Hi, this is a comment.How do you increase your WELLNESS with a horizontal jump? So many train so hard to achieve leg power And are always working on this the truth is; there is an incredible Secret you need to know to increase your horizontal jump, and once you know the types of exercises you need to do, you should start jumping higher and longer in no time.
For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward.
Jim Rohn
Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.
Jim Rohn
Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.
Jim Rohn
If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.
Jim Rohn
If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.
Jim Rohn
If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
Jim Rohn
If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.
Jim Rohn
If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.
Jim Rohn
laughter & yoga
On paper, it’s a match made in heaven; yoga and its health benefits, combined with laughter, which research suggests is good at aiding recovery and boosting wellbeing. But can being made to imitate a train and shout in a stranger’s face really be good for us? Emma Robertson found out when she experienced the worldwide phenomenon that is laughter yoga.
When did we grow up and get so serious? Kids laugh up to an amazing 400 times a day, but as adults our rib-tickling reflexes are lucky if they get any more than 18 pathetic daily doses of mirth. We need to cheer-up; especially as research not only shows happy people heal faster but that laughter can recharge health and turbo-boost wellbeing.
Yoga has become the trendy remedy of the decade since Madonna brought it to the attention of the masses. So, imagine the double-whammy benefits when gentle breathing and stretches are merged with the feel-good effects of belly laughter? Sounds like a winning combination. Time to cash-in my inner Little Miss Miseryguts for a piece of side-splitting action, courtesy of laughter yoga.
Okay, so it might sound like yet another wacky health fad from Bonkersville, but the potency of laughter yoga is not to be sniffed at. In 1995 Dr Madan Kataria, a family physician from Mumbai, India, began the first ‘laughter club’ to further his fascination with the impressive science supporting the mind and body’s profit from laughter.
The internal hokey-kokey our bodies experience when we laugh is a great aerobic workout and is thought to stimulate the release of feel-good hormones. These beauties boost the immune system while reducing stress and tension. Our natural painkilling endorphins also increase with mirth, which supports the suggestion that laughter really is the best medicine.
Dr Kataria’s interest was further compounded by the book Anatomy of an Illness by Norman Cousins. This American journalist reversed his crippling spinal illness, ankylosing spondylitis, with a 10-minute daily session of hearty laughter. Simply put, he self-medicated with Marx Brothers’ films and Candid Camera re-runs which achieved the pain-relief a cocktail of codeine, sleeping pills and Aspirin could not.
What began as five people telling jokes in a park in India has snowballed into a worldwide phenomenon with 5,000 laughter groups now scattered around the globe. What’s more, even people who are challenged in the chuckle department can make the most of the Dr Kataria’s technique.
“Fake it, fake it till you make it,” goes the laughter motto. Either way the same happy hormones are released into our system because the human mind can’t distinguish between real and phoney laughter. And let’s face it, with sky-high stress levels and depressing news headlines, we grown-ups need all the help our laugh-o-meters can get.
I decided to gatecrash the next class held by my nearest ‘laughter leader’ Jeya Jeyaratnam. Since qualifying last year, Jeya has spread empowerment through giggles as far as Malaysia and consulted on laughter yoga techniques for a reality television production company.
Previous participants in Jeya’s classes include lawyers and bankers. But in this workshop, it’s the stress-aware students and lecturers at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University who are letting-off steam as part of a mid-term health week.
Words can’t explain a typical laughter yoga session because there literally are none – or very few at least – spoken in the class. Instead, laughter does the talking. While Jeya draws heavily upon the Dr Kataria school of thought, she also combines her style with role-play and dance to loosen up our funny bones.
Laughter yoga can be held anywhere, so as desks are pushed to the perimeter of the classroom, the 14-strong team form a circle and wait for their sides to start splitting. This doesn’t take long. To break the ice, Jeya introduces a technique more often used by children meeting for the first time. Before I knew it I was making the sound and motion of a train across the room to a complete stranger before throwing my arms up in the air and shouting my name in their face. Little did I know that this was only the beginning of my speed-dial to harmless humiliation.
But in for a penny, in for a pound and I took comfort from Jeya who confessed she also battled with her inhibitions first time around too. What you get from the session relies on your willingness to laugh – which may sometimes be outside your comfort zone. I had to loosen up. So with that in mind, I decided to grin and bear it.
Soon I was on more comfortable territory as we walked around repeating the clap-chant: “Ho, ho, ha-ha-ha.” The clap should be precise – fingers hitting fingers and palms hitting palms. This stimulates acupressure points to improve circulation. Chanting and eye contact with fellow happy clappers builds-up the group’s energy levels and keeps the momentum going.
Dr Kataria’s original master plan came unstuck as his first laughter groups depended on jokes. After a couple of weeks, the yarns wore thin, dried up or worse – became offensive. After a rethink, he opted for simulated laughter exercises which allow laughter to be harnessed anytime as a tool, instead of relying on it as an emotion.
Jeya has a few of these games up her sleeve. One gem guaranteed to crack you up is talking gobbledegook to anyone in the class. In another, we pretend to hold a mobile phone and laugh as loud as possible down the end of the receiver. Oh, and let’s not forget that cheeky funky chicken dance.
It sounds like a contrived way to get your kicks but everyone gets stuck in to these kidult antics with a vengeance. The response, from all ages, is unanimous and soon the room comes alive with the infectious noise of laughter.
After the mayhem of each game we slow down to clap-chant and perform deep yoga breathing. As we move our arms up towards the sky we breathe in and out as our arms flop towards the floor. This Eastern movement, known as pranayama, unites the mind, body and spirit and gives our muscles a chance to relax. Taking the time to breathe properly energises our lungs and diffuses extra oxygen into the bloodstream.
We round the session off with a dance routine and role-play to demonstrate how laughter yoga can be applied to cope with life’s day-to-day vagaries. If I used one of Jeya’s full-on laughter exercises in public then I’d probably be slapped with an ASBO. Luckily she recommends the more discreet techniques which promise to help us think with clarity and remain calm under pressure.
Despite my initial reservations, the end result was overwhelming. My energy banks were brimming and I swear I could see a spring in the step of my laugh-mates which wasn’t there before. Like any exercise class, the more you go, the easier it gets. So do yourself a favour: lighten up and learn to laugh.
Hi, this is a comment.How do you increase your WELLNESS with a horizontal jump? So many train so hard to achieve leg power And are always working on this the truth is; there is an incredible Secret you need to know to increase your horizontal jump, and once you know the types of exercises you need to do, you should start jumping higher and longer in no time.
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For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward.
Jim Rohn
Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.
Jim Rohn
Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.
Jim Rohn
If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.
Jim Rohn
If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.
Jim Rohn
If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
Jim Rohn
If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.
Jim Rohn
If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.
Jim Rohn
laughter & yoga
On paper, it’s a match made in heaven; yoga and its health benefits, combined with laughter, which research suggests is good at aiding recovery and boosting wellbeing. But can being made to imitate a train and shout in a stranger’s face really be good for us? Emma Robertson found out when she experienced the worldwide phenomenon that is laughter yoga.
When did we grow up and get so serious? Kids laugh up to an amazing 400 times a day, but as adults our rib-tickling reflexes are lucky if they get any more than 18 pathetic daily doses of mirth. We need to cheer-up; especially as research not only shows happy people heal faster but that laughter can recharge health and turbo-boost wellbeing.
Yoga has become the trendy remedy of the decade since Madonna brought it to the attention of the masses. So, imagine the double-whammy benefits when gentle breathing and stretches are merged with the feel-good effects of belly laughter? Sounds like a winning combination. Time to cash-in my inner Little Miss Miseryguts for a piece of side-splitting action, courtesy of laughter yoga.
Okay, so it might sound like yet another wacky health fad from Bonkersville, but the potency of laughter yoga is not to be sniffed at. In 1995 Dr Madan Kataria, a family physician from Mumbai, India, began the first ‘laughter club’ to further his fascination with the impressive science supporting the mind and body’s profit from laughter.
The internal hokey-kokey our bodies experience when we laugh is a great aerobic workout and is thought to stimulate the release of feel-good hormones. These beauties boost the immune system while reducing stress and tension. Our natural painkilling endorphins also increase with mirth, which supports the suggestion that laughter really is the best medicine.
Dr Kataria’s interest was further compounded by the book Anatomy of an Illness by Norman Cousins. This American journalist reversed his crippling spinal illness, ankylosing spondylitis, with a 10-minute daily session of hearty laughter. Simply put, he self-medicated with Marx Brothers’ films and Candid Camera re-runs which achieved the pain-relief a cocktail of codeine, sleeping pills and Aspirin could not.
What began as five people telling jokes in a park in India has snowballed into a worldwide phenomenon with 5,000 laughter groups now scattered around the globe. What’s more, even people who are challenged in the chuckle department can make the most of the Dr Kataria’s technique.
“Fake it, fake it till you make it,” goes the laughter motto. Either way the same happy hormones are released into our system because the human mind can’t distinguish between real and phoney laughter. And let’s face it, with sky-high stress levels and depressing news headlines, we grown-ups need all the help our laugh-o-meters can get.
I decided to gatecrash the next class held by my nearest ‘laughter leader’ Jeya Jeyaratnam. Since qualifying last year, Jeya has spread empowerment through giggles as far as Malaysia and consulted on laughter yoga techniques for a reality television production company.
Previous participants in Jeya’s classes include lawyers and bankers. But in this workshop, it’s the stress-aware students and lecturers at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University who are letting-off steam as part of a mid-term health week.
Words can’t explain a typical laughter yoga session because there literally are none – or very few at least – spoken in the class. Instead, laughter does the talking. While Jeya draws heavily upon the Dr Kataria school of thought, she also combines her style with role-play and dance to loosen up our funny bones.
Laughter yoga can be held anywhere, so as desks are pushed to the perimeter of the classroom, the 14-strong team form a circle and wait for their sides to start splitting. This doesn’t take long. To break the ice, Jeya introduces a technique more often used by children meeting for the first time. Before I knew it I was making the sound and motion of a train across the room to a complete stranger before throwing my arms up in the air and shouting my name in their face. Little did I know that this was only the beginning of my speed-dial to harmless humiliation.
But in for a penny, in for a pound and I took comfort from Jeya who confessed she also battled with her inhibitions first time around too. What you get from the session relies on your willingness to laugh – which may sometimes be outside your comfort zone. I had to loosen up. So with that in mind, I decided to grin and bear it.
Soon I was on more comfortable territory as we walked around repeating the clap-chant: “Ho, ho, ha-ha-ha.” The clap should be precise – fingers hitting fingers and palms hitting palms. This stimulates acupressure points to improve circulation. Chanting and eye contact with fellow happy clappers builds-up the group’s energy levels and keeps the momentum going.
Dr Kataria’s original master plan came unstuck as his first laughter groups depended on jokes. After a couple of weeks, the yarns wore thin, dried up or worse – became offensive. After a rethink, he opted for simulated laughter exercises which allow laughter to be harnessed anytime as a tool, instead of relying on it as an emotion.
Jeya has a few of these games up her sleeve. One gem guaranteed to crack you up is talking gobbledegook to anyone in the class. In another, we pretend to hold a mobile phone and laugh as loud as possible down the end of the receiver. Oh, and let’s not forget that cheeky funky chicken dance.
It sounds like a contrived way to get your kicks but everyone gets stuck in to these kidult antics with a vengeance. The response, from all ages, is unanimous and soon the room comes alive with the infectious noise of laughter.
After the mayhem of each game we slow down to clap-chant and perform deep yoga breathing. As we move our arms up towards the sky we breathe in and out as our arms flop towards the floor. This Eastern movement, known as pranayama, unites the mind, body and spirit and gives our muscles a chance to relax. Taking the time to breathe properly energises our lungs and diffuses extra oxygen into the bloodstream.
We round the session off with a dance routine and role-play to demonstrate how laughter yoga can be applied to cope with life’s day-to-day vagaries. If I used one of Jeya’s full-on laughter exercises in public then I’d probably be slapped with an ASBO. Luckily she recommends the more discreet techniques which promise to help us think with clarity and remain calm under pressure.
Despite my initial reservations, the end result was overwhelming. My energy banks were brimming and I swear I could see a spring in the step of my laugh-mates which wasn’t there before. Like any exercise class, the more you go, the easier it gets. So do yourself a favour: lighten up and learn to laugh.
For more details visit: http://www.laughteryoga.org
Contact details:
Jeya Jeyaratnam
JJ Motivational LTD
Telephone: 07766 631 192
Email: jeya@science-of-laughter.com
Website: http://www.science-of-laughter.com
On Equinox the Earth & Sun are in perfect balance & harmony Ive just got into this myself