Hasyayoga: Saving the world one laugh at a time

“Laughter is the language of the soul” (Pablo Neruda) and a fundamental aspect of the human experience and of human expression. In fact, human beings begin laughing before they have acquired language. A baby typically begins laughing as early as 3 months old, whereas speech on average is not fully grasped until much later in a child’s development. Spontaneous laughter is an involuntary and natural response that does not need to be taught to us, thought about or conditioned. Yet, while a child may laugh over 100 times a day adults in comparison only laugh on average 15 times a day with more instances of voluntary, controlled, or restrained forms of laughter (i.e. fake laughing at your boss’ dry jokes), than spontaneous laughter. It is a though modern life is somehow robbing us of a basic human instinct that came so naturally to us as babies. We have lost the connection to our inner child. With this oppression of our true nature has also come a plummet in mental wellbeing, with more and more cases of stress, depression, anxiety and other nervous disorders. 1 in 6 people in the UK will experience a common mental health problem at some point in their lives. So what can we do to fix it?

Laughter Therapy

Dr Madan Kataria observed the absence of laughter and widespread sense of discontentment and decided to make a change. In his local park in Mumbai, Kataria began approaching people to join him in a laughing club. He began with just 5 people, meeting up to swap jokes to try to make each other laugh. The group began attracting attention from bypassers and gradually got larger and larger. When Kataria noticed however that they began to tire of the same jokes and it became harder to maintain interest and to produce spontaneous laughter, he began developing his own techniques and exercises to recreate the same effect. He noted that the body cannot distinguish between spontaneous laughter produced by a humorous stimulus, and voluntary laughter which does not require any humour whatsoever. If both types of laughter, real and fake, offset the same chemical reaction in the body the participant would reap the same psychological and physiological benefits regardless. He also noted that a prolonged artificial laugh often becomes a genuine one. From this observation came the birth of Hasyayoga.

What is Hasyayoga?

Hasya is the Sanskrit word for laughter and so the word literally means ‘laughter yoga’. Kataria in this innovative technique fuses together pranayama (yogic breathing method) and prolonged laughter. Hasyayoga is not your average yoga class. Here you will not find the silent atmosphere of relaxation, nor the steady sound of unified inhalation and exhalation. Instead you will be expected to get up close and personal with other participants in exercises designed to break down inhibitions and cultivate child-like playfulness.

A typical Hasyayoga class eases you in with a warm-up in which you’ll chant the ‘ha ha ho ho’ laughing sounds followed by deep diaphragmatic breathing. The remainder of the class will involve an array of eccentric and somewhat awkward exercises designed to have even the most serious among you in fits. Some typical practices involve: greeting everyone in the room with only eye contact and a laugh without exchanging any words, laughing like a lion (sticking your tongue out, opening your eyes wide, holding out your claws and laughing loudly), silent laughing, hum laughing, hug laughing and gradient laughing (going from a smile and gradually increasing the intensity of the laugh). The yoga form has become so popular it is now practiced in over 50 countries, with thousands of laughter clubs globally.

The Benefits of Laughter Yoga

As Gabriel Garcia Marquez put it “there is no medicine that can cure what happiness cannot”. The healing power of laughter has long since been established. Alongside reducing feelings and symptoms of stress, laughter and laughter yoga specifically is said to:

- Improve immunity

- Release endorphins which act as a natural pain killer and thus provide relief for chronic pain sufferers

- Improve mental wellbeing especially symptoms of depression and encourage positive thinking.

- Aid in team building and in generating a feeling of connection to others

- Increase oxygen supply to the brain, leaving you feeling energetic

Participants of Hasyayoga report that it is a transformative practice which can be transferred to everyday life and practiced independently. One participant noted that whenever he is feeling overwhelmed, he retreats to a quiet room solely to 'laugh it out'. This instantly renews his energy and leaves him feeling ready to tackle the obstacles at hand.

The practice of laughter frees you from the mind and its constant flow of thoughts. For an instant in laughter you are not thinking and are fully living in the moment. Laughter lifts the spirit. Laughter brings you from tension to relaxation in an instant, which is apparent in the sudden sensation of release, calm, warmth and happiness that washes over you after an outbreak of the giggles. Laughter can therefore act as a meditative tool that can serve us as a bridge which crosses over to inner stillness and peace. It is an ordinary experience with extraordinary potential for healing.

Kataria himself states that the objective of his yoga form is to teach people to generate laughter without a stimulus and be able to unlock a form of laughter ‘which flows like a fountain from deep within’, relieving all previously concealed and pent up emotion. It is said to be an excellent preparatory practice for meditation, allowing people to achieve greater transcendence of mind. Laugh your way to enlightenment.

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