"The real enemies of energy are anxiety and hopelessness."

Yoga is a growing meditation known for it's restorative powers. "Growing research shows that mindful erexcises, among them Yoga, decrease stress hormones and metabolic rate", says Sat Bir Khalsa, a neurologist 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 of weekly classes (or more), and the hormones and endorphins you're producing will start to heal your body of ailments from asthma to depression.

Laughter Yoga was developed by Dr. Madan Kataria, a Mumbai physician. He developed the practice 12 years ago, and it is now taught in more than 5,000 laughter clubs in 53 countries.

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 sleep and relaxation) - at least according to a study in the Jounral of Psychosomatic Research, which reported that levels were raised in the breast milk of nursing mothers. The study suggested that nursing mothers who laugh more sleep more, as well as their infant. Other psychological benefits of laughter come from the brain's release of serotonin and endorphins, which naturally elevate your mood and increase your sense of well-being.

To see if Laughter Yoga is for you, try this exercise. Smile as you stand with your palms down in front of your hips Slowly raise them while changing your smaile into 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 if 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's almost always easier to practice Laughter Yoga with another person or 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 much better you feel after five to ten minutes.

-- Copied from "O, The Oprah Magazine, January, 2008 issue.