LOS ANGELES YOGA HISTORY

Laugh it up!: What's so funny? Laughter yoga is no joke

The sound of laughter rings out between the child-decorated walls of the Roaring Mouse Creative Arts Studio. No one, however, tells any jokes.

It's the monthly meeting of the Laughter Club. Participants meet for an hour of Laughter Yoga, a combination of Yoga and laughing exercises.

"Laughter Yoga is a body-mind practice which combines simple and playful laughter exercises with gentle yoga breathing to enhance health and happiness," said Teresa Verde, the certified laughter leader for the club.

Method to the laughter

The Ravenna-based club, which started last November, is an organized space where people can come together and laugh for no reason, according to Verde.

Laughter clubs such as this one have spread worldwide, with more than 5,000 clubs in 53 countries, according to Verde, five of which are located in Western Washington.

It started in 1995 when Dr. Madan Katari, from Mumbai, India, noticed a difference between his patients who rarely laughed and those who laughed on a regular basis. The latter group seemed to heal faster and have stronger immune systems.

"He seriously considered this and decided to create a method where people could come together and laugh regularly for 20 to 30 minutes," Verde said.

The doctor started by using jokes but gave the method up after realizing jokes are dependent on individual humor and didn't make everyone laugh. He developed laughter exercises as an alternative.

"Jokes, on average, elicit a two-second laugh, whereas our laughter exercises yield, on the average, 40 to 60 seconds of laughter, sometimes longer," Verde said. "This is where the benefits really begin to kick in, both physical and psychological."

Verde has been in the laughter business for five years.

"Initially, I had a laughter club at Phinney Neighborhood Center for a little over a year," she explained. "I ended the club in order to devote my energy to building a little business doing laughter programs around the Seattle area."

The club in Ravenna got started because she missed having a public laughter club. "I really wanted a place where anyone and everyone can drop by and laugh with us," she said.

And having the club at Roaring Mouse Creative Art Studio, where the owners let her use the space for a minimal fee, is an added benefit. "We act very playful during the exercises, and so being in a children's space is so perfect," she said.

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