There are many strange sights to behold in India.
The country has always held the power to inspire great acts of creativity – or lunacy.
It is not altogether surprising, then, that I find myself one fine morning, tearing around a rooftop in south India shrieking loudly, “HA HA, HO HO, HA HA, HO HO”. Not only that, I am joined by an equally enthusiastic gaggle of about 15 others.
Although we are deep in the heart of spiritual India, we are not engaging in any religious activity. There are no dreadlocked, saffron-robed gurus in sight. Not even a waft of incense drifts by.
Instead, I am trying out a “health and fitness routine” that is sweeping the world at tremendous pace. Laughter Yoga, according to the official website (www.laughteryoga.org), has now spread to thousands of clubs in more than 60 countries after humble beginnings in a Mumbai park in 1995.
Why Laugh?
The answer is that science has proven that laughter really is the best medicine for our good health, joy and even world peace.
By combining unconditional laughter (laughter without relying on jokes, humour or comedy) with the ancient science of deep yogic breathing, we are guaranteed our recommended dose of 10 to 15 continuous minutes a day.
The good news is that our bodies cannot distinguish between fake and real laughter, so the often-hilarious, play-acting exercises typical of a Laughter Yoga class act as a belly-laughter trigger. It's the “fake it till you make it” approach.
By the end of the one-hour class, we've worked through short bursts of the Centipede Laughter, Argument Laughter, Forgiveness Laughter, Party Laughter, Electric Shock Laughter, Airport Laughter and Lion Laughter, which are just some of the 40 core exercises (the others also have equally cute names).
We've warmed up with stretching, chanting, clapping and body movements and cooled down with quieter relaxation exercises.
I'm surprisingly beat and my vocal chords are a little sore, something I point out to one of the two UK facilitators Michael Stretch (the other is his mother, Manda). He explains that perhaps I overstrained, then kindly adds that, like anything, it does get easier with practice.
Michael's initial encounter with Laughter Yoga at the start of 2010 was nothing short of profound.
“I was at a family friend's party with people I had not seen for many years and my mother was doing Laughter Yoga as a pre-dinner activity,” he says.
“It completely defused the tension and for about a week after, I still felt the remnants of the session. It just really tapped in deep by unlocking the playful child within me which had been taking life far too seriously.”
Benefits for the body and mind
Michael, who has since become a registered Laughter Yoga trainer and facilitator, says the effects on his physical, emotional and mental states have been tremendous.
More importantly, the lessons learnt during sessions can be applied to cope with challenging situations in daily life.
“For example, one of the exercises we do is Stressed Out Laughter,” he explains.
“Here, the group exhales all their daily stresses into the space. Then together we do some laughing to ease the tension related to those stresses. When similar stresses arise again at another time, the mind and body has a new response to divert from the usual tensions.”
In fact, Laughter Yoga is reported to help with a range conditions, including colds and flus, depression, arthritis, diabetes, allergy, asthma and chronic illnesses like cancer.
Research shows that laughter lowers stress, boosts immunity and increases blood circulation. It also triggers the release of feel-good endorphins and increases the supply of oxygen to the body and brain.
According to two-times Nobel Prize for Medicine winner Dr Otto Warburg: “Deep breathing techniques increase oxygen to the cells and are the most important factors in living a disease-free and energetic life.”
A colourful history
Mumbai medical doctor Madan Kataria is credited with developing Laughter Yoga during the mid 1990s. However, he was inspired by the research of many others.
These included writer Norman Cousins – who baffled the scientific community by fighting a potentially fatal disease with humour – and a group of researchers who proved the benefits of laughter on physical well-being.
It seems that what started out as a social movement in India run largely by elderly or retired volunteers has flourished into a well-organised system now taught in companies, schools, nursing homes, fitness studios, universities and prisons.
“Sometimes I'm not in the mood to do a Laughter Yoga class,” says Michael. “At these times, I really have to prove it to myself that if I can fake it, it becomes real contagious laughter – and it works.”
Things you may not know about Laughter Yoga:
• You don't need a sense of humour to laugh. As we become adults, we lose our ability to laugh joyfully, without condition. Children laugh between 300-400 times a day, while adults only manage 10-15. Rediscovering the ability to laugh is like clearing “a drain blocked with rocks and rubble”. Once released, natural laughter is hard to stop.
• The body and mind are linked. Affecting the mind affects the body's behaviour and vice versa. By tapping into this relationship, Laughter Yoga is said to have successfully helped thousands of people with depression.
• It's fun. Laughter is not about the physical act of laughing. It's about encouraging childlike playfulness which naturally leads to laughter.
• Practice makes perfect. You can train your body and mind to laugh at will, much like learning to ride a bicycle. Through regular practice, the brain develops new circuits which leads to the generation of matching (positive) emotions in the mind.
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