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History of Laughter Yoga
In March 1995 Dr. Madan Kataria, a family
physician from Mumbai, India, decided to
write an article called "Laughter - the best
medicine" for his monthly health magazine
"My Family Doctor". His desk research led
him to discover an overwhelming body of
scientific literature that described in
great length the proven benefits of laughter
on the human mind and body. In particular he
was very impressed by American journalist
Norman Cousins' book "Anatomy of an Illness"
and the research work undertaken by Dr. Berk
from Loma Linda University. Profoundly
inspired and being a man of action rather
than an academic, he immediately decided to
field-test the impact of laughter on
himself.
At 7 am the next morning he went to his
local public park and somehow managed to
motivate four people to start a “Laughter
Club” with him. This small group quickly
grew to over 50 participants within a few
days.
In the beginning, everybody stood in a
circle while one person would come to the
center and crack a joke or tell a humorous
anecdote. Everybody enjoyed the fun and felt
nice for the rest of the day. After about 2
weeks however the stock of good jokes ran
out and the "bad", hurtful, sexist jokes
came up. Two women were offended and
complained. It became clear that an
alternative to jokes had to be found if this
"Laughter Club" was to survive.
Dr. Kataria re-read all of the scientific
research he had on laughter and found the
answer he was looking for: the human mind
doesn't know how to make a distinction
between fake and genuine laughter. Either
way it produces happy chemistry. The concept
of laughing for no reason was born. His wife
Madhuri Kataria brought in her experience as
a Yoga Teacher and suggested gentle
breathing and other yoga exercises be
included in the routine to deepen its
impact.
The resulting Laughter Yoga technique is a
blend of yogic deep breathing, stretching,
simulated laughter exercises and cultivated
child-like playfulness.
The unique concept of Laughter Yoga and
Laughter Club is the brain child of Dr.
Madan Kataria, a physician from Mumbai,
India. Any one can laugh in a group for
15-20 minutes without depending upon great
sense of humor, jokes or comedy. Laughter
Yoga combines simple laughter exercises
(simulated laughter) and gentle yoga
breathing, which turns into real laughter
when practiced in a group.
Laughter Yoga is supported by powerful tools
derived from the Western psycho analytical
methods as well as Eastern spiritual laws.
http://www.dougdvorak.com It will help you
to stay in high spirits when life throws up
challenges. It will enhance your ability to
laugh and smile when dealing with negative
emotions, situations and negative or
difficult people.
These powerful tools include: how does the
human mind work? What is the meaning and
purpose of life? Understanding laws of the
universe which govern our life?
Understanding negative emotions like anger,
fear, anxiety, greed, guilt, sadness, lust
and attachments. And cultivating positive
attitudes like appreciation, forgiveness,
service and devotion.
To promote laughter club around the world we
are organizing Laughter workshops, laughter
seminars, laughter yoga leader training,
laughter yoga teacher's training, and
laughter yoga spiritual retreat and laughter
yoga holidays.
At present there are more than 5000 laughter
clubs in over 53 countries world wide and
Laughter Clubs have been covered by
prestigious television channels like BBC,
CNN. ABC (USA), NHK (Japan), Channel 7 & 9
(Australia), ZDF Germany and newspapers,
magazines like TIME Magazine, National
Geographic, New York Times, London Times,
and LA Times, the Guardian, Wall Street
Journals and many others.
 In
A Nutshell
Simple, Gentle
Laughter Yoga is physically-oriented
technique that uses a perfect blend of
playful, empowering and otherwise
"tension-releasing" simple laughter
exercises, interspersed with gentle
breathing and stretching exercises, rhythmic
clapping and chanting of Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha in
unison. This is done as a way to improve
health, increase well-being, and promote
peace in the world through personal
transformation. In Laughter Yoga you use
laughter as a tool, not an emotion.
These exercises last about 20 to 30 minutes
and are adapted to suit the needs, abilities
and motivations of the group participating.
A Breakthrough
Dr Madan Kataria was the first one to
discover and make use of the fact that
anyone can laugh for 15-20 minutes without
depending upon a sense of humor or comedy.
No joke: as of July 2005 there were over
5000 Laughter Clubs worldwide, counting
250,000+ members.
Powerful
Because it does not rely on the mind at all,
Laughter Yoga helps you to easily distance
yourself from your fears, sadness, worries,
self-defined limitations, etc. As a result
you do not need to be happy, have a sense of
humor, or even have a reason in order to
laugh. Laughter Yoga bases itself on the
philosophy of “acting happiness”. We
“simulate to stimulate”. In time fake
laughter becomes genuine and flows out like
a fountain.
Universal
Laughter Yoga crosses all barriers: age,
gender, language, culture, physical
abilities, race, religion, political
beliefs, etc. Laughter is part of the
universal human vocabulary. All members of
the human species understand it.
Therapeutic
The therapeutic value of Laughter has been
thoroughly and scientifically researched in
the past 40 years, and its physical benefits
proven beyond the shadow of a doubt.
The first scientific research on Laughter
Yoga was done in 2003-2004 in Graz
University, Austria, by Psychologist Dr
Ilona Papousek. We are currently awaiting
their official publication in English.
Dr. Lee Berk (World expert in the field of
Psycho-Neuro-Immunology) and his research
team at Loma Linda University, School Of
Public Health, in California have recently
started a major and multi-study research
project specifically on Laughter Yoga. The
aim of this scientific research is to
qualify and quantify the impact of laughing
for no reason on the human body as well as
stress levels. Interim results are expected
in the course of 2006. |