Lighten Up with Laughter Yoga

Laughter can be the best medicine. It can relieve stress, boost your immune system, reduce pain and even help protect you against a heart attack. Imagine being able to get all of these benefits even when there isn’t much to laugh about. Young children don’t feel self-conscious about laughing, but older people usually laugh when they see or hear something funny. How would you feel if you saw an adult laughing at nothing? You’d probably think he or she was a bit strange. However, Dr Madan Kataria from Mumbai in India thought that we should make more efforts to laugh, especially if we don’t really feel like laughing. He discovered that our bodies can’t tell the difference between a real laugh and a false one. This means that it is possible to get all the benefits of laughter just by pretending to laugh. Dr Kataria then developed Laughter Yoga, a system which combines the breathing techniques of yoga with a series of exercises designed to stimulate the laughter muscles. These activities make our bodies produce the natural effects of real laughter and have already helped thousands of people of all ages and fitness levels. Laughter Yoga workshop leaders adapt their methods to achieve different aims: for example, team building in companies, improving test results in schools and relief from depression among patients in hospital. Former clown Ana Banana was delighted to find a therapy that separates laughter from humour. Her job was to make other people laugh, however, the jokes weren’t funny for her and she didn’t often laugh herself. A serious illness left Ana severely depressed until she discovered Laughter Yoga. After reading Dr Kataria’s book, Ana tried practising, making the sounds of laughter for a few minutes every day, even when she felt really bad. Eventually, this became genuine laughter and now she practises daily. “For me, it is an antidepressant that has no adverse side effects. It is free, liberating and gives me an incredible sense of well-being,” she said.