Laughter yoga benefits the mind and body
BUTLER TWP — Karen Justi is, admittedly, not a comedian, but she had an entire room full of people laughing Thursday morning, Jan. 30. Some were laughing with her, others were laughing at her, and even Justi herself wasn’t positive which camp she was in.
It didn’t matter — people were laughing, even if it was forced at first. That is the idea behind “laughter yoga,” an exercise program developed by Indian physician Dr. Madan Kataria, where anyone can laugh without relying on humor, jokes or comedy. It combines laughter exercises with yoga breathing techniques, which brings more oxygen to your body and brain, and it is intended to make you feel more energetic and healthy.
Justi is the Whole Health program manager at VA Butler Healthcare, and is a certified laughter yoga provider — a mind-blowing title even to her.
On Jan. 30, Justi led a few dozen veterans and VA staff members in laughter yoga, using a cold winter’s day as a basis for the movements and to turn breathing into giggling.
Every movement ended with a group clap and chant of “ho ho, ha ha ha, yay.”
“The moment that you start to chuckle along because of anything that’s happening, you just find that space for it,” Justi said. “When I run this with veterans or staff, you can laugh at me, you can laugh with me — I just want you to laugh.”
Justi explained that the founder of laughter yoga, Kataria, began investigating the truth behind the adage “laughter is the best medicine” in 1995. According to Laughter Yoga International, the organization following Kataria’s research and practices, the body cannot differentiate between intentional laughter and unintentional laughter. One gets the same physiological and psychological benefits, which can include releasing endorphins in your brain, increasing your heart rate and blood circulation, and reducing stress, according to the organization.
Justi said she leads laughter yoga for residents of Sergeant Joseph George Kusick VA Community Living Center to help them feel some joy and get the benefits of laughing.
She said every session can be a different story, but each laughter yoga class usually involves breathing and celebration.
“There is no specific movement. A lot of times, laughter yoga providers will create movement that reflects their story,” Justi said. “Components that you see in every single laughter yoga class — clapping you’re going to see, breath work and celebration, ‘Very good, very good, yay.’”
Although the sun shined through the skylight in the common area of the living center where Justi led the laughter yoga session, a winter’s day was the perfect source from which to get some fun movement and laughter. Justi mimed actions, such as putting on snow pants and making snow angels, as demonstrations for residents to follow along with — most of whom need assistance getting around. Every pretend action was accompanied by a laugh, which Justi emphasized through heavy “ha”s and “heehee”s.
After a few rounds of each action, Justi went from heavy “ha”s to what sounded like genuine laughter. Like she explained, laughter is contagious.
“You can always tell when my real laugh kicks in,” Justi said.
“People create the scenarios and the exercise comes with it,” Justi said. “Our goal is to get our bodies moving, get some childlike joy … invigorate our bodies using breath and movement.”
Eddie Marx, a two-year resident of Sergeant Joseph George Kusick VA Community Living Center, said the laughter yoga sessions are a fun and funny activity that helps put everyone in attendance into a good mood. It works every time, he said.
“It’s tremendous,” Marx said. “And the guys all get involved.”
After giving everyone a good laugh, Justi led the group through some more typical breathing exercises and asked everyone to share with the group something that made them happy.
Justi also reminded the residents in attendance why they were laughing and of the benefits they could see that day thanks to their morning chuckle.
“We are laughing today for the health of it,” Justi said. “Because when you laugh, your body has beautiful changes that happen inside and we want to create those changes.”
Justi said laughter yoga is practiced in more than 100 countries and the practice grew even more well-known and popular in 2020.
“During the era of COVID, this really took off because you could do it over Zoom,” Justi said.
Bob Novak, who has been at Sergeant Joseph George Kusick VA Community Living Center for about a month, said Thursday was the first time he attended a laughter yoga session. He commented that the pretend actions Justi led the group through — putting on snow pants and making snowballs for a snowball fight — reminded him of things he would do with his two children when they were young.
“It brings a lot of things back, a lot of memories,” Novak said. “It reminds me of my kids and grandkids with the ‘Yay.’”
Not only did the laughter yoga bring memories to the forefront of Novak’s mind — he said the humming Justi led the group through reminded him of his wife, who uses the technique while carrying hot beverages.
“The humming is something my wife does,” Novak said. “When you hum, it takes your mind off it so it doesn’t spill.”
Following the session, Justi said she thought it went well. She said the change in people is noticeable when they go from pretending to laugh to genuinely smiling.
“I love the energy. I love watching the shift in people,” Justi said. “Even when people aren’t laughing with you, the comedian in them comes out.”
Justi said the message of laughter yoga is that humor comes from within — demonstrated by the growth of fake laughter to real — and some of the wise cracks made by the people in attendance.
“Our intention today is going to be that no matter what is happening around you, you can create your own joy,” Justi said. “You can make yourself laugh and your body will follow it.”
