Laughter Yoga or Hasya (“Hasya” in Sanskrit means laughter) is an alternate technique in healing which involves some exercises patterned to make human beings laugh for no apparent reason at all, blended with some simple and basic breathing methods in Yoga. Each day, new researches are being made and published on the countless psychological and physiological benefits that laughing can bring, and Laughter Yoga could aid people to participate and indulge in these benefits. This makes use a fusion of frolicsome and tension-releasing laughter exercises to lessen stress, enhance health and improve feelings of wellness. In a Laughter Yoga session, you will not find individuals sitting in a circle and using their sense of humor or exchanging hilarious jokes to make each other laugh.

But rather, one session of Laughter Yoga contains of a series of various exercises which involve humorous and comical gestures, yoga breathing, systematic cackling and giggling, and some other improv-like exercises. This activity actually fosters unconditional laughing-it’s highly possible for grown-ups and oldies to laugh like little kids without using humor, comedy or jokes. These laughing exercises, even though started by faking it, has manifested that simulated laugh makes the similar physiological reaction in the human body just like the real and spontaneous laughter. Therefore, even if you are only feigning it, your body will not notice the difference. So in short, you do not need to be really genuinely happy to laugh and you do not even need the reason to laugh at all…even a pretentious laugh can boost one’s mood and could help alleviate stress.

A session of this Yoga would probably start with a chanting of “Ho-Ho-Ha-Ha-Ha” in unison and rhythmic clapping, succeeded by a combination of breathing, stretching, plus some bits of silliness. And here are some of the exercises very typical of the Laughter Yoga session:

1. People circulating their hips whilst talking rubbish.
2. Improv-style activities like flapping one’s arms resembling a seagull; sitting in a fanciful rocket ship preparing for take-off; or playing on an imagined swing set.
3. Men and women of all ages roaming around with their hands in the air, laughing boisterously.
4. A well-known exercise is the “Lion Laughter”-eyes widened, lash out the tongue, and then extend the hands as if they’re claws while laughing.
5. At one point, you try to walk around to various persons with your palms pressed together at the upper chest in the Namaste fashion-close your eyes, put the hands together at the heart area, and bow your head-or laugh and shake hands, ensuring that you look into other people’s eyes.
6. Then there’s also the Regal Laughter: every individual takes turns walking like a queen or king between 2 rows of cheering and applauding subjects.
7. Yet another improv-style activity is the Airport Laughter: people act as if they are at the airport and are late for their check-in, running around with their luggage.

Laughter Yoga is presently practiced by over 250,000 people in more than 50 nations around the world. So go ahead and look for a Laughter Club in your vicinity and join the fun way to good health!
About the Author:

As a beginning coach, I ignored warm-ups and used half-speed two-ball dribbling drills as a warm-up for more intense activities during practice. When I moved to Sweden to coach a professional women’s basketball team, the players were married to their warm-ups and could not function without an extended warm-up period. When I practiced with the club’s men’s team, I felt like more than half the practice was a warm-up. I acquiesced, in a sense, with my team: we arrived before our practice time and players jumped rope for 5-10 minutes above the bleachers as our warm-up and then we did one sub-maximal drill on the court before moving into our practice.

In our first game, our opponent spent 25 of the allotted 30 minutes of pre-game warm-up using a basketball. Later in the season, I watched another player go through an extensive plyometric pre-game warm-up. While Americans criticize European players for their defensive deficiencies, the Swedish players’ defensive footwork impressed me. We generally assume that a foreign-born player with adept footwork developed her footwork by playing soccer, but as I reflected on my experience coaching abroad, it appeared as though their pre-game and practice routines focused on footwork and led to its development.

The following season, as I prepared workouts and practice routines, I implemented a series of warm-ups to begin practice: drills to focus on footwork and jumping ability. Coaching women, the pre-practice jumping and agility program is an attempt to increase performance and reduce injuries, as researchers believe women can reduce the risk of ACL injury through a small plyometric routine.

I use three general warm-up routines: (1) jump rope’ (2) stations or (3) full court dynamic warm-up (carioca, running backwards, bounding, lateral bounding, high knees, butt kicks and high/power skips). Our warm-up now lasts 10-15 minutes.

Warm-up Stations

When we do our station warm-up, we jog, backpedal and carioca. Since we have 10 players, we work in pairs. Our focus is to teach quick changes of direction and first-step quickness.

Station 1: Mirror Drill (15 seconds on, rest for 15 seconds, 15 seconds on)

We teach most of our on-ball defensive stance and movement through this drill and later in 1v1 drills. The players face each other and one player starts as the offensive player and one as the defender. The offensive player leads, moving laterally, and the defensive player tries to remain face to face. The offensive player’s goal is to create space between the two of them, while the defender tries to stay within the width of the offensive player’s body.

Station 2: Mikan Drill

The first player goes for 30 seconds and then the second player goes. Drill practices baby-hook shots. Start under the basket and step out with the left foot on the right side to shoot with the right hand; grab the ball from the net, keeping the ball above your shoulders and step to the left side of the rim with your right foot, shooting with the left hand. Continue.

Station 3: Jump Squats

Squat and jump as high as possible, swinging arms high into the air. Focus on a soft landing so they land properly from a vertical jump and absorb the force of the impact throughout the muscles of their legs, not just in the quadriceps and knee joint. Squat to a half-squat, with the bottom of the thighs parallel to the ground before jumping.

Station 4: X-Lay-ups

Make as many lay-ups in 30 seconds and then switch. Start at one elbow, dribble and attempt a lay-up. Rebound and run to the other elbow; dribble and attempt a lay-up from the other side. Continue for 30 seconds.

Station 5: Partner Shooting

Player 1 passes to Player 2 and closes out. P2 catches, shoots and follows her shot. P1 contests the shot and relocates, moving continuously and calling for the ball. P2 passes to P1 and contests shot. Partners shoot for one minute.

Station 6: McHale Drill

Left hand tips ball continuously against the backboard while the right hand grabs the net (rim). Do six and switch to the right hand side. Right hand tips ball against backboard while left hand grabs the net (rim). Repeat on the left hand side for a total of 18 tips. Switch partners.

Station 7: T-Drill with 2 Ball Dribbling

Set up the T-Drill with cones 5-7 feet apart in the shape of a T. Start at the base of the T and sprint forward while dribbling two balls. Shuffle to the left cone, then to the right cone and finally back to the intersection. Back pedal to the base of the T. Go three times and rotate. The other player practices stationary two-ball drills while resting.

These quick drills provide a fast-paced warm-up that needs little instruction and insures the players break a sweat. Our focus is getting through the drills quickly: players sprint from station to station and practice with intensity in each drill. The warm-up focuses on ball control (6 and 7), quick changes of direction (1 and 7), jumping (3 and 6) and shooting (2, 4 and 5), training a variety of skills in a short amount of time.
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