The Laughter Yoga Institute offers state-of-the-art training, programs and events in the field of Laughter for Health. These can be scheduled on an on-demand basis. Contact us to create a program tailored to your specific needs.
Events and Programs for Everyone,
Yoga Professionals, and Business Administrators
Currently offered by The Laughter Yoga Institute:
- Laughter Yoga Leader Training offers the opportunity to learn the Hasya Yoga path. Trainings are regularly delivered in California or may be scheduled at your workplace or studio. The program provides hands-on experience, training in a multitude of exercises, extensive access to teaching resources, and the history and philosophy of Laughter for Health. Participants are awarded a “Certified Laughter Yoga Leader” diploma through our affiliation with the Dr. Kataria School of Laughter Yoga in India. Graduates are authorized to start Laughter Clubs and to add Hasya Yoga to other practices
- Half- and Full-Day Workshops are regularly scheduled in California and across the nation at yoga studios, retreat centers and other community facilities.
- Vacation Retreats are held regularly and sometimes including lodging, meals, and other amenities, such as massage, nature walks and Hatha Yoga practice.
- For Corporate and Organizational Events Laughter Yoga is a great way to break up a long day of meetings. Laughter Yoga sessions provide invigorating and involving experiences which enable professionals to refocus and take their work more seriously, yet take themselves lightly.
- Regular Laughter Yoga Practice
Laughter Clubs for Everyone
The Institute creates Laughter Clubs on demand, or certified instructors can be sent to any location.
Program Descriptions
“Introduction to Laughter Yoga” Public Awareness Seminar - 45 to 120 minutes. Health benefits, planetary scope, history and vision of the therapeutic laughter movement. Experiential session of the work to realize the benefits. Laugh first – feel good later.
Develop a Solo Laughter Practice - Coaching for individuals or small groups. Become empowered to generate a therapeutic, 15 to 20 minute laughter session at any time, whenever you wish. Be a slave-to-stress no more.
“Stress-Free in Seven Seconds” - 60 to 90 minute workshop. Laughter Yoga exercises selected by some of the world’s top Laughter Teachers to get out of the Critical Mind and into a place of Freedom and Joy, fast! Efficient way to free the mind, bust through stress and get in touch with being creative and feeling good again.
Special-Focus Workshops (1/2 day to 3 days), all including therapeutic laughter sessions:
Foundations of Laughter Yoga: The perfect introduction to laughter for health. Laughter yoga history, benefits and philosophy. Complete laughter club session, along with explorations into gibberish, creativity, and deep relaxation. Develop the ability to generate laughter easily and whenever you wish.
The Laughter Cruise. From hours to weekends (or longer). Multiple daily laughter experiences assure a joyful time for all and pleasantly rewarding interpersonal relations (shared hilarity is the ultimate icebreaker). Events may include: movie screenings, laughter ashore excursions, “Laughing with the Stars” (interacting with film clips), group filmmaking, laughter in the news, creating new experience-based laughter exercises to share with the world.
View the Laughter Cruise Flyer
Creativity Retreats/Workshops – 3 hours to 3 days (or longer). Explode through creative blocks, unleash unimaginable brilliance. Great for team building and strengthening friendships. Modalities include: laughter yoga, Zen Speak (gibberish), art, music, playacting, improvisation, intuitive movement and surprises.
Share Laughter for Fun and Profit
The 2-Day Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Training
Training Flyer
Irvine CA, Sep 25-26, 2010
Palo Alto, CA October 9-10, 2010
Irvine CA, Dec 4-5, 2010
Provides hands-on experience and guidance in a multitude of exercises, extensive resources, and the history and philosophy of Laughter for Health. This program is for those who want to experience an intensive, fun weekend of Laughter Yoga, to become certified and empowered to start Laughter Clubs, and to lead unconditional laughter experiences in a variety of communities. You will learn how to release tension in a safe and joyful manner, how to share this ability with others, and be able to create an unlimited supply of laughter exercises. You will laugh a lot.
The program is ideal for anyone who wants to spread the benefits of laughter. Participants are: health care workers, coaches, teachers, fitness & yoga instructors, social workers, nurses, public speakers and corporate trainers. Learn how to facilitate laughter for elders, teens, and businesses.
Participants are awarded a “Certified Laughter Yoga Leader” diploma through our affiliation with the Dr. Kataria School of Laughter Yoga in India. Certification is for life – there are no required renewal fees. Graduates are authorized to start Laughter Clubs and to add Hasya Yoga to other practices. Graduates receive a listing (if desired) on the web site of the international Laughter Yoga headquarters in India.
Sign up for a Laughter Yoga certification program
Yoga Studio Programs
Laughter Yoga shares much in common with traditional Hatha Yoga. Both were born in India and focus on integrating body and breath to improve physical, emotional, and spiritual well being.
Schedule a Laughter Yoga workshop or a 2-Day Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Training at your venue.
View our Letter to Yoga Studios (PDF)
Laughter Practice for Business:
Relax and Improve Workplace Performance
Laughter exercises offer the opportunity to feel refreshed, stress-free and confident any time, providing all the physical and psychological benefits of laughing without the necessity of telling jokes or even feeling good to start. In the workplace, absenteeism is reduced and job satisfaction increases. The good communication and positive relations which result support an effective workforce.
Simple, repeatable, and easily learned, laughter-communication games are powerful tools for achieving employee satisfaction, improving morale while opening lines of communication. People who laugh together are more likely to collaborate, to offer helpful suggestions, and to dissipate tensions that can otherwise accumulate on the job.
Discover the benefits of laughter in the workplace:
- 15-minute “refresher” sessions allow participants to re-energize and focus
- 45-minute Laughter Exercise sessions result in improved health, better personal relations, stronger self-esteem, and enhanced productivity
- Training sessions enable managers to practice and learn laughter techniques to share in the workplace
Fees vary depending on program content, customization, and targeted results.
Speaker Services
Motivate with Laughter!
Motivational Speaker
Jeffrey Briar, CLYT, CLL
Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher and Certified Laughter Leader
Director, The Laughter Yoga Institute of Laguna Beach
790 Manzanita Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Email: jbriar@LYinstitute.org
Web: www.LYinstitute.org
Phone: 949 376-1939
949 315-5801 cell
Laughter Speaker Stimulates Action While Building Team Spirit
An enthusiastic and infectiously positive speaker, Jeffrey Briar energizes attendees and directs unforgettable laughter experiences. Briar’s sessions dissipate stress while refocusing attendees. Cheeks get rosy; eyes clear and twinkle; impish grins are everywhere to be seen; the room rapidly fills with friendly smiles. His educational and experiential workshops serve to boost morale, improve retention, and encourage team-building and creativity. As a laughter specialist, Briar recently appeared in programs on Oprah, the BBC, NBC, NPR, and the CNN Health and Happiness special with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. On Dancing with the Stars (viewed by 25 million people on ABC) Briar coached Harry Hamlin, star of L.A. Law, in laughter techniques, improving Hamlin’s scores significantly. A recent API release on Mr. Briar and his work appeared in news publications throughout the world.
“Jeffrey Briar is an absolute leader in his field, utterly trustworthy, reliable and deserving of confidence…And perhaps best of all, he is an absolute joy to work with.”
– Janet Elkins, President, Event Works, Los Angeles, CA
Jeffrey Briar studied with Dr. Madan Kataria (creator of Laughter Yoga) and has completed both Leader and Teacher Trainings. Briar expanded his expertise by training with Steve Wilson (World Laughter Tour), earning the designation 
Certified Laughter Leader (2006). In 2005, Briar founded the Laguna Laughter Club in Laguna Beach, California. Within months, the Club became the first laughter club in the world outside of India to meet seven days per week, and the subject of national and international press. Since its inception, more than 15,000 people have participated in the Laguna Laughter Club. Mr. Briar has personally led thousands of laughter sessions. In 2006 he became Director of The Laughter Yoga Institute of Laguna Beach (www.LYInstitute.org). In 2009 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of AATH (the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor)
“This stuff really works!”
– Harry Hamlin on Dancing with the Stars;
after working with Jeffrey, Harry’s performance scores improved.
A teacher of traditional yoga since 1975, Briar has led classes and master classes throughout North America and Europe. Currently on the faculty of Irvine Valley College in Orange County, California, his multi-faceted teaching manual, Moving Experiences, has been acclaimed nationwide.
Mr. Briar is an accomplished comedic actor. He co-founded the renowned “Cock & Feathers” troupe, bringing roll-in-the-aisles laughter to audiences numbering in the millions at the Renaissance Pleasure Faires (California, 1970’s to 90’s). A member of SAG and AFTRA, Briar has performed throughout the world on stage and screen, in roles ranging from silent film comedians Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel to the bumbling Inspector Clouseau.
He is a concert pianist and composer whose repertoire includes works of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Scott Joplin; and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Thanks to his extensive experience as an educator, stage performer, and laughter specialist, you can rely on Jeffrey Briar for a presentation which will revitalize, inspire and delight your audience.
“We have had the pleasure of working with Jeffrey Briar for many years. His work is always of extraordinary quality. Mr. Briar is a professional whose expertise can always be relied upon to create a successful event.”
– Debby Avren, President, Avren Meeting Management, Los Angeles, CA
Presentation Topics
(all are experiential)
- Group Laughter Practices Build Teams and Encourage Creativity Make the workplace joyful, dynamic and inspiring (in teams as well as solo). Laughter enhances performance and raises employee job satisfaction instantly.
- Laughter Yoga, a Breakthrough Health Technology History and practical benefits of unconditional heartfelt laughter for health. Experience the positive effects immediately.
- Stress-Free in Seven SecondsPowerful, pleasurable techniques to eliminate worry and get happy, FAST. Learn the practices favored by master laughter leaders worldwide.
- Endorphins: Free at Last Understanding and consciously creating the chemistry of happiness.
- Laughter for One Get your recommended daily dose of health-building laughter: any time, and in the most amazing places.
Published Works
- The Great Big Anthology of Laughter Exercises
- Laughter Exercise Flash Cards
- Moving Experiences – A Manual For Awakening
- Dragon River – A Fable for Children of All Ages
- The Laughter Revolution: How Laughter Will Save the World
- Laughable Matters - bi-weekly newsletter; free copy at info@LYinstitute.org
- Videos:
Awards
- International Laughter Ambassador (from Dr. Madan Kataria), 2006
- Laughter Ambassador Award (from the American School of Laughter Yoga), 2009
- Special Hero Award (for film on how a grieving widow benefited from her participation in the Laguna Laughter Club), 2007
- Composer’s Grant (The Celebration Foundation of Oregon; largest grant ever awarded by this philanthropic organization), 2001
Email: jbriar@LYinstitute.org
Phone: 949 376-1939
Cell: 949 315-5801
To register or for information:
Contact Jeffrey Briar and The Laughter Yoga Institute at
jbriar@lyinstitute.org
