LaughingRx & Nira on TV, Internet & in Newspapers!

ABC news interview of Nira on laughter & corporate team building

Nira interviewed on TV about Happiness & Laughter:   

http://mmctv.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=3402

Nira interviewed on Chinese TV - recently  Ntdtv hourly news 3.17:   

http://media5.ntdtv.com/HourlyNews/201702/20170223/20170223_044377-video.mp4

recent newspaper I'm quoted in USA Today:

• http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2015/10/17/laugh-your-way-better-health/74065852/

***  In the news:  Watch Nira Berry and LaughingRx on Youtube :

https://youtu.be/5Pt9JO8fAd0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NANvH-ceAYI

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBp_wfKkIvk

https://youtu.be/E61i644MXvs

Readers Digest, Asia:  http://www.rdasia.com/magazine/how-to-make-a-rat-laugh-p2.asp

***   Nira Berry, of LaughingRx, was featured on Canadian TV (CTV) national evening news,in a program showcasing how laughter can reduce high blood pressure and improve your overall health,  October 2, 2010.    Here's the link:    

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/gaga-of-giggles/#clip355911

***   Nira Berry, of LaughingRx was featured in a news story on TV about Lee Jeans National Denim Day, Oct. 1, 2010.  Here's the link:

http://www.wusa9.com/news/health/story.aspx?storyid=113689&catid=28
 

***     Nira of LaughingRx was recently on the cover of the Washington Post Style section, June 2010:   Here's the link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/05/03/GA2010050304231.html

***    Nira's LaughingRx program for Shady Grove Hospital was featured as a cover story on FoxNews TV, June 2010:  Here's the link:
http://www.foxbaltimore.com/newsroom/features/cover_story/videos/vid_355.shtml

***   Nira /LaughingRX was interviewed and filmed for an International TV piece on Laughter Yoga:

***  Nira was interviewed for LaughingRx for a news segment on  WUSA9 TV.   

A recent LaughingRx class is featured in this interview by WUSA9 TV  morning news anchor Andrea Roane.  

Aired:     Date:  June 5, 2008 and June 2009  and 2010

To watch the interview click on link below, then once on page, click top right box on WUSA9 TV page to start video:

http://www.wusa9.com/life/community/health/buddycheck/story.aspx?storyid=72457

Gotta Laugh

BETHESDA, 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. 

 Link to Washington Post Newspaper article:  

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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O, The Oprah Magazine          From the January 2008 issue of O 
By Sara Reistad-Long


Yoga is another moving meditation known for its restorative powers. "Growing research shows that mindful exercises, among them yoga, decrease both stress hormones and metabolic rate," says Sat Bir Khalsa, PhD, a neuroscientist and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. One yoga spin-off might be particularly effective for the exhausted and burned out: laughter yoga. "After your first session, you'll feel happy and energized. Give it at least a month, and the hormones and endorphins you're producing will start to heal your body of ailments from asthma to depression," says Mumbai physician Madan Kataria, MD. He developed the practice 12 years ago, and it is now taught in more than 5,000 laughter clubs in 53 countries.

Kataria says that when you bust up over something funny, your body releases a whole cocktail of feel-good neurochemicals. One of them, for example, is melatonin (associated with relaxation)—at least according to a study in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, which reported that levels were raised in the breast milk of nursing mothers. To see if a laughter club is for you, Kataria suggests trying a quick exercise: Smile as you stand with your hands palms down in front of your hips. Slowly raise them while changing your smile to a grin, then to a chuckle (hands at chest level), deepening into a belly laugh (hands at shoulder level), as you toss back your head to open the airways. Let the laughter build into an uproarious guffaw as you extend your arms into the sky in a Y, as though you're sending your joy out into the universe. You'll probably have to fake it at first (you'll feel silly, so a bit of natural laughter will creep in). It may be easier with another person or a group—start by making eye contact, which tends to get you giggling. When you're through, take a deep breath through your nose, hold it for two counts, and exhale. Repeat the whole sequence a few times, and notice how you feel after five to ten minutes.

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Nira of LaughingRx at National's Baseball Stadium Field!

Nira was 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 volunteer 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

<a href="http://www.thumbtack.com/Laughter-workshop-leader-Wellness-Speaker-Coach-Potomac-MD/service/337371">Laughter workshop leader, Wellness Speaker, Coach</a>I