Laughter yoga turns 27!

Today, March 13, 2022, is Laughter Yoga’s birthday.

Laughing for your health

According to the legend, Dr Madan Kataria, had the rather preposterous idea, on the morning of March 13, of inviting passers-by strolling through a public park in Mumbai to join him in laughing for a few minutes at the start of the day. He ended up laughing with 4 other people. Laughing mainly to relieve stress.

And what became the first laughter club began with people telling jokes to trigger beneficial laughter.

After a few weeks, they moved on to simulated, physical laughter. And that’s when the laughter yoga exercises began to be created.

27 years on, and still going strong

What is certain is that, what we practice as a method today, 27 years later, is something that took shape in a Mumbai park with a small group of people who CHOSE and DECIDED to laugh on a daily basis. Chosen and decided to laugh, breathe, socialize and take care of themselves.

Think about it. Start your day with a smile on your face and a lighter heart! How wonderful!

And it took someone who BELIEVED in it.

Laughter yoga turns 27!

27 years later, there are countless enthusiasts around the world. People of all races, nationalities, languages and cultures practice intentional laughter exercises to their heart’s content.

Of course, there are sometimes what I would call “additions” to the method itself. The session may have different “colors and flavors”. Depending on the facilitator, there may be games, dancing or singing.

Mine are more traditional and never involve the mind. Learning lyrics and choreographic movements requires memorization, which means using the mind, and I don’t do that.

It doesn’t matter, because the intention is always the same: to laugh for your physical, emotional, mental and, I would add, relational and spiritual health.

Happy 27th birthday to the method! And thanks to its founders, Madan and Madhuri Kataria!

Laughter, joy and health

Linda

p.s. Would you like to try out some exercises? Come here

p.p.s. Did you know that we have several videos in the MEDIA section of our site?