Healing with a Ha!

Hearty laughter is a spontaneous and uninhibited outburst of feeling good, relaxing both body and mind. It is a medicine which is not available in any chemist or pharmacy, yet you carry it with you all the time. Journalist and author Dinesh C.Sharma explained that laughter therapy is beneficial for all age groups in any dosage. Statistics show that people used to laugh for at least 18 minutes a day in the 1950s, but now, unfortunately, it has whittled down to less than 6 minutes per day. Making people laugh has become serious business!

“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old.
You grow old because you stop laughing.”

Michael Pritchard, American stand-up comedian

Unlike many other medicines, laughter has a unique quality – you can use any amount and never overdose. In fact, for people the globe over, getting addicted to this therapy is without fear of any side effects. It is no longer a joke now; laughter has become an important part of complementary and alternative medicinal regimens. It is common knowledge that a hospital timetable includes laughing and humour as an essential part of the routine. The best way to face life is with a smile. It eases the mind, diffuses tension between people and has a positive physiological effect on patients and nursing staff.

As Dinesh explained, while laughter has been known to humanity for ages, it is only in the last two to three decades that the medical world has endorsed the healing power of laughing. This is only due to increased stress in everyday living and the problems and diseases associated with it. The pressure of modern life has taken away the pleasure of laughing naturally.

Dr. Michael Titze, a German psychologist, conducted a study and discovered that people slowly lost both their ability and desire to laugh. Children can laugh 300-400 times a day but as they grow up this number dwindles down to just 15 times a day. In such circumstances, there is little one can do but induce laughter. As you would imagine, it is difficult to laugh without reason but that did not deter Dr. Madan Kataria, a Bombay based physician, who pioneered a technique called ‘free group laughter’ based on Yoga (Hasya Yoga). His theory is that self-induced, stimulated laughter can easily be converted into real laughter when it is done in a group setting. Laughter is infectious, laughter is contagious and it spreads when you laugh in company and have good eye contact with the rest of the group. People often laugh without reason especially when they are in the company of their peers.

“Laughter is a tranquillizer with no side effects”, said Arnold Glasgow, a famous businessman from the USA. What is laughter technique? It is a group of people laughing every day for about 15 minutes without being stimulated with jokes. A session starts with deep breathing and a Ho-Ho, Ha-Ha exercise followed by a variety of stimulated laughing techniques such as hearty laughter, silent laughter, medium laughter, lion laughter, swinging laughter, one metre laughter, cocktail laughter and many more.

Ever since Dr Kataria founded the first Laughter Club at a public park in Lokhandwala, Mumbai in 1995, it spread to other cities in India and several European and US locations. Over 2000 clubs have mushroomed around the globe. The club in Dubai was set up in the year 2000 by Dr Kataria’s wife, Madhuri. She conducted over 10 laughter sessions at different venues. Participants remarked they felt light, totally de-stressed, as though they were part of another habitat. The following year, Dr Kataria launched the Emirates Laughing Group.

Dr Kataria explained that he identified similarities between laughter and pranayama. Both are based on the principle of optimal breathing which is fundamental to good health. It increases the oxygen supply to all parts of the body boosting the immune system and energising the metabolism. There is a direct relationship between an individual’s breathing pattern and his/her state of mind. When a person is stressed, breathing becomes fast, irregular and shallow. In contrast, when the mind is at peace, breathing is regular and deep. Through the practice of belly laughter and deep breathing, we can learn to change our breathing pattern from shallow to deep and easily alter our thoughts, even if one is disturbed.

Dr. Kataria reiterated that deep breathing can help the body deal with stress better. In his book “Laughter Yoga”, Madan Kataria poses the question that although laughter is forced at times, is the laughter in laughter yoga real or not? The answer, according to him, is both yes and no. He says, “Even if we pretend to laugh, it leads to the same physiological and biochemical changes in the body as real laughter.” In fact, he added, “Laughter Yoga has taught people to laugh without any reason.”

“Know Laughter, Do Laughter, Be Laughter, laughter is the mental floss, it clears the cobwebs of our mind”, elaborated Dr Kataria. It gives a massage to the digestive tract, expands blood vessels and sends more blood to all organs and muscles. It could be the easiest anti-stress measure. A good bout of laughter reduces the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. Laughter can be beneficial to people suffering from anxiety, depression, nervous breakdowns and insomnia. People suffering from asthma and bronchitis can improve lung capacity and oxygen levels in the blood.

American philosopher, historian and psychologist, William James, sums it up:

“We don’t laugh because we are happy
We are happy because we laugh.”