Laughing yoga enthusiast Larissa NusserLaughing yoga is as silly as it sounds, but it has a myriad of health benefits that may surprise you. Basically, laughing yoga is deep breathing combined with voluntary laughter. There is no comedy routine. No joke-telling.
The premise is that forced laughter will trick your body into thinking it's happy and your brain will respond accordingly. Endorphins are released; stress hormones are decreased, which in turn helps boost your immune system. Not to mention that your belly, diaphragm, lungs and facial muscles are getting a physical workout. As laughing yoga enthusiast Larissa Nusser says, "A smile is the best facelift."
Nusser knows firsthand the healing properties of laughing yoga. In 2000 she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and confined to a wheelchair. A friend suggested she try yoga therapy. During her first class she informed her instructor that she did not know why she was there. She couldn't do any of it.
"Can you breathe?" her instructor asked. Well yes, she could breathe. "No," the instructor said. "Can you purposefully breathe?" This
simple sentiment resonated with Nusser. It made her aware of the power of choice. Nusser chose to be happy.
Laughing Against MS
On Dec. 5 Larissa Nusser will be the keynote speaker at the 15th annual Women Against MS (WAMS) luncheon in Chattanooga where she will tell her story and offer tools, meditation CDs and other giveaways that will help women heal. The event occurs between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Stratton Hall on Broad Street. Tickets are $60 per person or $480 per table of eight. All proceeds will benefit the National MS Society, the Mid-South Chapter.
Through a disciplined regime of yoga, positive thinking and daily injections to treat her MS,
Nusser not only got out of her wheelchair but she became a Certified Laughing Yoga Instructor, Certified Life Coach and a motivational speaker. She now co-owns the You Can Do It Yoga Center of Health and Healing with Denise Nizzare in Staten Island, New York.
Once Nusser began teaching yoga classes, she naturally gravitated toward helping those with MS. "I ran into a lot of people in wheelchairs like I had been, living unhappy lives," she remembers. "It was easier to get those people to laugh than move around." Once they were laughing, their inhibitions were lowered and she could get them to move. Laughing yoga can be practiced by anyone, anywhere. But if you need a little motivation getting started, Nusser directs you to the national websitelaughteryogaamerica.com.
Here you will find more information on how to get started including links to Daily Phone Laughter Clubs where you can dial a number, enter an access code and conference in with individuals from all over the country coming together simply to laugh- not talk, just laugh. Calls typically last between 12 to 20 minutes.
It does sound amazingly silly, doesn't it?
"If you worry that you're going to feel silly, well ... you are!" Nusser says. "That's good! We spend so much time being grownups. When you're laughing you're not thinking about your shopping list or how much laundry you have to do. "Laughter brings you back to the moment," she says. "And the moment is really all you have."