Laughter and Sports

Laughter Yoga In Sports

I was recently invited to a College of Chemical Technology in Mumbai to conduct a Laughter Yoga session before the students ran a marathon. There were about 800 participants from various institutes and colleges who took part in the event.

We did 10 minutes of Laughter Yoga which instantly changed the energy levels of the group; their enthusiasm level increased and just before they started the marathon; they were all shouting and screaming. This highly motivating change is clearly indicative of the fact that Laughter Yoga has a great potential to be introduced in all sporting events like soccer, rugby hockey, basketball etc. In fact, for many years, I have been dreaming of introducing Laughter Yoga during the opening ceremony of the Olympics and one day it is going to come true!

Laughter Yoga For Competitive Sports

In competitive sports people are more focused on the outcome of their goal; there is a high spirit of competition and rivalry leading to undue stress among the athletes and teams. This can have a negative impact on their performance. By doing Laughter Yoga exercises, one can reduce all this stress and anxiety and improve their performance.

Stamina Building Through Laughter Yoga

Stamina means how much physical work a person can do without getting breathless; and this is directly dependent upon the oxygen level in the blood. The breathing capacity of the lungs or the vital capacity depends upon the number of lung cells participating in oxygen exchange. Normally, due to stress factors we do not breathe deeply. As a result many cells of the lungs do not participate in this exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide and collapse temporarily.

Deep breathing and Laughter exercises help to open these collapsed lung cells and increase the total breathing capacity of the lungs. This increases the net supply of oxygen in the blood, thereby increasing the stamina and helping people to undertake more physical activity without getting out of breath. 

FROM LAUGHTER YOGA TNTERNATIONAL