Laughter yoga proves humor can be healthy

Pretend you’re on the funniest phone call you’ve ever been on. Then hand the phone to the person across from you. Don’t say anything. Make full eye contact. No speaking.

The call is fake. The phone is fake. The eye contact is disconcerting. The laughter, though, is real. It starts as kind of an awkward giggle. You look around and wonder, “Am I doing this right?” Then it builds. Before you realize it, you’re pretending to walk into a stiff wind, staring at strangers, and you are downright cackling, snorting, guffawing from deep in your belly.

This is laughter yoga.

Jill Johnson of Joyful Living Therapy has been teaching the class since 2008. She’s one of a few certified laughter yoga instructors in Sioux Falls. She brings it to corporate team-building events, conferences and, one day a month, to McKennan Park for Sioux Falls Laughter Club. She learned about the program while at a yoga therapy conference.

“It was quick and fast and made me feel uncomfortable,” Johnson said. “It got me thinking, ‘why was that so uncomfortable when my business name is Joyful Living?’”

It was enough to intrigue and inspire her to get trained at a California retreat. In a typical session, everyone gathers in a circle, and Johnson and her husband, Dan, lay out the rules: No new pain because we are laughing with not at each other, and no talking because that engages the logical part of your brain.

“We throw our brains away so you don’t overanalyze,” Johnson said. They lead the group through a series of activities – like the funny cellphone call or pretending you’re one of those floppy waving tube men you see outside of businesses.

It’s like mime, but funny and less pretentious and very, very vulnerable.

“When you let go of that sarcastic mask or making fun of somebody, it turns into genuine laughter,” Johnson said. “It’s very spiritual, but it takes awhile.”

There are a few key ingredients: You have to have a childlike playfulness about you and a willingness to just let go. “The next thing you know, you are laughing, and it’s deep belly laughs, and the endorphins are higher,” she said.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, about eight people gathered in the sunken gardens at McKennan Park. The Johnsons and Josh Renfield, a therapist who is the only other certified instructor in town, led the group. Two of us were brand-new, and a few others had done this before. The group was small, but it ebbs and flows. During the pandemic, they did some virtual classes, and Renfield taught a Community Ed course on it.

It attracts a wide variety, Johnson said. “We got people who just lost their job, or who felt like misfits, or who had asthma and said it would be good for their breathing,” Johnson said. “People who understand the power of smiles and gathering together. For us, it’s like a mission – it’s our outreach work with people.”

Now, the Johnsons mostly focus on laughter yoga with businesses and conferences.

“Almost any business can use it as an opportunity to de-stress,” Johnson said. “Once you let go of that critical part of your mind, that’s where brainstorming comes in and innovation.”

She acknowledges it’s difficult to explain. “It’s very experiential,” Johnson said. “What did I do? I just laughed intentionally for a while.”

Janie Ritter, executive director of the South Dakota Safety Council, brought the Johnsons in for a conference with her organization. She first met Jill Johnson through virtual classes as the organization focused on the mental and emotional well-being of its members during the pandemic.

“Laughing and talking about things that are stressful to us is just as important to us as making sure we are driving safely or operating a forklift safely,” Ritter said. “Jill fit right in line with what I wanted to offer our members.”

Her first session was virtual – and it was a hit.

“It really resonated with me,” Ritter said. “It was lighthearted, and it wasn’t super heavy, and I think that is what some folks needed at the time.”

When the Safety Council offered laughter yoga in person, about 65 people attended at the conference, which was for employees who have some type of responsibility for safety at South Dakota companies, in industries from manufacturing to construction to health care and banks.

In other words, a diverse group.

“It’s like no other session – you had a lineworker from an energy company role-playing, and that’s not typically their comfort zone,” Ritter said. “But they left having laughed–  and maybe that hadn’t laughed for a while. I was amazed at the participation level. Young and old, men and women, construction workers and office workers. We were all a united group.”

Afterward, survey respondents praised the session. “Most requested that it be a return session,” Ritter said. “I was struck by how you are standing in a room full of people you really don’t know, and you are belly laughing. After, you have this sense of stress relief.”

That’s exactly what Johnson wants.

“Laughter doesn’t have any language. There are no barriers,” she said. “You laugh for the health of it.”

According to VeryWellMind, “Research has shown that the health benefits of laughter are far-ranging. Studies so far have shown that laughter can help relieve pain, bring greater happiness and even increase immunity.”

It goes on to say that “laughter reduces the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), dopamine, and growth hormone. It also increases the level of health-enhancing hormones, like endorphins.”

According to HealthLine, laughter yoga began in Mumbai, India, and has grown to more than 5,000 clubs worldwide. Founder Dr. Madan Kataria believes learning to laugh on cue can help promote optimism and positivity, the article says, “since you cannot always rely on external influences to make you laugh, learning to laugh on your own can be a valuable tool.”

Johnson also acknowledges being intentional about finding joy, connection and laughter – spontaneous or through a workshop – isn’t always easy, especially over the past few years. But when she laughs a lot, she notices it changes how she feels.

“I work with people at Dow Rummel, and they are average age 90,” Johnson said. “They can laugh on a dime and give you change. You don’t have to be in a good mood. We’re not relying on jokes or funny movies. There’s usually one or two people who are natural at laughing, and they help everyone else.”

It was true on that recent Sunday in September. I dragged my 11-year-old daughter with me – and she was skeptical, as most tweens are. Even Johnson had acknowledged that age group can be a challenge – anyone who has been or lived with a tween knows that.

But true to form, the Johnsons and Renfield made everyone feel welcome. Before we knew it, we were staring at each other – nearly nose to nose sometimes – laughing maniacally. Sometimes, I found myself laughing so hard, I struggled to do the actual activity. Wait, am I supposed to be acting like I’m walking on hot sand? Watching someone laugh really hard made me laugh even harder, not imagining how silly we looked but just how natural and good it felt.

Afterward, we sat at a picnic table as a group. We closed our eyes. We breathed in and out. We slowly opened them and shared how we felt, if we were willing. We talked about the health of it. The humanity. The humor. The truth is I felt lighter. Like an entire weight had been lifted off me. I felt, oddly, like I was kind of in love with everyone around the table. Like everything would be OK.

This is what Johnson expects. “When you get into a relaxation after laughter, you’ve gotten rid of some of that stuff that is tension in your muscles and crap in your mind, and your body is open,” she said.

It’s true. We left and decided to stop somewhere for lunch. When our server asked how our day was, my daughter explained what we had been doing. I’m sure it sounded absurd, and it is. People were laughing in the park as they walked by, but we didn’t notice. Johnson told us about it later – just us laughing makes other people laugh.

In a time when we’ve all been worrying about things that are contagious, it felt good to share something harmless that really is – laughter.

We giggled all the way home.

Sioux Falls Laughter Club meets the last Sunday of the month at 1 p.m. at McKennan Park. It is free and open to anyone. After the October meeting, it may move to an indoor space for the winter. You can find the group on Facebook.

“There’s nothing like being with a group of people and laughing together. People are missing that,” Johnson said. “It’s amazing what a smile can do.”