MADISON LAUGHTER CLUB MAKES THE NEWS

The Madison Laughter Club was featured in the Examiner. All four leaders who run this club took my laughter yoga leader retreat as a refresher course last year and they are certainly motivated laughers, living life laughingly. I'm so excited to share this fabulous bit of press with you.

The Madison Laughter Club makes yoga a hoot

Laughter Yoga? That seems as odd a juxtaposition as relaxation football,cheering chess, or slapstick speed skating. The unusual exercise of Laughter Yoga was born in a park in Mumbai, India in 1995 when Dr. Madan Kataria, a family practice physician aware of the relationship between laughter and wellness, got five people together to combine laughter exercises with deep yoga breathing. That group of five who first engaged in Laughter Yoga has now grown to 6000 laughter clubs in 60 countries, including the Madison Laughter Club.

This international rush to laugh seems primarily motivated by the scientific research indicating that laughter provides a plethora of physical, mental, and even social benefits that include:

• Improving overall sense of well-being
• Burning calories
• Strengthening and balancing the immune system
• Releasing endorphins to relieve pain and reducing stress hormones
• Lowering blood pressure
• Reducing risk of heart disease by improving blood vessel function and increasing blood flow
• Contributing to managing and overcoming depression

Social scientists have even found that a mirthful person is more attractive to others. Many would find it enough that laughing is fun and tightens the abdominal muscles. (Six-pack laughter is no longer referring to just alcohol-related euphoria, and most people find it far preferable to doing crunches.) The body does not differentiate between naturally occurring laughter and that which is intentionally generated as in Laughter Yoga, so all of the mental, emotional, and physical benefits result either way.

The medical and scientific respect for the positive effects of laughter is demonstrated by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America employing laughter therapy along with conventional cancer treatments as part of their integrative approach to the healing process.

Locally the Madison Laughter Club meets monthly and is led by four certified Laughter Yoga leaders—Nancy Greenwald, Mike Kueny, Michelle Erschen, and Beth Murphy. These monthly laugh-fests typically have 20-50 inter-generational attendees, with ages ranging from toddlers to octogenarians and crossing socioeconomic and ethnic spectrums. With Laughter Yoga sessions free of charge, this offers those who have been hit by economic challenges—as well as anyone who simply wants to experience laughter as the best medicine—the perfect prescription.


The Madison Laughter Club
Next session: Sunday, December 13, 2009, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
East Madison Police Department Community Room
809 S. Thompsom Dr., Madison, WI 53716
Questions? Call 608-575-1975 or email madisonlaughterclub@yahoo.com