• Laughter is the best medicine.

• Once introduced to Laughter Yoga, they keep requesting it.

• Laughter Yoga offers many benefits.

This Friday night they asked to laugh again (and again and again…).

Many months ago I introduced a short session of Laughter Yoga to the youth coaching group. It seems they have never forgotten about it. They now ask to do another session when there is time.

This past Friday, they had completed the tasks for all their roles and had 10 minutes left. They asked if we could do Laughter Yoga once again.

LAUGHTER YOGA:

What is Laughter Yoga you may ask? It is an exercise method developed by an Indian doctor, Dr. Madan Kataria. In the session, you trigger laughter with pretend laughter exercises. If you wish to learn more there is a link to a video below.

WHAT IS THIS SILLY NONSENSE?

Many adults and even children think this is just chaos at first. We are having young people laughing without any real control. They are not acting with normal discipline. This looks just like silly fun with no real purpose. Is it just a way of filling in 10 minutes that may have been more productive?

RESULTS:

There are many articles about schools introducing Laughter Yoga. You can search for them and find many examples. They do it around the world.

The schools report many benefits such as:

• It works their body and mind.

• They are in a better mood.

• They have more energy.

• They have better concentration.

• Their stress levels decrease.

• There is an improvement of team co-operation and sense of belonging.

• Their learning ability and academic performance improves.

There are many stories about schools around the world adapting the practice. Here is one about ‘How Laughter Fixed a Classroom’ in a small northern Ontario town school. You can find it at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/albert-nerenberg/laughter-classroom_b_4890900.html

You can find the video (2 min. 20 sec.) of Dr. Madan Kataria with school children at:

I suggest that you introduce a 10 minute session of laughter yoga near the beginning of each group session.

From my experience and from all reports it has many positive impacts on the participants.

LEARN MORE:

Are you are interested in learning more about group coaching?

If so, contact me to obtain a report on a simple and easy system on how to set up group coaching programs for youth. You can do this in the ‘Contact us‘ section of the website.

Please contact me to enter the discussion, REQUEST A FREE COPY OF THE GROUP COACHING PLAYBOOK and JOIN THE REGULAR COACHES FORUM. 

Wishing you lots of love and laughter, as always.

Fred Jones

Victoria, BC Canada