Laugher yoga is a mind-body practice aimed at promoting health by combining “unconditional laughter” with yogic breathing techniques, and has been suggested to induce desirable psychological and physiological chagnes. The present study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 examined psychological effects of an online session of laughter yoga among continued practitioners of laughter yoga in Japan. A total of 49 participants participated in a practical session of laughter yoga that was held via Zoom and lasted for approximately 30 minutes. Parallel to preceding studies that involved in-person practical sessions, results revealed a statistically significant increase in positive mood and significant decrease in negative mood and state anxiety at the post-session than at the pre-session assessment. Also, participants with relatively high, as compared to low, frequency of practice per month showed significantly lower scores on state anxiety both at the pre- and post-session assessments, and higher scores for the extraversion subscale of the Big Five Inventory. Furthermore, statistically significant correlations were found between multiple dimensions of Big Five personality traits and psychological states at the pre- and post-session periods and differences between them. These results suggest that practice of laughter yoga conducted online can cause desirable psychological effects similarly to a face-to-face practice. Results also indicate that frequency of daily practice as well as personality traits of the practitioners can influence psychological states both before and after participating in practical sessions.

Authors:
Hiromitsu Miyata, Waseda University, Japan
Yoshiko Takada, Japan Association of Laughter Yoga, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Hiromitsu Miyata is currently a full professor on Mind-Body Theory at the Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, Japan.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/%E8%A3%95%E5%85%89-%E5%AE%AE%E7%94%B0-323bb51ba/

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