Laughter IS the best medicine!

  If you haven't heard yet... the newest movement in yoga, coming out of India is: Laughter Yoga! Groups are popping up all over India and has now hit North America as well.

We all know how great it feels to laugh, especially those big, belly laughs where we get tears in our eyes and our tummies start to hurt! It feels good - and feeling good is the key to good mental AND physical health. In fact, laughter has been shown to improve mood (of course, you can't be crabby when you're laughing!), strengthen the immune system and even lower blood pressure!

It makes sense from a physiological viewpoint - laughter is a state of happiness - and happiness is an emotion which has a unique chemical equivalent in our bodies -- usually in the form of serotonin. So, when we laugh, our brain releases serotonin which flows through our bloodstream and is taken up by our cells - so our cells and, therefore our bodies, become 'happy'.

Its a new and emerging science called Psychoneuroimmunology (which basically means how our mind (thoughts/feelings) affect our nervous system and immune system. Pretty amazing, eh? I will definitely shed more light on this in the coming weeks, but to begin - think about adding some laughter into your day! And how about this - laugh for no reason at all!! That's what they do in many of these Laughter Yoga groups - they use a series of poses and then laugh as they are performing them. 

Sounds strange - and perhaps it seems that way because we are taught not to 'laugh' for no reason - it's considered impolite and unrefined. Ok, so if laughing aloud for no reason is too much of a stretch for you - then try smiling. Right now. That's it - just stare at the screen and smile. See how good that feels? You can't feel bad when you're smiling - you feel good!

On the path to health, there are many roads one can take, but the one which is sprinkled with joy, happiness and laughter is the one that will yield optimal results! So Smile and Laugh often - its good for you!