Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 3, 2006
This is no joke: It's a typical day at sunny
Main Beach and a dozen people are wandering around with their hands in the
air, laughing hysterically, squawking like chickens and talking gibberish.
Now limbered up, they suddenly form a loose
circle and begin clapping and chanting before they resume a group stretch.
This is laughter yoga, a sidesplitting new fitness fad that's part traditional
yoga, part improve and all silliness.
About 60 US instructors who trained in India
with the man who invented the style now instruct thousands of practitioners
from California to Connecticut. A third of the known American laughter yoga
clubs are in California, said Sebastien Gendry, founder of the American School
of Laughter Yoga, Pasadena.
Jeffrey Briar, who founded the Laughter Yoga
Institute in Laguna Beach a month ago, said his daily yoga lessons are now
such a common sight on the beach that dog-walkers and joggers no longer stare.
Sometimes they even join in.
Briar has practiced laughter yoga for more
than a year and said he has shared his discovery with more than 4,500 people
at the beachside sessions. It doesn't matter if the laughter is forced or
fake in the beginning, he said.
"Most people think they have to feel
good first in order to laugh. But you can start from nothing, you can even
start feeling unhappy and just laugh as a form of exercise, and happy feelings
follow," said Briar, a slight 51-yearold with a perpetual grin.
He said laughter enhances the breathing exercises
and creates social interaction that isn't found in other styles that focus
more on concentration.
Numerous scientific studies have found that
daily laughter can help lift depression, lower blood pressure and boost the
immune system, but yoga and health experts say little has been done to study
the combined effects of chuckles and chakras.
Roger Cole, a San Diego-based certified yoga
instructor and Ph.D. in health psychology, said laughter yoga builds on the
idea that certain poses can combat depression. But he worries about the forced
nature of laughter yoga.
- AP
