Category: योग-साधना/Yoga

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

(Master Teacher: Happiness & Well-Being, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer,  Author, Blogger, Educator and Speaker.)

☆ A Laughter Club Dream ☆

Man Pasand Garden is a beautiful park in the posh New Palasia locality of Indore. I am here after almost two years.
Earlier, whenever I took a long morning walk along with my wife Radhika, we always stopped here to relax for a while. Almost on all such occasions, we dreamt of starting a Laughter Club here.

As I sit here, I find people slowly moving towards a green enclosure and clapping joyously. They move their hands over their heads and burst into an uproarious laughter. I realize that this is a new Laughter Club. Within minutes, I am there taking deep breaths and laughing intermittently with them.

I am told that this club – Laughter Club of Man Pasand Graden – started by A L Jain, affectionately known as Raja Babu, is just six months old and has been adjudged as the number one club among the 65 clubs inIndore. The members are growing steadily as more and more younger people are joining the club.

Ram Kishan, tech savvy at 72, tells me that the attendance had started declining a couple of months after the club was inaugurated and he thought about using social media to boost it. His devotion to the club is commendable. He shoots videos and pictures on a daily basis and uploads them on YouTube, Facebook and also shares them with the club’s WhatsApp group each and every day. It is ensured that every member present on the day is reflected in the pictures and videos. The members enjoy watching themselves laugh on their cell phones throughout the day.

Their average daily attendance is well over 70 and it is perhaps the only club in the world which meets every day in two batches, one at 7 am and the other at 8.30 am.

When I introduced myself and they came to know that I am associated with the Laughter Yoga University in Bangalore, they invited me along with Radhika to conduct a laughter session for them. Once home, I told Radhika that our dream to start a club at Man Pasand Garden has been fulfilled by some divine intervention and we have to conduct a Laughter Yoga session there the next morning. She was pleasantly surprised.

The laughter session was simply out of the world!! And the club members were so full of energy and enthusiasm. Everyone there loved it, especially the Laughter Meditation towards the end.

You may watch glimpses of this session through this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpDtIV_XR7U

Highly inspired, the members decided to felicitate us in a public function. Though we told them not to indulge in such formalities, they insisted. When we reached the park next morning, we found more than a hundred people waiting for us including the founding members of the club, representatives of other Laughter Clubs in the city and the elected political representative of the area.

The felicitation was really warm, affectionate and full of laughter. We were offered flowers, sweets and a shawl as a mark of honour for which we thanked them profusely.

On behalf of the Laughter Yoga University, we presented a cap and a hat with the University logo to the leaders of the club, Raja Babu and Ram Kishan, as a memento of love and recognition for their dedication and selfless service to the community.
We shall ever cherish the happy memories of Man Pasand Garden and the wonderful club members. Many of them have expressed a desire to undergo Laughter Yoga leader training with us which we will be arranging in the near future.

Jagat Singh Bisht

Founder: LifeSkills

Seminars, Workshops & Retreats on Happiness, Laughter Yoga & Positive Psychology.
Speak to us on +91 73899 38255
[email protected]

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

(Master Teacher: Happiness & Well-Being, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer,  Author, Blogger, Educator and Speaker.)

☆ Laughter Yoga with Commandos ☆

I took a morning flight from Indore, halting briefly at Mumbai, which touched Bengaluru by noon.

As I came out of the arrival gate, a pleasant surprise, which I had not dreamt of, overwhelmed me. I shall write about it in a separate blog sometime later, not now, as it is a different subject matter altogether.

We proceeded to the Laughter Yoga University; just about 20 minutes drive from the airport. Dr Madan Kataria, the Laughter Guru, whom I adored, was here. I touched his feet and he introduced me to his young team.

Before I could settle down, he said, “We will have lunch now and then, within an hour, we are leaving for an interesting assignment – Laughter Yoga with the Commandos!”

The Centre for Counter Terrorism was a couple of hours drive from the university.

Over a cup of tea, the trainers there told us, “The commandos are here for training. They have a strict routine. They get up at 5 am and go to bed only after 11 pm. The whole day they have strenuous physical activity as well as theory classes. They feel a lot of stress, fatigue and are sleep deprived.”

We were taken to an indoor shooting range where 30 commandos were waiting for us.

Dr K greeted them with laughter and said, “We know that you are going through a very tough routine. You don’t get enough sleep. The physical activities you do the whole day are exhausting. You are away from your loved ones and being combat ready at all times drains away all the energy.”

The commandos felt that here is someone who understands their plight and empathizes with them. They were now willing to listen.
Dr K said, ”We are here to show you ways to relax, build stamina and be happy!”

We then had an out of the world experience of laughter yoga and meditation for more than an hour. The commandos were all smiles. Fully relaxed!

Each one wanted to shake hands with Dr K. We could feel the gratitude in their eyes. The tough exterior of the commandos had melted and the child within was visible all around.

We too felt blessed and realized that we owe a lot more to them.

On our way back, Dr K shared, “How fulfilling this experience has been! I am feeling really good.”

He continued, “We had conducted a session with the commandos earlier too but this time it was something different. We shall not leave it mid-way. We shall depute one of our teachers here for as long as they want who will also train their trainers to conduct laughter and breathing exercises.”

Dr K spoke to their superintendent and sent one of our star laughter yoga teachers, Vinayak, to be with them all along the day for a couple of days.

Vinayak was with them from early morning till late night. Whenever the group energy drooped, he shared some laughter and breathing exercises. The effect was magical.

The trainers told us that the commandos were now more willing to learn, responded cheerfully to their commands and shared a lot of positive energy as a team.

They laughed during breaks, doing their own versions of the laughter exercises and would allow Vinayak to leave the place.

(Thank you, Vinayak, for the splendid efforts! We are looking forward to a blog with a detailed account of the experiences you had there which you alone can share.)

 

Jagat Singh Bisht

Founder: LifeSkills

Seminars, Workshops & Retreats on Happiness, Laughter Yoga & Positive Psychology.
Speak to us on +91 73899 38255
[email protected]

 

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

(Master Teacher: Happiness & Well-Being, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer,  Author, Blogger, Educator and Speaker.)

☆ Laughter is a Universal Language☆

Laughter is a universal language. It knows no barriers.

This was proved when we conducted a two-day laughter yoga and meditation programme for a small group fromUzbekistan. The group included a child psychology teacher, fitness trainer for seniors, tour conductor, and yoga trainer.

During the first day, we focused on the four steps of laughter yoga – clapping and chanting, deep breathing, childlike playfulness and laughter exercises. After the exercises, seventy-three year old Viktorina said, “I feel light, very light. I am ready to fly in the sky like a bird!”

Sixty-six year old Valentina found great value in the inner spirit of laughter and the health benefits of laughter for the seniors. She is a fitness trainer for the old people inTashkentand would be adding laughter exercises to her repertoire when she goes back.

On the second day, the participants experienced laughter yoga meditation. Laughter flowed like a fountain. Their bodies and laughter mingled like milk and water. Zulfiya described it as an out-of-the-world experience.

They also created a number of new laughter exercises – splash splash laughter, soap bubble laughter and angry cat laughter. The chants of “Kharasho, Kharasho, Yay!!” (Very Good, Very Good, Yay!!) reverberated in the surroundings, creating positive vibes all around.

Marina, as a child psychologist, could sense the latent potential in laughter yoga for developing soft skills in children like communication skills and creativity. She loved the value based laughter exercises like appreciation laughter, argument laughter and forgiveness laughter, and found them specially valuable for the children.

Angelika, who has done the certified laughter yoga leader training with us twice at Rishikesh, expressed her gratitude for the life changing experience. She teaches laughter yoga back home inTashkentand is happy transforming many lives there.

Our special thanks to Ivan Skofenko for doing all the ground work for bringing three groups from Tashkent to Rishkesh during the last two years and helping us as an interpreter and translator of the highest caliber. He is a trained yoga teacher and has undergone certified laughter yoga leader training with us on three occasions. We appreciate Ivan’s sincere devotion to the cause and the good work he is doing in propagating yoga and laughter yoga inUzbekistan,KazakhstanandKyrgyzstan.

When the participants learned that Radhika conducts free yoga classes on a daily basis atIndore,Indiaand a number of ladies have benefitted from them, they requested her to impart lessons in traditional yoga also. She readily agreed to their request. They will be cherishing memories of the yoga sessions early in the morning in the serene surroundings of Rishikesh – the world capital of yoga – for a long, long time!

 

Radhika & Jagat Singh Bisht

Founder: LifeSkills

Seminars, Workshops & Retreats on Happiness, Laughter Yoga & Positive Psychology.
Speak to us on +91 73899 38255
[email protected]

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

(Master Teacher: Happiness & Well-Being, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer, Author, Blogger, Educator and Speaker.)

☆ The Five Elements of Well-Being☆

Twenty-three hundred years ago, Aristotle concluded, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

Everyone aspires for happiness but it remains ever elusive. After years of research, the positive psychologists claim to have discovered the elements of authentic happiness and well-being.

The first element is Positive Emotion about the past, present and future. Expressing gratitude, forgiving and forgetting, counting blessings in daily life, having faith, trust, confidence and hope, and being optimistic are some ways to generate positive feelings.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discovered that happiness is not something that happens. It is, in fact, a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended privately by each person. He says, “People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any one of us can come to being happy.”

The second element of well-being is Engagement or Flow: being one with music, dancing, rock climbing, football, chess, or even work. It’s time stopping and self-consciousness is lost during absorbing activity. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity and a total involvement with life.

Viktor Frankl, in his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, says that happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.

Meaning is the third element of well-being. Human beings want meaning and purpose in life. A meaningful life consists in belonging to and serving something that you believe is bigger than the self.

John Stuart Mill feels, “It is by being fully involved in every detail of our lives, whether good or bad, that we find happiness, not by looking for it directly.”

People pursue success, accomplishment, winning, achievement, and mastery for their own sakes. The fourth element of well-being is Accomplishment and an achieving life is a life dedicated to accomplishment.

There is no denying the profound influences that positive relationships or their absence have on well-being. Positive Relationships is the fifth element of well-being.

Is there someone in your life whom you would feel comfortable phoning at four in the morning to tell your troubles to? If your answer is yes, you will likely live longer than someone whose answer is no. George Vaillant, a Harvard Psychiatrist has discovered this fact.

Martin Seligman, in his new book ‘Flourish’, says that well-being is not a thing, like happiness, but a construct. No one element defines well-being, but each contributes to it. The way we choose our life is to maximise all five of these elements by deploying our highest strengths to meet the highest challenges that come our way.

Founder: LifeSkills

Seminars, Workshops & Retreats on Happiness, Laughter Yoga & Positive Psychology.
Speak to us on +91 73899 38255
[email protected]

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

(Master Teacher: Happiness & Well-Being, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer, Author, Blogger, Educator and Speaker.)

☆ Tashkent to Rishikesh for Laughter Yoga ☆

A small group of laughter lovers – including a young fashion designer, a scientist, an engineer, a doctor, a psychologist, a teacher and two yoga teachers – flew down from Tashkent to Rishikesh, known as the world capital of yoga, to learn the basics of Laughter Yoga. All of them had a background of yoga but had come to India with an eagerness to master the happiest workout in the world – Laughter Yoga.

We conducted a 2-day certified laughter yoga leader training programme for them covering theoretical and practical aspects of Laughter Yoga including the inner spirit of laughter, laughter meditation and guided relaxation.

The programme was well appreciated by all the participants. Here are some of the feedbacks received from some of them:

“In my normal life, I do not laugh much. Here, I discovered that I have so much laughter hidden inside me. Everyone seems to have an infinite capacity to laugh. And, it feels so good. My daughter is also here with me. Now, we will go back home and it is going to be a happy, cheerful place forever!”

“I am a psychologist and have found the concept of Laughter Yoga to be very useful. Laughter can be a good tool for healing. I shall be applying in practice what I have learned here.”

“I have found a new way to engage with my grand children. We are going to sing, dance, laugh and play the whole day. The kids are going to find the fun based laughter exercises really interesting.”

“I am a yoga teacher and have included Laughter Yoga in my curriculum after I came to Rishikesh a few months ago and learned it from you. I have come along with one of my students and we have got deep insights into laughter and meditation. Laughter has enormous potential for healing depression and aches. “

“I also came here in April 2013 to undergo Certified Laughter Yoga Leader training. After going back to my country, I organized several laughter retreats in the mountains on the weekends. The retreats have got fantastic response as laughter touches the innermost core of being. I have also been to two neighbouring countries, namely Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and made presentations on Laughter Yoga before large groups. I propose to come back here for Laughter Yoga soon with a group from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.”

This was the second certified laughter yoga leader training organized in Rishikesh for nationals from Uzbekistan this year by us and three participants had come for the second time again in the programme due to their sheer love for Laughter Yoga.

Dr Madan Kataria, the founder of Laughter Yoga, who had visited Kazakhstan recently, extends best wishes to all the new certified laughter yoga leaders and appreciates the efforts made by Ivan Skofenko, Tashkent for propagating Laughter Yoga in Uzbekistan and the neighbouring countries.

Founder: LifeSkills

Seminars, Workshops & Retreats on Happiness, Laughter Yoga & Positive Psychology.
Speak to us on +91 73899 38255
[email protected]

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

(Master Teacher: Happiness & Well-Being, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer, Author, Blogger, Educator and Speaker.)

☆ Laughter Yoga at the World’s Yoga Capital ☆

I am feeling deeply fulfilled. It has been an intense flow experience. I am just back from Rishikesh, said to be the world’s yoga capital and really proud to have conducted Laughter yoga there.

A bunch of laughter lovers had come over there all the way from Tashkent to undergo certified laughter yoga leader training. Most of them had some background of the traditional yoga. Some of them were yoga teachers back home in Uzbekistan. Tanya, a young German girl, serving as a volunteer in a Gandhi ashram in Kausani, also joined us. We (Radhika, my wife, and me) had met her last month when we visited the ashram for conducting laughter yoga for the inmates. She wishes to be an art therapist and feels that laughter yoga would richen her repertoire.

Ivan had come to India a few years ago to learn yoga. He has had some fleeting glimpses of laughter yoga here and there. Being a yoga teacher himself, he realized that laughter yoga had great value hidden in it. That faith motivated him to bring a whole group to India to discover Laughter Yoga. But he was stunned at what he experienced during the two day programme. He had not bargained for so much. We are especially grateful to him for taking all the trouble with great patience to translate each and every word carefully for the participants as only a few of them were conversant with English. He plans to translate the leader manual when he gets back.

We had a calming two and a half hour laughter meditation session which was an out of the world experience for all of them. Anjelika exclaimed, ”I am feeling so relaxed. I had rashes and allergy for quite some time but now everything seems to have disappeared. I will go back and first practice laughter yoga with my children and then with my yoga students.”

Regina is proud of her Indian name Ragini. She is a student of Indian dance forms. She is young but came up with mature observations, “I am feeling so light. I have laughed so much after so long. I considered laughing to be silly but now I feel that one can be silly. Gibberish meditation has fully uncluttered my mind. I has been so relaxing and cathartic. The value based laughter exercises like Guru laughter, Visa bill laughter and No money laughter are truly inspiring and leave a deep impact on the psyche. As regards the four elements of joy, I have singing and dancing all along with me but now I shall also add playing and laughter to make my life wholesome.”

Galina, fit and full of energy even at 71 years of age, retired as a school teacher in the year 1991. She felt, “When I was there with children, I was not aware of the wonders that laughter can bring about. I will go back to the school and do Laughter yoga with the students and their parents on the annual day. This has been a life changing experience for me.”

The entire group was so committed and devoted that I have no doubts whatsoever that they will go back and propagate Laughter yoga to the best of their abilities.

 

Founder: LifeSkills

Seminars, Workshops & Retreats on Happiness, Laughter Yoga & Positive Psychology.
Speak to us on +91 73899 38255
[email protected]