Laughing yoga, the best medicine

For centuries, it's been said that laughter is the best medicine. However, according to one Mumbai doctor, Madan Kataria, combining it with yoga can make it truly beneficial for your health.

Madan Kataria: "When you laugh, your immune system gets stronger, you don't fall sick so you're more healthy. Laughing together with other people we become happy."

Convinced by the health benefits of laughter, Dr Kataria has established a "laughter yoga" approach. This cleverly combines laughter exercises with a breathing technique taken from yoga, called "pranayama".

Madan Kataria: "Laughter yoga is a unique concept where anyone can laugh without using jokes, humour or comedies. We laugh as an exercise, combined with the breathing techniques from yoga that brings more oxygen that makes you more healthy and happy."

A group session in Indonesia, the "Bali Happidemic", was attended by a massive crowd of 11,000.

Enthusiasts frequently travel from abroad and one such practitioner from Germany, Elke Seesing, is fully aware of the health benefits laughter yoga brings.

Elke Seesing: "If you are laughing that happens a lot in your body, a lot of hormones get in action, you're feeling better, everything rises, and it makes you a better mood."

Clinical research in India and the US has proved that laughter results in a reduction in stress hormones such as cortisol and also in blood pressure.

Dr Kataria's fresh approach means that users aren't dependent on hearing silly jokes to make them laugh. Practitioners can apply the technique whenever necessary, even at life's most problematic moments. Just 10 to 15 minutes practice every 24 hours can make a user feel more prepared for everyday challenges, as Lilis Wardani - a housewife under pressure - declares.

Lilis Wardani: "Now my mind is wide open, even during the most difficult situation. Everything feels easier to bear and I become more easy-going to live my life with my family."

But one question put to Ms Seesing was whether an individual can simply laugh on demand.

Journalist: "One last question, can you laugh?"

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