Happiness Experiment 24: Laughing Yoga Conclusions

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May 192012
 

This week’s experiment has involved laughing yoga. I’m ending it a bit early, as I’m going on a trip tomorrow and I don’t know if I’ll have time to post this tomorrow amongst all of my running around that’s involved with being in airports.

Oddly enough, I love being in new places, I’m just not always a fan of getting there. Lately though, airports have been growing on me.

To see how yesterday went in this experiment, check out Laughing Yoga Day 5.\

Conclusions in my Laughing Yoga Experiment

In the beginning of my laughing yoga experiment, I asked if I could gain the same benefits as my earlier experiments in benefits of yoga and the benefits of laughter.

The answer is a clear “sorta”.

Practicing laughter yoga helped my mood. Laughter does that. Generally it’s harder to be in a bad mood when you’re laughing, and that’s just how our brains our wired as human beings.

As a result of this, I think I slept a bit better, but I experienced nowhere near as much of a noticeable improvement as I did when I was doing my experiment on pure yoga. This might be personal for me though. Laughter yoga is focused on breathing, and it was the stretching in yoga that seemed to help me sleep better.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a shortcut to combining the benefits of my two previous experiments, but it did have merits all on it’s own. I recommend trying it.

As one of the comments this week noted, laughter yoga might have a much greater impact if you do it in a group. Laughter is, after all, contagious, so you might see a more interesting and dramatic result (or at least laugh more).

Have a lovely weekend!

Happiness Experiment 24: Laughing Yoga Day 5

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May 182012
 

This week I’ve been working on an experiment involving laughing yoga.

To see how the experiment has been going so far, check out yesterday in laughing yoga.

Now that you’re caught up, let’s check out the present.

Laughing Yoga Day 5

I’m a bit frustrated, as I’m trying to find good videos of laughter yoga, but I see a lot of documentaries and not as many exercises.

So, I’m going back to the video I used on Day 1 of this experiment. I found it was an impressive introduction to laughter yoga, and I think I can learn more from it if I get a second chance to view it.

I don’t think there’s ever any shame in going back to something you have more to learn from.

Happiness Experiment 24: Laughing Yoga Day 4

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May 172012
 

This week I’ve been working on an experiment involving laughing yoga.

So far, I’ve been enjoying myself, as I find any time you make the time to laugh, life is going to feel a bit better.

To see how the experiment has been going so far, check out yesterday in my laughing yoga experiment.

Laughing Yoga Day 4

Here’s the video I practiced with today:

It seems incredibly simple compared to some of the videos I’ve worked with in the past few days, but it highlights an important fact – laughter that starts as fake can become real.

This is something we forget sometimes. We get in darker moods, where laughter seems harder to find. However, if we fake a laugh as a start, that might be what “primes the pump” for some genuine, soul-clearing laughter.

Just some idle thoughts for a quiet Thursday evening. Have a lovely evening everyone!

Happiness Experiment 24: Laughing Yoga Day 3

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May 162012
 

This week I’m experimenting with laughing yoga.

If you are just joining me now, check out yesterday in my laughing yoga experiment.

Today I felt like I needed yoga a bit more than usual. It has been a rough day, and one of the benefits of yoga (for me at least) is stretching out tight muscles and balancing my mood. So, I went back to the same guy who did the video I watched on the first day.

Laughing Yoga Day 3

This video is longer than the videos I’ve done before, and seems heavier on the yoga and lighter on the laughter. I didn’t want to do any sort of laughter yoga today. To be honest, that’s the reason I pushed myself to do more today, and I’m glad I did.

I feel less grumbly and more balanced now. I think the only other thing I need to finish rebalancing myself is a really good night’s sleep. Wish me luck!

Happiness Experiment 24: Laughing Yoga Day 2

 Experiments  1 Response »
May 152012
 

Firstly, if you’re just starting out check out yesterday in my experiment with laughing yoga. It will explain a bit more about where I’m coming from for this experiment.

It’s funny, I just realized today how incredible a world we live in is, where I can just assume that I’ll find anything I need on the internet if I search for it. I don’t claim that the training videos I find are the greatest available in the whole world, but I do think that they can give me a general idea of what laughing yoga is and whether or not it benefits me.

I realize that I forgot to post it, so here’s the video I practiced with yesterday. It’s a bit silly, but it does a good job of showing you breathing techniques and is pleasantly silly while still effective in teaching you laughing yoga. The only fault I found in it was that it was a bit too long. My jaw was tired from laughing by the end of it.

But, back to the present.

Laughing Yoga Day 2

Today, I did a bit of research and found a shorter video to work with:

I found myself feeling happier and more energized after each of my laughter yoga sessions so far, so we’ll see what the longer-term impacts are!

Happiness Experiment 24: Laughing Yoga

 Experiments  3 Responses »
May 142012
 

In my Happiness Experiment #2 I discussed the benefits of yoga.

In my Happiness Experiment #3 I explored the benefits of laughter.

Those were two great experiments. I learned a lot about myself, and a lot of useful things about sleep, laughter, muscle pain and a number of other things. And now, I found out how to combine them.

Laughing Yoga.

Combining the benefits of yoga and the benefits of laughter

It’s a fun sounding concept, but what does it really mean? To the Wikipedia! *cue Batman transition music*

Wikipedia says:

Laughter Yoga (Hasyayoga) is a form of yoga employing self-triggered laughter. The concept of Laughter Yoga is based on the scientific observation that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter, and that both provide the same physiological and psychological benefits. Laughter Yoga combines unconditional laughter with pranayama (yogic breathing). Laughter is simulated as a body exercise in a group; with eye contact and childlike playfulness, initially forced laughter soon turns into real and contagious laughter. The “laughter” is physical in nature, and does not necessarily involve humor or comedy.

Laughing Yoga Experiment

Well, as I’ve already discussed the benefits of laughter AND the benefits of yoga, I don’t think I need to go into much more detail about either of them.

The problem with laughter though is that humour is relative, and sometimes you’re not in the mood to laugh. Laughing Yoga isn’t about something being funny though, it’s about yogic breathing.

Can I get the same sleep benefits as yoga, and the same improved life outlook as my stand up comedy experiment all wrapped up into one?

In my tradition of making my experiments accessible, I’ll be following along with laughing yoga demonstrations on YouTube. If I find any that really stand out, I’ll highlight them as I work through this week’s happiness experiment.

Let’s see what adventures this week holds?

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Conclusions

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May 132012
 

Well, my first conclusion from this is that I need more whey protein powder. Between this week’s Tabatas Training experiment and my High Protein Shakes experiment, I’ve been going through this vanilla bean why protein powder like nobody’s business!

Whey Protein Shake Mix

The high protein shakes I will be drinking for this experiment.

This week’s experiment has been Tabatas Training, which is a type of high intensity interval training that makes use of of shorter intervals than I had used in my previous HIIT Training experiment. However, in my previous experiment with high intensity interval training, I found muscle pain to be a serious issue. So, I’m adding in the whey protein shakes that I drank during my high protein shakes experiment in an attempt to lower the amount of muscle pain I feel.

To see how this experiment has been going for me so far, check out yesterday’s results in Tabatas Training.

Tabatas Training Conclusions

In the beginning of this experiment, I asked 2 questions:

1. Can I feel a significant increase in health, fitness (or a decrease in weight) over the course of a week.

2. Can the high protein shakes help me do this experiment without feeling like I’ve been beaten up?

After a week of performing this experiment, my weight is down 0.2 lbs, which is really insignificant, I might have had a glass of water before my last weigh in. However, considering that I’ve put in about 30 minutes of exercise this week, any weight change is impressive for the little amount of work I put in. I do feel like my muscles are growing stronger, but that’s hard to provide measurements for since I didn’t set a baseline measurement at the beginning of the experiment.

The big discovery of this week was how the protein shakes impacted my muscle pain levels. If this experiment demonstrated anything to me, it’s that while I consume enough protein on a day-to-day basis, I consume insufficient protein to promote quick muscle recovery when I’m doing high intensity interval training. This is why I had such bad muscle pain in my HIIT Training experiment. While the protein shakes didn’t completely eliminate the pain, they brought it down to a level that was entirely manageable.

Lesson learned, if I will be adding more strength training to my life, I need to also be adding more protein to my diet.

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Day 6

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May 122012
 

This week I’ve been working a combination of two previous experiments, HIIT Training and High Protein Shakes. The idea is that the strengths of each might balances out the problems I had with each experiment, and so far things are working out well!

Tabatas Training is a form of high intensity interval training, but it uses shorter intervals and shorter recovery times.

To see how this experiment has been going so far, check out yesterday in Tabatas Training.

Tabatas Training Day 6

Today, my exercise of choice will be shoulder work with free weights. At my hot yoga session this week I got to see people doing some absolutely AMAZING moves that blew my mind.

However, I don’t have the arm or shoulder strength to do those moves… yet.

This is the first step to getting that strength. Time to get to work!

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Day 4

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May 102012
 

If you’re just joining in now, this week’s experiment is a combination of my previous HIIT Training experiment and the High Protein Shakes experiment. The idea is to discover if the two experiments combined together can overcome the issues they each faced separately.

To see how this experiment has proceeded so far, check out Tabatas Training Day 3.

Tabatas Training Day 4

I’ve continued working with the exercise videos from Justin at Limitless365.

I’ve had a chance to work my legs and arms a lot this week, but I feel a bit like my core has had a weaker week (so to speak). So, today’s tabatas training session will focus on one specific exercise, the steam engine:

These really hurt worked my hips and lower abs. I’m hoping that, as hard as I’ve worked them today, the high protein shakes continue to work their magic and let me bypass the muscle pain that would normally follow high intensity interval training sessions such as these.

Happiness Experiment 24: Tabatas Training Day 3

 Experiments  2 Responses »
May 092012
 

As you might already know, this week’s experiment is a combination of my previous HIIT Training experiment and the High Protein Shakes experiment.

The goal of this Tabatas Training experiment is to discover if the protein shakes can help moderate the muscle aches of high intensity interval training, and to see if the higher intensity has any benefits for me.

If you want to see how it’s gone so far, check out Tabatas Training Day 2.

Tabatas Training Day 3

I had so much fun working with the exercise videos from Justin at Limitless365 that I decided to continue on with them.

Today I’m doing wall push ups:

and Bench Dips:

As usual, please undertake all precautions before undertaking any exercises and check with your doctor. I’m the only one who should be stupid enough to jump into these things.

Three days in, my muscles are tender, but I lack that general, overall ache that seemed to be a constant companion in the earlier HIIT Training experiment.

Day 3 and I’m still smiling. I’m even managing to put together happy thoughts for the day posts. This means I must be doing something right!

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