Laughter Yoga

"We don't laugh because we're happy. We are Happy because we laugh." - William James

Laughter Yoga Group Worcester

Please join me monthly in a Laughter Yoga social group in Worcester.  (dates coming for 2026).  Laughter Yoga Group is a free event.

Team Building Workshops

Help transform your workplace into a positive setting.  Laughter Yoga is a Team Building experience and promotes employee's wellbeing.  This workshop will educate employees on the benefits of laughter and guide participates to incorporate laughter into their daily routine.  A benefit of Laughter Yoga is it reduces workplace stress and burnout, and at the same time increases productivity and happiness.   

What is Laugher Yoga?

Laughter Yoga is an exercise program that uses sustained laughter to promote physical and mental wellbeing.  It does not rely on humor or jokes, but instead it is purposeful laughter – that’s right just laughing.  Research demonstrates that the body does not differentiate between, “real laughter” and purposeful laughter.  You may find that purposeful laughter, laughing for the sake of laughing, often generates spontaneous laughter.  For people like me, not very spontaneous and not always able to find a good joke, the exercises and activities in Laughter Yoga are designed to get you laughing.  The main tool of Laughter Yoga is the engagement and demonstration of  mindful playfulness that make it easier to start laughing. 

So Laughter Yoga, is a purposeful exercise - It incorporates laughing activities, movement and deep breathing.  It is hearty laughter done over a sustained period of time of at least 10 to 15 minutes.   Why do we want to laugh?  Laughter provides the body with many health benefits that include: improved mood (releases endorphins/happy neurotransmitters), is a heart health exercise, improves the immune system, improves attitude, improves productivity, decreases stress, and  increases social activity.  Laughter Yoga combines laughing, with breathing exercise, positive reinforcement and movement.

Laughter Yoga was founded and developed by Dr. Madan Kataria in 1995.  Dr. Kataria is a Primary Care Doctor in India who started a small group, “Laughter Yoga Club,” to field-test the impact of laughter on people’s health.  He was inspired by research on the benefit of laughter, and book, “Anatomy of an Illness,” by Normal Cousins (a person with a painful and terminal illness) who described how 10 minutes of laughter helped him improve his sleep.  Laughter Yoga now has a global community,  Laugher Yoga International; as the website says, “laughing for 30 years, promoting Health, Happiness and World Peace.”  You can participate in the Global Community, Laugher Yoga International.