Laughter helps beat stress at no cost
Upasana Sharma Kaura
BBC and Google have used it in their offices. Oprah Winfrey promoted it on her show. Aamir Khan loved it on Satyamev Jayate. Mira Nair filmed a documentary, The Laughing Club of India, on it…
One does not need celebs being mentioned on invites to attend events, especially when it happens to be about the founder of Laughter Yoga, Dr Madan Kataria and the launch of his book. A celebrity in his own right, it is due to the “laughing” efforts of Dr Kataria that today, laughter yoga has become popular worldwide as a complete workout. It is practised in more than 100 countries, with as many as 2.5 lakh people laughing out loud in India alone.
Last morning, Penguin Random House India, in association with Delhi Laughter Club, celebrated World Laughter Day with the release of Dr Kataria’s Laughter Yoga at Tecnia Auditorium in Rohini, Delhi. This comprehensive book by the founder of the laughter yoga club movement, Dr Kataria, tells you what laughter yoga is, how it works, what its benefits are and how you can apply it to everyday life.
Laughter yoga is a revolutionary idea: simple and profound. A practice involving prolonged voluntary laughter, it is based on scientific studies that have concluded that such laughter offers the same physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter.
Started in 1995, the Laughter Yoga movement has spread across more than 106 countries with thousands of free social Laughter Clubs. Every first Sunday of May, Laughter Club members and their friends and families get together in important squares and public parks to laugh together for world peace.
“Stress is increasing in our daily lives and so are diseases. Stress causes over a hundred diseases and though there are a number of ways to beat it, the best is laughter as it comes at no cost. Laughter not only strengthens the immune system, it helps reduce anger too. It helps get you closer to people as everyone wants a smiling face around them. Have you ever seen someone get closer to an angry person? So, laughter is the best way to stay healthy and live longer,” shares Dr Kataria.
