In the Business World
There are many business concerns that Laughter Yoga can address.
Companies, who incorporate Laughter Yoga sessions for all staff, have reported:
A happier, healthy, energetic workforce (Less Stress) or Positive work environment of hope and optimism
Increased efficiency (or Peak performance)
Enhanced communication and motivation
Increase in sales and productivity
Increase in creativity and innovation
Increase in attention span, learning skills, and concentration
More leadership
Better teamwork (or Teambuilding)
Decrease in illness and absenteeism
A reduction in employee turnover
Laughter Yoga Research
Bangalore, India
The first scientific study to confirm the benefits of Laughter Yoga was done in 2006 in Bangalore, India. Laughter Yoga International commissioned a scientific research project involving 200 IT professionals to study the efects of Laughter Yoga on their stress levels. Seven Laughter Yoga sessions were administered to half the group over an 18 day period, with physiological, innunological and phsychological test performed on each person before and after the Laughter Yoga sessions.
The results of this study taken by one of India’s leading scientific research organizations were extremely positive.
In the Laughter Yoga group, there were significant drops in:
Heart rate
Blood pressure
Cortisol levels
Stress
There was a 17% increase in positive emotions, and 27% drop in negative emotions, and Alexithymia dropped 9%, indicating a significant improvement in emotional intelligence.
A copy of the research is available upon request.
US Study (Beckman, Regier & Young
In 2007, the United States look at the effects of Laughter Yoga on personal eddicacy in the workplace. Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to organize and caryy out courses of action necesary to achieve a goal or manage a situation(BAndura, 1986) This personal belief influences the choices people make, the effort theyput forth into working toward a goal, howlong they persist when confronted with obstacles, and hwo they feel during the process of workingtoward goals. Personal efficacy testing was done the week before, the week after, and 60-90 days after the series of Laughter Yoga sessions. Laughter Yoga was administered for 15 minutes a day for 14 days.
The results showed significant improvements of the Laughter Yoga group in all areas, with positive changes of 100% occuring in a number of areas. It is particularly interesting tonote the long-lasting effects of the laughter interventions.
A copy of the research is available upon request.
Laughter Yoga has been featured in prestigious publications such as TIME Magazine, National Geographic, the Wall Street Journal, as well as many others. Laughter Yoga Clubs have been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, BBC, ZDF (Germany), NHK (Japan), ABC News and other TV Networks. For a sneak peak at what a Laughter Yoga session would be like, check out this short video clip on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJefvRplGnE.
