LaughingRx & Nira on TV & in Newspapers!
Nira /LaughingRX was recently interviewed and filmed for an International TV piece on Laughter Yoga:
airdate: December 17, 2008
copy and paste link:
Nira was interviewed for LaughingRx for a morning news segment on WUSA9 TV.
A recent LaughingRx class is featured in this interview by morning news anchor Andrea Roane.
Aired: Date: June 5, 2008
To watch the interview that also was on the www.WUSA9.com website click below:
Also shown on website: WUSA9.com
TV article on WUS9.com website: Interview by Andrea Roane, WUSA9 TV morning anchorBETHESDA, Md (WUSA) -- There's absolutely nothing funny about cancer. Just ask Nira Berry. "Unfortunately for me a mammogram didn't pick up my breast cancer tumor I found it myself."
That was in 2001 the mastecotomy plus the chemo were so deblitating she couldn't get out of bed. She would have to carried even to go the bathroom. That went on for almost a year until she discovered lauging yoga. Nira told 9 NEWS NOW Andrea Roane, "Sometimes I couldn't even move but I would force myself to laugh and I would see my belly going up and down and that would some how relieve my pain."
The laughing yoga movement started 10 years ago in India. Seeing how it worked for her Nira became a certified laughing yoga instructor to help other breast patients and survivors laugh away their pain and stress.
Many of her class participants thought it would be fun, not even realizing just how much it would help their health too. One class participant Diana Keller tells us, "Every time you laugh you are using so many muscles people just don't realize how many they are using."
Nothing funny to make you laugh. Nira says fake it! Your brain can't tell the difference, so just start with a chuckle and build on that. If you laugh a 100 times in a row it has been scientifically shown to equal to being on a stationary bike for 15mins?
To learn more about Nira Berry's Laughter Yoga sessions check out her website http://www.laughingRx.com
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Washington Post Newspaper Page GZ05 Dec. 18, 2008
Title: In This Yoga Class, Relaxation Is a Laughing Matter
...and Gazette Newspaper Dec. 17, 2008
Laughing yoga participants tout practice's health benefits
By Andrew Ujifusa, Gazette Staff Writer
The inventors of yoga thousands of years ago probably did not envision plastic camouflage helmets, conga lines or Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" as part of the practice. But Nira Berry doesn't particularly care. In fact, she probably would laugh them off.
Berry teaches laughter yoga, a series of role-playing exercises and relaxation routines that allow people to laugh out loud without trying to crack jokes. She has a motto for newcomers who don't think they can force their way into authentic guffaws: "You fake it until you make it."
"You don't need to have a sense of humor to laugh," Berry told about 50 participants, mostly newcomers, at a laughter yoga session last week at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.
Berry's routine has four components: laughter, clapping, breathing and "childlike playfulness." The exercises range from waving one's arms back and forth while chanting "Ho ho, ha ha ha!" to multistep routines that incorporate laughter into physical imitations of certain routines.
When participants mime spreading shaving cream on their faces, they giggle and pretend to smear the stuff on their neighbor's cheeks. They also mimic co-workers' laughter.
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At one point, Berry stands on the stage, divides the group into three laughing styles of "Ho!" "Ha!" and "Hee!" and, like a symphony conductor, waves her arms rhythmically over the crowd, prompting varying cadences and patterns of laughter.
The group moves from the orchestral to the absurd, donning pirate hats, wigs and Hawaiian leis and forming a conga line that parades down the aisles for more than five minutes to the strains of "Celebration." Participants are told to imagine they are stomping on everyday problems and cackle. Every routine is punctuated by Berry's laughter.
Laughter yoga veterans can be bold, bellowing out twisted forms of merriment that draw more cautious participants into the laughter. At one point, Berry flubs a line in her yoga rap song, setting off a new round of laughter.
"It's crazy, isn't it?" Iris Andris of Bethesda whispered in the middle of the recurring "Ho ho, ha ha ha!" chant.
Only the 15-minute deep-breathing and body-awareness routines at the end of the session recall typical yoga. But Berry touts the health benefits of laughter yoga, which was started by an Indian doctor in the mid-1990s. Ten minutes of sustained laughter, she says, boost endorphin levels and are the cardiovascular equivalent of 30 minutes on a bike.
She leads laughter yoga exercises for a variety of groups, including University of Maryland students and corporate executives looking for creative team-building exercises.
Berry, whose business is called LaughingRx Yoga, said she became interested in laughter yoga during a bout with cancer eight years ago. During her recovery, when friends asked whether she wanted anything, she said she asked for things that made her laugh, including the movie "My Cousin Vinny." The practice is also said to help people with allergies and asthma.
"I was looking for an alternative way to heal myself," she said.
Andris said she was skeptical when she first heard about laughter yoga. But after a 90-minute session, she said she was relaxed and felt as if she had been through a workout. She said she was also impressed with Berry's ability to get the group to overcome much of its initial timidity.
"It was amazing watching her bring us all together," she said.
Rockville resident Zohreh Movahed had done laughter yoga before, when her sister-in-law, an employee at the National Institutes of Health, told her about it. She said she was happy to laugh without worrying about offending people.
"When people start laughing, you realize you're not alone," she said.
------copy and paste Link to Washington Post Newspaperarticle:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121701805.html
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Washington Post Express Newspaper excerpt from article published: 10/14/08
FIT Section
Take the Laugh Track
...Although movement has a role in laughter yoga, it bears little resemblance to the mat-based exercise most familiar to Americans. But the practice, also known as Hasya yoga, has Indian roots — Mumbai physician Madan Kataria is credited with starting the international craze — and emphasizes the importance of Pranayama, the Sanskrit concept of "breathing control." The seriously deep breathing required for extended laughter in turn promotes heart health, which is just one of the many benefits fans attribute to the practice.
Nira Berry, who teaches a similar method through her company, LaughingRx (Laughingrx.com, 240-888-6555), credits it with helping her through cancer and chemotherapy by improving her mood. "Laughter really is the best medicine," she says, noting that doctors believe it can boost the immune system, reduce blood pressure and zap away stress.
Group giggles do wonders for team building ("It's hard to be angry with someone you've been laughing with," Berry notes), and learning tricks to incorporate an occasional laugh can make life more enjoyable. "In traffic, instead of cursing, try to laugh," she suggests.
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Nira of LaughingRx at National's Baseball Stadium Field!
Nira on 1st Base at the Washington National's Baseball game, Sunday, May 10th, 2008, just before meeting 1st Baseman Aaron Boone! Nira is a National Survivor Board member of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and she was one of the 'starting 9' at the game honoring breast cancer survivors.
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"I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person."
-Audrey Hepburn