Working with patients who experience treatment-resistant depression has changed my perspective on life. It has shown me how precious laughter is. As I searched for ways for my patients to experience more happiness in their lives, I discovered laughter yoga.

Laughter yoga is a series of prompts from a group leader that is designed to elicit laughter in participants. The goal is to laugh for more than 10 minutes in order to engage the body in the physical reactions that occur from laughing. Laughter is viewed as a purely physical response. By focusing on the physical process of laughter, inner critic is put in hold. It also eliminates the challenge of meeting everyone’s very unique sense of humor. Laughter yoga was created by Dr. Madan Kataria in Mumbai, India. As a physician, he felt laughter could offer uplifting and healing yoga experiences to large groups of people. It is available through in person groups throughout the world or through on-line video group chats.

Most importantly, laughter yoga invites participants to laugh for no reason. Many exercises are silly and childish, but the point is to let all the seriousness and formality of adult life go.

Laughter yoga recognizes that our bodies need to be in a particular state in order to laugh. We need to feel safe and need to feel comfortable in our surroundings. There has to be a moment where we stop thinking about daily stressors enough to enjoy ourselves and allow it to happen. We need to be relaxed and have an expectation of fun. As we prepare for laughter yoga we take the emotional steps necessary to make these things happen.

The neurochemistry of laughter

Through the practice of laughter, we change neurological patterns in the brain and tap into the mind-body connection. The patterns we follow every day affect our bodies and shape our brain structure. The thoughts we think create pathways in the brain and the more we think those thoughts the more likely it is that we will strengthen those patterns and make it more difficult to think differently. If we can control our perception, we can control our perspective. Our brains validate what we believe is true. Consequently, a belief is a thought you keep thinking.

In essence, laughter yoga creates an expectation of happiness and primes the body for happiness. It creates the possibility of optimism in the cognitive realm and allows the ability to focus on the positive in life. Focusing on the positive allows for change in the physical and organic body chemistry by decreasing stress hormones and balancing serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. Cortisol, the hormone related to stress, is influenced by genetic factors and trauma experiences. Laughter yoga exercises reduce a predisposition to low mood and the expectation of disappointment that comes with past experience with heartache or loss by reducing cortisol and increasing positivity neurotransmitters.

Embracing silliness in laughter yoga

As we adjust to the seeming ridiculousness of laughter yoga exercises, we experience more openness to joy. We are able to accept the silliness in life, and become lighter in our seriousness. Little by little we are more able to focus on the positive of our experiences. Even through difficult moments in relationships, or stress at work or on the road, the more able we are to maintain neutrality. It is easier to accept that things don’t go our way, and that maybe life has something different or even better in mind for us. We can achieve a sense of peace as we become more forgiving, less angry, and can greet the morning with acceptance.

Specifically, stress hormones color our perspective and perception, making situations seem more dire and the future appears bleak. Having confidence in our ability to make it to the other side can change our experience of stress. Having hope and recognizing support from others helps us see things in a more rational and reasonable way instead of focusing on the worst case scenario. Imagining a crisis activates the fight/flight or freeze response. Stopping that vicious cycle with a smile, a long sigh, and a little silliness, throws a monkey wrench in the heavy duty industrial machinery that is depression.

Depression and laughter yoga

Unfortunately, people with depression are predisposed to high levels of stress hormones and low levels of positivity neurotransmitters. That makes the stress of everyday life unbearable. Some people are sensitive to medications and some do not feel much benefit with antidepressants.These people can feel benefits with laughter yoga and other natural mood lifting activities. Slowly the lows aren’t as devastating and the experience of laughter through laughter exercises stops the destruction of hope through long suffering stress. The day cannot be so horrible if you have been able to laugh.

Surprisingly, with the laughter exercises of laughter yoga, enjoyment is strengthened. Other group members are also willing to let go of seriousness and stress to let go and be silly. What does not feel natural at first feels more and more natural and necessary. Laughter finds its way into your life as you notice more opportunities to laugh. The joy you experience in laughter increases every time you allow it to happen. Consequently, the lows of pain or stress or hopelessness are less powerful than before.

In the end, laughter yoga exercises help us recognize you don’t need a reason to laugh. It reduces the power of the inner evaluator judging all aspects of our lives as not good enough. Slowly serotonin levels increase, making your sense of well-being stronger. Cortisol and stress are not able to deplete the experience of happiness in the brain and life becomes better. Our demands on ourselves become softer and we allow ourselves to let go and enjoy. Life becomes less serious and our expectations of ourselves can be put aside for a while.

Rebeca Bright, PsyD

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