Welcome
to Laughter Yoga Chicago! We are the original and offical site for Laughter
Yoga in the Chicago area. E-mail
info@laughteryogachicago.com to be put on our mailing list for dates/times/locations
for our club meetings and general Laugher Yoga information.
Rick Hauser - "Chicago's Laughter Doctor" is the founder of "Laughter Yoga Chicago" and is a certified Laughter Yoga Leader.
Laughter is good for your body and soul - and we all need more of it...Every year - the world gets more hectic - from over-population, hyper-competition, clogged roads, always-in-touch technology tools that are supposed to simply your life, less social time (because you have to keep answering those e-mails or voice mails), more work time (to keep your job from being offshored), etc. In this hectic, time-driven world we live in - companies are hiring us to come in and give "wellness" sessions or "team building" sessions to help their employees be more productive and healthy. Fostering better employee wellness is a big trend now in companies - in an attempt to reduce employee health care costs...Perhaps someday - health insurance companies will actually give price-breaks to employees that routinely practice Laughter Yoga! Perhaps it will be seen as a vital therapy in hospitals and clinics - just as physical therapy is -- because Laughter Yoga actually affects your physical body and your mind - in a positive way.
See a recent interview on a 6 AM morning newcast (you need to laugh at that time of day to wake up.) In a study conducted on 90 seniors in the area - a hospital nurse proved that Rick lowered each senior's blood pressure by ten points after a Laughter Yoga session! Senior testimonials.
Here in Chicago - Oprah recently featured a segment on Laughter Yoga and it's benefits..
Did you know that Laugher Yoga decreases stress hormones such as cortisol - and builds endorphins?
Did you know that it reduces your blood pressure?
Did you know that the world's oldest living woman - Jeanne Calment (age 122) attributed her longevity to laughing a lot and not taking life's negative events so seriously?
Did you know that adults laugh less than 15 times per day and kids laugh over 300 times per day? (What is wrong with that picture? Have you become so bogged down in responsibilities and paying bills etc. that you feel the need to lighten up a bit?)
Links on the site include news reports about Laughter Yoga, medical reports. laughter clubs - and much more. For example - a CNN report -- or from Colorado, to Minnesota -- or breaking down cultural barriers in Hawaii. (See the links at the top of the page for more information...
Laughter Yoga is a great antidote to people's increased stress levels.
We provide keynote speaking - for trade associations and corporate events
and retreats (team building etc.) or perhaps to give you a boost for your new
product ideation sessions...
Our mission is threefold:
1.
We hold a FREE laughter club meeting the 4th Wednesday of each month in Chicago's
Northwest Suburbs - to allow people to experience the benefits of Laughter Yoga,
first-hand. E-mail info@laughteryogachicago.com
to be put on our mailing list for dates/times/locations for our club meetings
and general Laugher Yoga information.
2. We perform laughter yoga sessions for terminally ill adults and children in hospitals, nursing homes, and senior centers - to make them feel better - or perhaps even bring them back to wellness. Medical benefits links & video.
3. We conduct paid speaking engagements for companies, associations, and groups on Laughter Yoga - fostering team-building, creating better brainstorming for "new product ideation" sessions, fostering comraderie and wellness at corporate retreats, and producing better job satisfaction and performance.
Ask any old person - why are you still alive, and what keeps you young?
They will answer - "laughter -- and not taking things so seriously..."
Jeanne
Louise Calment -- born in Arles, France on February 21, 1875 - is in the Guiness
Book of World Records for being the oldest living woman. (Laughter Yoga Denmark
is also in the Guiness Book of World Records for organizing a group of 10,000
people laughing at one time. Perhaps we can beat that in Chicago?)
She stated: "If you can't do anything about it, don't worry about it." She recommended laughter as a recipe for longevity and joked that "I've been forgotten by a good God." For skin care, she recommended olive oil and a dab of make-up. "All my life I've put olive oil on my skin and then just a puff of powder. I could never wear mascara, I cried too often when I laughed." She joked around a lot and had a very good wit. On her 120th birthday, when asked what kind of future she expected, she replied "A very short one." "I am very brave and I'm afraid of nothing. I took pleasure when I could. I acted clearly and morally and without regret."
"I've only got one wrinkle and I'm sitting on it." Jeanne Calment, the world's oldest person, died at 122 on Monday August 4, 1997. Her sense of humor kept her young.
Fact: The majority of super-aged people have a beautifully cultivated sense of humor in common.
Laughter is indeed the best medicine.
What is Laughter Yoga?
Laughter
Yoga is a very powerful technique for improving health, wellness, and
job performance -- especially in high-stress occupations.
It combines simple laughter exercises (simulated laughter) and gentle yoga breathing, which turns into real laughter when practiced in a group. Even if there is no real laughter - doing "fake laughter" exercises has been proven to have the same physical benefits as real laughter.
Through Laughter Yoga - we are changing the world, one person at a time.
For the best results - you want to perform Laughter Yoga exercises, consistently.
With Laughter Yoga - you can achieve serenity - no matter what is happening.......
Humans were designed to laugh. Laughter is nature's stressbuster. It lifts our spirits with a happy high, that makes us feel good, and improves our behavior towards others. Just a few generations ago happy healthy humans spent 20 minutes a day or more in laughter. Now adult daily laugh time is down to 5 minutes or less in many countries. This is one of the worst aspects of modern life.
Laugh Yourself Healthy
Laughter Yoga involves laughing for no reason, through various laughter exercises, with Yoga breathing. Laughter exercises almost always lead to real laughter, especially when practiced in a group. We all know that laughter makes us feel good. But a 20 minute laughter session each day, can have a profound impact on our health and wellbeing. Laughter is gentle exercise. It fill your lungs and body with oxygen, deep-clears your breathing passages, and exercises your lungs. This is really important for people who don't get regular aerobic exercise.
When we laugh our bodies release a cocktail of hormones & chemicals that have startling positive effects on our system. Stress is reduced, blood pressure drops, depression is lifted, your immune system is boosted & more. Western science is just starting to discover the great effects of laughter.
A final note -- Laughter Yoga was started via the Dr. Kataria School of Laughter Yoga in India. We are one of over 5,000 laughter clubs around the world.