Laughter really is the best medicine - and a two-day workshop in Oamaru next month will prove it.
The Oamaru Laughter Wellness Workshop will show how laughter can have a profound effect on mental and physical health and wellbeing.
It could lead to a Laughter Yoga group being set up in North Otago.
Qualified Laughter Yoga facilitator Hannah Airey will come to Oamaru to run the event, organised by Ele Ludemann, on May 2 and 3.
Ms Airey said the experiential, and often life-transforming, workshop was ideal for personal development, wellbeing and anyone interested in running a Laughter Yoga group.
''We teach a combination of positive psychology, the Five Ways to Wellbeing and how to access unconditional laughter to give participants valuable tools for everyday life,'' she said.
Mrs Ludemann attended a workshop in Dunedin three years ago and said it was life-changing.
''By the end of the weekend I was more relaxed than I could ever remember feeling. Although you don't need to be particularly fit or flexible, Laughter Yoga is an aerobic exercise and next day I realised I'd been using muscles across my stomach I hadn't known I possessed before.''
While admitting she had not kept it up, every now and then when she felt the need, she did some of the exercises and always finished feeling happier and more relaxed.
Laughter Yoga worked best in groups and if enough locals were interested after the workshop she would be keen to start a Laughter Yoga club in Oamaru.
Ms Airey said laughter was the body's natural antidote to stress.
''When we laugh it stops the fight and flight response, lowering cortisol and adrenaline levels, increasing endorphins and serotonin. Laughing helps remove stress, tension and trauma,'' she said.
Laughter Yoga was deceptively simple yet a very powerful form of exercise, combining laughter exercises with yogic breathing.
This was quite different from traditional yoga with postures.
''Ultimately, Laughter Yoga is about the cultivation of joyfulness. It teaches you to make happiness a choice and not a consequence.
''Laughter is a universal language that transcends all barriers: age, gender, language, hierarchy, physical abilities, race, religion, political beliefs.''
The Oamaru workshop will be held in the function room above Cucina and people need to register.
