HAHA – Health and Happiness Align. Liza is joining me today to discuss how laughing is one of the healthiest things we can do for our bodies and minds.
Liza obtained her Masters of Public Health degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2015. She discovered laughter yoga during a 2014 summer internship in Guanajuato, Mexico, where she was implementing and evaluating a support group intervention for women in rural communities suffering from depression and anxiety. She happened upon a laughter yoga class in the city where she was staying and after attending and loving the class (of course!), decided to include laughter yoga in the support group curriculum as a bonding and relaxation activity for the participating women. It was a big hit, and often highlighted in exit interviews as a favorite part of the program. This led Liza to further investigate the practice and explore ways to bring laughter yoga to North Carolina. In January of 2015, she founded Health and Happiness Align (HAHA) and has led countless classes for local businesses, senior centers and assisted living communities, health groups, and community organizations and meetings. Her classes have been heralded as a fun and exciting retreat activity as well as a valuable wellness practice. As she continues building her business, Liza hopes to bring laughter to the forefront of wellness conversations, as the benefits are exciting and numerous, and laughing something everyone can do
Laughing releases endorphins, the intake of fresh oxygen, the cardiac exercise, and the signals it sends to our brains. The most powerful finding, however, is that these health benefits occur regardless of whether or not the laughter is real or fake, meaning we don’t need humor, or external stimuli, to take advantage of laughter as a wellness strategy. We can simply force ourselves to laugh for no reason. Laughter yoga helps us do this, as laughing is contagious, so while it is hard to force yourself to laugh for no reason when you’re by yourself and nothing is “funny,” doing this in a group setting is much easier, and actually quite hilarious.
HAHA on Social Media:
Facebook: HAHA: Health and Happiness Align (https://www.facebook.com/HAHAthroughlaughter/)
Instagram: hahathroughlaughter (https://www.instagram.com/hahathroughlaughter/)
LinkedIn: Health and Happiness Align (HAHA) (https://www.linkedin.com/company/health-and-happiness-align-haha-?trk=company_logo)
