Bring more joy into your life

and the lives of others through laughter.

History of Laughter Yoga

Laughter yoga is a unique form of exercise developed in 1995 by a medical doctor in India named Dr. Madan Kataria.  He was writing an article called “Laughter is the Best Medicine”.   His conclusion after doing all the research is that laughter really is the best medicine.  He wanted to prescribe 20 minutes of sustained hearty laughter to all of his patients.  While thinking about how to get his patients to do that he came up with the idea of laughter clubs.  He started the first club at a park in Mumbai India with his wife and 3 other friends.  After a week there were 50 people laughing together.  Now there are over 6,000 laughter clubs in 60 countries all around the globe.

What happens at a Laughter Yoga Session or Club?

Laughter sessions usually begin with stretching and breathing, because this is a form of exercise so it is important to warm up the body.  Then we do laughter exercises that simulate and stimulate laughter.  We invite laughers to participate with a sense of childlike playfulness.  Kids don’t have to use their intellect to decide if something is funny.  That is why they laugh so much more than adults. We don’t use jokes or comedy, you don’t have to be in a happy mood and you don’t have to have a sense of humor.  It is a scientific fact that you get the same health benefits from fake or simulated laughter that you get from genuine laughter.  And it is also a scientific fact that laughter is contagious, so once you start doing the laughter exercises natural spontaneous laughter usually erupts.  We end a laughter session with sitting and/or lying down laughter.  This is the time to just laugh for no reason and let your self have a cathartic release.  And after the laughter it is time for relaxation, a time for your body to integrate the benefits of the laughter practice. The mission of Laughter Yoga is world peace, health and harmony through laughter so we close by sending joy to the world.