Happier in 5 minutes | Ida Abdalkhani | TEDxOhioStateUniversity

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

In this talk, Ida engaged the audience in a laughter yoga session. Like she says, laughter yoga is forcing oneself to laugh, and the silly, forced laughter becomes real laughter that gets blood flowing and endorphins released into the body. In addition to instructing the laughter yoga session, Ida shared the benefits of laughter yoga.

Ohio State alumna Ida Abdalkhani was a Global Brand Manager of Olay Body Care at Procter & Gamble at their world headquarters in Cincinnati, OH. There she led the brand's global whitespace expansion strategy to
generate an incremental $65 Million in sales in 3 years. Afterwards she became a certified laughter yoga instructor, and now is is the Founder & President of Ability to Engage, LLC-- a consultancy that specializes in the
development and co-creation of brand equities, architectures, and consumer segmentation as well as marketing strategies. Ida also develops and facilitates idea workshops, innovation sessions, and team effectiveness workshops.

An astonishing 83% of Americans
are stressed about their jobs,

and about one in two of us
struggle to stay happy.

In fact, I'm one of them.

What about you?

I'm here to help you with that today

by teaching you one thing
and one thing only:

how to laugh for no reason at all.

(Laughter)

Why?

Because when we laugh,

our bodies release a flood of chemicals
and positive neurotransmitters

that stimulate our brains,

our immune system,
and our nervous systems.

In fact, when we laugh,
our blood flow increases by about 50%.

That's how we get the rosy cheeks.

And laughing can actually burn calories.

If you were to laugh
for about 15 minutes a day,

everyday of the year,

you can lose up to five pounds.

All of these benefits intrigued me
about laughter yoga,

but I still had no idea what to expect
when I went to my first class.

The instructor started
by giving us background

on how laughter yoga was started
in 1995 by a doctor in India.

He found that our bodies and minds
can't discern the differences

between fake and real laughter.

So we don't need a comedian,
and we don't need a catalyst

to reap the real benefits of laughter.

So I said, "Sign me up."

And so we started.

We warmed up
with pranayama yogic breathing,

and then things started
to get uncomfortable.

I had to laugh for no reason.

The instructor could sense my nervousness

so she looked at me, and she said,
"Ida, fake it till you make it."

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

((Laughter)

Awkward.

But it worked.

It took the pressure off.

It showed me that I shouldn't worry

about what other people think
or how it felt.

The endgame is a healthy life.

I had to believe
that I deserve to be happy,

and I deserve to laugh.

And so do you.

So that's what we're going to do today:
fake it till we make it.

We're going to laugh for no reason at all

because science tells us
that within 45 to 90 seconds,

your body will start to release
that flood of positive neurotransmitters,

and within about two minutes,
fake laughter becomes real.

So here we go.

Who's ready to laugh?

(Applause)

Alright. I need everyone to stand up.

Get the blood flowing.

OK.

There are two primary techniques
to laughter yoga:

the first is breathing.

The focus is on filling up our diaphragm

increasing our amount of oxygen

and helping our blood flow.

The second is, of course, laughter.

The focus here is on deep belly laughter.

This increases the circulation
of our lymphatic systems

and it jump-starts our immune systems.

OK, so to warm up, I want everyone
to take a deep breath in,

raise your hands towards the ceiling,

and I want you to let your breath out
with an audible "Hwoo."

I want you to push it out. Ready? Go!

Ida Abdalkhani: Hwoo!
(Audience) Hwoo!

IA: Nice job. OK. One more time.

Deep breath in, fill up your lungs.

This time you're going to laugh
on your exhale. Ready? Go!

(Audience) & IA: Hahahahaha.

One more time, deep breath in,
fill up your lungs.

From the bottom of your belly, let it out!

Hahahahahahahahaha!

Nice job. OK.

Now we are warmed up.

For our first laughter yoga exercise,

we're going to do something called
"cell phone laughter."

Speaking on our cell phones
is something we do everyday,

but today we're going to make it more fun.

I want you to pretend that you just heard
the funniest story in the world.

Get out your fake cell phones.

There's no right or wrong way to do this.

Just have fun with it.
Take a deep breath in and laugh.

(Audience) and IA: Hahahahahaha!

IA: Somebody is hearing
some really funny stories

up here, up front; it's good stuff.

For our second laughter yoga exercise,

we're going to do one of my favorites,
"Shaking-hands laughter."

Shaking hands is something
that we do everyday,

and it helps us connect with others.

But today, we're going to amplify it
and connect with laughter as well.

I want you to shake hands
with those around you.

But you're going to look them in the face,
and you're going to laugh.

Ready? Deep breath in and laugh.

Hahahahaha!

High five!

Hahahahahahaha!

(Applause)

Thank you.

I can tell you guys are getting
the hang of it, this is great.

For our last exercise,

I'm actually going to have you guys
decide what we laugh about.

I want you to take a moment

and reflect about something that has been
stressing you out the past few days.

We're going to take that,

and we're going to use it
as a way to remind ourselves

that we can't always change
the outcomes in life,

but we can change how we react to them.

So what's something that's been
stressing you guys out lately?

Go ahead. Yell it out.

(Indistinct comments from the audience)

IA: You all are stressed
about a lot of stuff,

but I heard cell phone bills
a few times, so let's use that.

I want you to pull out
your outrageous cell phone bill

with all its crazy roaming
charges and overages.

We're going to take a minute
to remind ourselves

that while we can't change the outcome
of that crazy cell phone bill,

we can forgive ourselves,

we can laugh for a moment,

and we can have fun with it.

So deep breath in.
And laugh at your cellphone bill.

Hahahahahaha!

(Applause)

Thank you.

I don't know if you realized it or not,

but you just laughed for about 5 minutes,

and I didn't tell you a single joke.

We actually laugh
about 300 times a day as children,

but only 30 as adults.

I hope this has shown you how easy it is
to bring laughter back into your life

to feel lighter and happier,

and to laugh.

It's within your power
to make your narrative a joyful one.

You decide.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Cheers)