Tag: #LifeSkills

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

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

☆ Silent Laughter ☆

Let us first watch this video on Silent Laughter:   SILENCE! LAUGHTER SESSION IS ON

Hope, you enjoyed watching it.

Silent Laughter is a powerful cardio-vascular exercise that relieves stress instantly, boosts immune system and produces feel good hormones known as endorphins. It is cathartic, massages internal organs and induces deep breathing from the diaphragm.

Silent Laughter is a laughter exercise where we laugh silently without making any sound. The laughter is vigorous but there is no sound. You may use facial expressions and hand gestures to articulate your laughter. It’s more fun than other laughter exercises because the more you try to supress the sound of laughter, the more difficult and hilarious it becomes until everyone burst out laughing loud.

It’s a powerful cardio-vascular exercise, alleviates stress and induces deep breathing from the diaphragm. Silent laughter is cathartic and boosts our immune system. It produces copious amounts of feel good hormones known as endorphins. Gentle laughter massages all our internal organs thoroughly.

First of all, one needs to cultivate childlike playfulness and get prepared to laugh for no reason. Then, the laughter needs to be sustained for 5-10 minutes before going into Laughter Meditation. You become quieter and relax – laughing less and less outwardly but more and more of your laughter is inwardly.

 

Jagat Singh Bisht  and Smt. Radhika Bisht 

Founder: LifeSkills

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

International Yoga Day 2019

Shri Jagat Singh Bisht

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

 

☆ Yoga Day 2019: Yoga By The Sea & Eight Limbs Of Yoga Practice ☆

 

Please click on picture or text for video >>  Yoga by the sea 

Eight parts of yoga discipline:

2. Niyama: fixed rules

3. Asana: postures

4. Pranayama: breath control

5. Pratyahara: withdrawal

6. Dharana: concentration

7. Dhyana: meditation

8. Samadhi: samadhi

The five yamas:

1. Non-violence
2. Truth
3. Honesty
4. Sensual abstinence
5. Non-possessiveness

The five niyamas:

1. Cleanliness
2. Contentment
3. Austerity
4. Self-study
5. Surrender to God

Asana:

Steady and comfortable should be the posture.

Pranayama:

The asana having been done, pranayama is the cessation of the movement of inhalation and exhalation. Fitness of the mind for concentration develops through pranayama.

Pratyahara:

Pratyahara is, as it were, the imitation by the senses of the mind by withdrawing them from their respective objects. There is highest mastery over the sense organs by pratyahara.

Dharana:

Concentration (dharana) is binding the mind to one place.

Dhyana:

Uninterrupted stream of the content of consciousness is Dhyana.

Samadhi:

That state (of dharana and dhyana) becomes samadhi when there is only the object appearing without the consciousness of one’s self.

(This is only a demonstration to facilitate practice of the asanas. It must be supplemented by a thorough study of each of the asanas. Careful attention must be paid to the contra indications in respect of each one of the asanas. It is advisable to practice under the guidance of a yoga teacher.)

 

Jagat Singh Bisht  and Smt. Radhika 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.)

 

☆ Buddha: The Ultimate Happiness Guru ☆

Generally, it is believed that the Buddha was a pessimist who preached misery. Nothing can be farther from the truth.
Buddha had great compassion for all beings. He saw their misery, felt deep empathy, explored the causes, and discovered a way out.

Not only that. He gave us a valuable guide for deep and lasting happiness.

The building blocks of an authentically happy life are outlined in the Discourse on Blessings – Maha-mangala Sutta – thus:

• Not to associate with the foolish, but to associate with the wise; and to honor those who are worthy of honor

• To reside in a suitable locality, to have done meritorious actions in the past and to set oneself in the right course

• To have much learning, to be skillful in handicraft, well-trained in discipline, and to be of good speech

• To support mother and father, to cherish wife and children, and to be engaged in peaceful occupation

• To be generous in giving, to be righteous in conduct, to help one’s relatives, and to be blameless in action

• To loathe more evil and abstain from it, to refrain from intoxicants, and to be steadfast in virtue

• To be respectful, humble, contented and grateful; and to listen to the Dhamma on due occasions

• To be patient and obedient, to associate with monks and to have religious discussions on due occasions

• Self-restraint, a holy and chaste life, the perception of the Noble Truths and the realisation of Nibbana

• A mind unruffled by the vagaries of fortune, from sorrow freed, from defilements cleansed, from fear liberated

These are the greatest Blessings.

Buddha closes the discourse with the words, “Those who thus abide, ever remain invincible, in happiness established. These are the greatest blessings.”

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Buddha is the Ultimate Happiness Guru!

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 Nestle ☆

 

Some time back, we were invited by Nestle to conduct a Laughter Yoga session during their Zone Asia-Oceania-Africa Safety, Health and Environmental Sustainability Workshop at Goa Marriott Resort & Spa, India.

The audience included the Executive Vice President from Nestle headquarters at Vevey, Switzerland and Market Corporate Safety Managers from 20 countries including Australia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Turkey, along with factory safety heads from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

The session disguised as wellness break was a well kept secret till the last minute. It took just a couple of minutes for the vibrant group to cultivate childlike playfulness. They were almost ecstatic as they did Greeting Laughter, Milkshake Laughter, Cell Phone Laughter, Hearty Laughter, Lion Laughter and Calcutta Laughter.

The entire environment was transformed within a few minutes and there was a paradigm shift in the group dynamics after the session as jubilant chants of ‘Very Good Very Good Yay’ continued to echo in the following days till the workshop was over and the delegates were seen off at the airport.

The response strengthened our belief that the whole world is a large extended family which may be easily united through love and laughter.

Sweet memories of the session still linger on in our minds.

 

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.)

 

☆ Department of Happiness, Government of Madhya Pradesh, India☆

Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in India to get a ‘Happiness Department’ (‘Anand Vibhaag’ in Hindi) within the state government apparatus, according to a report in the Times of India. The objective of the department is to measure prosperity by gauging citizens’ happiness quotient and not the gross domestic product.

Mr Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the former chief minister of the state, has penned his thoughts by way of a blog on this occasion. He says, “I often wonder why despite unprecedented growth in material prosperity and means of comfort, happiness continues to elude and what explains the ever growing intolerance, violence despair and depression.”

The concept of happiness that the government aspires to pursue in Madhya Pradesh, as per the Former Chief Minister, will primarily be based on time tested India wisdom.Former

He realizes that the government apparatus has its own strength and limitations. And, rightly goes on to say, “using it for spreading joy in society has its own challenges”.

The initiative to bring cheers to the life of common man is welcome and deserves kudos. Madhya Pradesh can now claim to be in the same league as Bhutan, Venezuela and the UAE.

As the outline of the department of happiness is being formulated, I have a few humble points to make.

Yoga and Meditation, no doubt, are vital pillars of happiness and peace. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Psychologist, in his well-known classic work on happiness, Flow, agrees, “The similarities between Yoga and flow are extremely strong; in fact it makes sense to think of Yoga as a very thoroughly planned flow activity. Both try to achieve a joyous, self-forgetful involvement through concentration, which in turn is made possible by a discipline of the body.”

A gargantuan work has been done in the field of ‘Happiness and Well-Being’ after Martin Seligman, in 1998, as president of the American Psychological Association, urged “psychology to supplement its venerable goal with a new goal: exploring what makes life worth living and building the enabling conditions of a life worth living”.

Positive Psychology should be a strong pillar of any modern day happiness programme anywhere in the world.

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.

Likewise, positive education and positive health merit mention.

Positive education is defined as education for both traditional skills and for happiness. The high prevalence worldwide of depression among young people, the small rise in life satisfaction, and the synergy between learning and positive emotion all argue that the skills for happiness should be taught in school. There is substantial evidence from well controlled studies that skills that increase resilience, positive emotion, engagement and meaning can be taught to school children.

The field of medicine has long focused on the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure of disease. But health is more than the mere absence of disease. The emerging concept of Positive Health takes an innovative approach to health and well-being that focuses on promoting people’s positive health assets, which might include biological factors, such as high heart rate variability; subjective factors, such as optimism; and functional factors, such as a stable marriage—strengths that can contribute to a healthier, longer life.

Last, but not the least, Laughter Yoga, one of the most effective tools for creating instant joy, should be an integral part of any happiness curriculum.

Laughter Yoga is a combination of laughter exercises and yogic breathing that strengthens our immune system and generates feel good hormones in the body. Laughter is triggered with the help of exercises which soon turns into real and contagious laughter with eye contact and childlike playfulness. It is a simple yet profound method of busting physical, mental and emotional stress in one go.

I am citizen of this state and offer myself, with all humility, as a volunteer consultant, happiness and well-being. Shall be happy to offer my services to the state without any expectation and reward.

Wishing the Happiness Department in Madhya Pradesh all the happiness and a grand success!

 

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.)

 

☆ Happiness and Well-Being☆

 

Each one of us seeks happiness.

Happiness and well-being is not a thing. The modern science of happiness and well-being describes it as a ‘construct’.

For example, ‘weather’ is a construct. Ask any meteorologist, and he will tell you: weather is not a thing, it is a construct – a construct of temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and a host of other factors.

The elements of well-being include positive emotion, engagement or flow, positive relationships, meaning and accomplishment.

A couple of additional features from out of self-esteem, optimism, resilience, vitality and self-determination are required to really flourish.

This means you have to dig a bit deeper to understand fully what is happiness and well-being. It’s not as simplistic as saying: happiness is within us.

Happiness does not come to you on its own. You have to act in order to achieve it.

The good news is that we can learn to enhance our levels of happiness and well-being.

Please stay tuned as we unfold more and more on the subject.

 

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.)

☆ Life Skills Worth Learning ☆

I share with you some skills that will make your life happier, fulfilling and meaningful:

Laughter Yoga is a unique concept where you can laugh for no reason. It combines laughter exercises with yogic breathing. When we laugh, our body generates feel good hormones called endorphins which improve our mood and general outlook. During laughter exercises, all the stale air inside the lungs is expelled and our system gets more oxygen which enhances the immune system. In the long run, the inner spirit of laughter helps you build more caring and sharing social relationships, and laugh even when the going in not good.

Surya Namaskara is a well-known and vital technique within the yogic repertoire. It is almost a complete sadhana in itself, containing asana, pranayama and meditational techniques within the main structure of the practice. Surya namaskara is more than just a series of physical exercises. Of course, it stretches, massages, tones and stimulates all the muscles, vital organs and physical parts by alternatively flexing the body backwards and forwards, but it also has the depth and completeness of a spiritual practice.

Yoga Nidra is a powerful technique in which you learn to relax consciously. It is a systematic method of inducing complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation. During the practice of yoga nidra, one appears to be asleep, but the consciousness is functioning at a deeper level of awareness. The total systematic relaxation of a yoga nidra session is equivalent to hours of ordinary sleep without awareness. A single hour of yoga nidra is as restful as four hours of conventional sleep.

Meditation is something that most people have heard about, few have any true conception about and even fewer have actually experienced. Like all other subjective experiences, it cannot really be described in words. Meditation implies relaxation, both physical and mental, at a level which few of us experience even during sleep. It is a most powerful way of controlling physiological processes and also of controlling physiological reactions to psychological events. One of the most profound changes that takes place in the body during meditation is the slowing down of the metabolism, the rate of breaking down and building up the body, for there is a sharp reduction in oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide output.

Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.Top of Form Positive Psychology takes seriously the bright hope that if you find yourself stuck in the parking lot of life, with few and only ephemeral pleasures, with minimal gratifications, and without meaning, there is a road out. This road takes you through the countryside of pleasure and gratification, up into the high country of strength and virtue, and finally to the peaks of lasting fulfillment: meaning and purpose.

(Experiential life skills workshops commence in January 2016 at Indore, India. Contact: [email protected] +917389938255)

Compiled by Jagat Singh Bisht, with due acknowledgement and immense gratitude to Dr Madan Kataria, Swami Satyananda Saraswati and Dr Martin E.P. Seligman.

 

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.)

☆  Every house could be a temple of Love, Laughter and Happiness!! ☆

EVERY HOUSE COULD BE A TEMPLE OF LOVE, LAUGHTER AND HAPPINESS!!

Do you wish to transform your house into a Temple of Love, Laughter and Happiness? Would you be happy if your friends visited your place to bless it with love, laughter and happiness?

A vibrant bunch of ladies, members of Suniket Ladies’ Yoga & Laughter Yoga Club, Indore get together for regular yoga and laughter yoga sessions during weekdays. And, every Saturday evening they gather at a member’s residence for new fun games, pure joy and fellowship.

Their team leader, Radhika Bisht, Laughter Yoga Master Trainer, has a rich experience of Ladies’ Laughter Kitty, “We took this initiative to come closer to each other, have warmer relationships and bless each other’s house with positive vibes.

• We do a quick, short session of Laughter Yoga with some breathing and Pranayama and Laughter Meditation in sitting position.
• Fun games are loved the most and ladies are eager every week, looking forward to a new, exciting fun activity. We have a rich repertoire of fun games.
• The warmth and relationships generated by getting together is coveted and treasured by all. Ladies come together for the love and sense of belonging that we feel in the cozy atmosphere of a laughter kitty at a friend’s place. This needs a lot of sincere efforts to cultivate and build over time.
• As a ritual, the house where we assemble is explicitly blessed with abundant showers of laughter, happiness and prosperity, which the host values and carries fond memories for a long, long time.
• There are many other things like no fatty/ oily snacks, just a cup of tea and biscuits. No gossips, back-biting or political discussions. No collection of money as is done in the traditional kitty parties.
• The host is free to call her friends and relatives to the kitty, thus introducing them to the unique concept of Laughter Yoga.
• Last, but not the least, we start with a round of Tambola which begins dot on the appointed hour so that no lady dares to come late, haha.
• We would do our best to propagate this model of health, happiness and joy for the ladies’ world over.”

 

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.)

☆  Can Humor Cure Tumor? ☆

Five years ago, Desmond Nicholas, a brave cancer survivor based in Melbourne, visited Indore and stayed with us. I have very fond memories of Des. He was a rather quiet person for an Australian but had a keen sense for humour, sports and politics. We went out for long walks in the evening and talked all of these three topics.

He had undergone the pain of chemotherapy twice. When colon cancer was detected for the third time, he didn’t want to take it anymore.

One of his acquaintances told him about Laughter Yogaand its benefits. He found the concept amusing but went ahead to give it a try. He joined a laughter club there and took private sessions with the laughter leader.

Des was a basketball player in his younger days. He told me that he eventually started enjoying laughter exercises like the game of basketball and continued with it for hours together.

After a few months he went for a check-up. The doctor looked up to him and asked where he had got himself treated as there was no trace left in the report. Des mimicked, with a wink, the expression he had seen on the doctor’s face when he told him that he had tried laughter yoga. We had a good laugh!

Des shared his story in a blog which I am reproducing in toto for the benefit of the readers:

“Greatly inspired by Laughter Yoga Clubs, I started to laugh all by myself every day after meditation. The laughter exercises include chants of Ho Ho, Ha Ha and deep breathing. I also do these exercises even while walking. I allow myself to be spontaneous and childlike and make funny movements. I even sing some positive affirmations like: I am happy tee hee hee; I am healthy tee hee hee; I am strong tee hee hee..

“Regular practice of laughing alone has had a tremendous effect on my health condition. Though suffering from a tumor for some time, I can feel it getting smaller. Even my specialist was amazed when he realized it had shrunk remarkably. He cancelled the radiotherapy and said, ‘I am happy to keep an eye on it for now. I really believe that its laughter, meditation and positive affirmations that have worked so wonderfully together.’

“I also think laughter is anti-ageing. Though I’m 60, I feel very energetic, there is less pain and I can easily do a lot of things. People remark that I look much better and younger!”

Yes, Des, I agree, you are sweet-sixty, yet as mischievous as a sweet-sixteen!

Des’ story also supports Dr Otto Warburg’s finding: ‘Deep breathing techniques increase oxygen to the cells and are the most important factors in living a disease-free and energetic life. When cells get enough oxygen, cancer will not and cannot occur.’ Warburg, President, Institute of Cell Physiology, is the only person to ever win the Noble Prize for Medicine twice and was nominated for a third.

In his book ‘Laugh for No Reason’, Dr Madan Kataria, the founder of Laughter Clubs Movement has rightly said that those suffering from life threatening diseases not only go through physical pain; they also face immense psychological trauma. Not just the patient, but family, friends and care givers all need positive reinforcement. Having a positive mental attitude greatly influences the course of the disease.

We have had many members suffering from cancer, immune disorders, multiple sclerosis and other chronic diseases who have reported relief from their symptoms, thereby reducing their medication.

In the past, inspired by the research on laughter, many cancer patients tried to use humor in order to laugh away their tumor. But, it is not easy to laugh when someone has a disease like cancer.

This is where Laughter Yoga has an advantage. Since it is a physical method, it is ideally suited for cancer groups who can practice laughter as a form of exercise with no need of any humorous intervention. It may not cure the disease but definitely help in enhancing one’s ability to cope with and maintain a positive attitude.

(The blogger is a Laughter Yoga Master Trainer and expresses his willingness to conduct laughter yoga and meditation sessions for the benefit of cancer patients.)

 

Jagat Singh Bisht

Founder: LifeSkills

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