Laughter yoga offers many positive effects not only for patients, but their families as well.
For 16-year-old Micaela, a patient at the Alberta Children's Hospital who is paralyzed and has a brain injury, laughing yoga helps her to manage her pain and bring joy into her life.
The exercise starts with fake laughter, inspired by childlike playfulness, laughing exercises, and eye contact.
After some time your body can't tell the difference and fake laughter quickly turns into real laughter.
Along with being good exercise for her lungs and vocal muscles, laughter yoga also helps Micaela cope with the pain, stress and challenges of her total paralysis.
"The brain injury makes her a little more volatile in her emotions, and so we use the laughter to smooth things along the way," says Judith, Micaela's mother.
When people laugh, they release endorphins, which relieve feelings of pain and boost a sense of well-being.
Not only does laughter yoga help the patient, but it's a fun and contagious way to lift the spirits of everyone involved.
