By Mia Stephens 

Unlocking the essence of childhood nostalgia, the sounds of playful laughter filled the air of the Sky Lobby in the Children’s Tower on Wednesday.   

Onlookers passed by with confusion and intrigued as team members laughed their breath away to connect with one another. 

“Laughter yoga may feel like forced laughter at first, but with the group camaraderie, it becomes a communal laughter event which helped shift my perspective and see things from a different view,” said Karis Cha, a senior operations analyst who participated in a session. 

Recognizing the importance of mental health and well-being, workforce wellness is one of VCU Health's pillars to creating a supportive environment for employees. During National Hospital Week, the health system has been coordinating dozens of events to show appreciation for all that hospital workers do for the patients, colleagues and their community, including free massages, visits from Dogs on Call and food trucks, to name a few. 

One event was specifically organized to provide a little stress relief to VCU Health employees through this unconventional activity: laughter yoga. 

Through a combination of laughing and breathing techniques, participants are led through different movements and affirmations that bring more oxygen into the body and brain. 

Larry Volz led the laughter yoga session held during National Hospital Week at several locations across VCU Health’s downtown Richmond campus. (Taylor MacKillop, Enterprise Marketing and Communications)

“Exercises are minute by minute, equivalent to using a rowing machine,” said Larry Volz, who led the laughter yoga sessions. “Involving laughter for no reason and playful games that bring back the emotions of childhood in a sense – instead of laughing at jokes, the laughter comes more from a place of joy.” 

Laughter yoga sessions have been found to reduce participants’ stress, burnout and overall increase their satisfaction in life. It stems from the yoga practice of Pranayama, where regulated breath work often leads to improvement of physical and mental health. 

“Anything that helps decrease stress is always good in terms of wellness. However, laughter yoga, I think, is superior to a lot of things because it's not just releasing stress, it brings up feelings of joy and lightheartedness that last. If you do a half hour of laughter yoga, you're set to be in a great mood all day long,” Volz said. 

Event organizer Alexis Shockley, manager of the Arts in Healthcare program at VCU Health, says the laughter yoga sessions promote the health system’s commitment to taking care of those who give so much to take care of patients and their families.   

“Our hope is that our team members leave these sessions feeling refreshed and are able to take away some useful techniques to implement in their daily lives,” Shockley said. "When we host events for health workers, it shows that we value them, that we are thinking about them and their mental wellness. That it is not always about serving others but also taking care of themselves in order to keep doing what they are doing.” 

The reprieve from the regular routine gave Cha a moment to reflect and experience a “special connection” with the people she works with each day. 

“We’re usually interacting in a professional way,” she said, “but getting to see the joy on their faces and see their lightheartedness – and also knowing that they could see my joy and lightheartedness – was meaningful.” 

Learn how Arts in Healthcare at VCU Health provides supportive care through visual arts, music therapy and cultural programs

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