they are carried out breathing practices through deep breathing and stretching movements to stretch the body. Then you can move on to the next one.

This whole “ridiculous” set of exercises, among other things, perfectly stimulates the lungs and diaphragm, activating them to energy level, and also has a positive effect on the facial muscles and abdominal muscles.

You can create your own laughter therapy exercises. The main thing is that it is fun and funny.

You can do this within the family with your children. Just like this wonderful family with four kids does it :)

Laughter therapy video

Laughter therapy- this is a “natural” way to get rid of negativity, illness and stress, and a direct path to health, joy and happiness!

Laugh heartily and laugh to your health!

Arthur Golovin

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