East & West: Laughter a fun way to better health

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Is it possible I could slim my waistline just by laughing?

Or strengthen my immune system, lower my blood pressure, ease my aches and pains?

Well, maybe. At least a lot of exercise gurus and personal trainers across the country seem to think so.

Something called “laughter yoga” seems to be emerging as the latest exercise buzz. It does not call for special clothing or equipment; just a willing group of people and a creative leader.

I have gone to five 45-minute laughter yoga sessions in the studio where I used to study yoga. When Barbara, the woman who taught the yoga classes, invited me to learn about laughter yoga, I, of course, thought we would get into yoga poses and laugh. No, not.

-- Newscom/Gero Breloer: Dr. Madan KatariaIt has little to do with yoga, except that both yoga and laughter yoga emphasize breathing and have their roots in India. There in 1995 a medical doctor named Madan Kataria was impressed with the benefits of laughing. He invited a few people he met in a park to join him for an experiment, improving their health by laughing. They came, he taught them and all discovered the benefits of a good ha-ha. He tried it with other groups and got similar results -- even with prisoners and their guards.

At our first meeting, Barbara said, “We’re serious about silly.” She had four rules written on newsprint taped to the wall:

1. No new pain.
2. Make eye contact.
3. No words. (We don’t tell jokes.)
4. Fake it (with passion) till you make it.

We introduced ourselves by saying our name and laughing any kind of laugh we wanted. I didn’t know anyone in the group except Barbara.

We came together standing in a circle, learned a little chant accompanied by a clap: Ha, ha, ho, ho, ho. Then we stretched way up and folded down like a waterfall, laughing all the way. Barbara suggested a way to laugh and encouraged us to move around the circle, making eye contact, doing our laugh. Then we stopped and did our Ha, ha, ho, ho, ho and our waterfall stretch.

We laughed flirtatiously, laughed like a politician, like a sumo wrestler, like the Buddha, laughed while waving like a queen, like a screen star, like Groucho Marx, like a Pomeranian puppy.

Then Barbara whispered she had a secret to share and we were to laugh at her secret. She said she had a leak in the ragtop of her convertible. We judged her predicament hilarious. Then it was our turn to share our day’s disasters. One got caught in a rainstorm; I got a bad haircut; another lost money in the stock market; a woman told her boss she was overwhelmed and he did not take it well. We found a good laugh was a problem-shrinker.

The 40 minutes went fast. We sat in a circle and affirmed, “I am fantastic, you are fantastic and we all are fantastic.” We had a quiet minute to send our fresh energy out to the world, tossed a dollar or two into the pot and headed home. I felt that I had completed a strenuous workout.

Patty McCarty is NCR copyeditor. Her e-mail address is pmccarty@ncronline.org.

National Catholic Reporter October 31, 2008