It so happened that I learned much more from them than they learned from me.  The most important lesson being that the idea of laughter without humor is profound in its simplicity.  Why did no one ever think of this before?

Up until 1995 no one ever considered laughter as an activity in and of itself.  There had been much research done on the health benefits of sustained laughter, but all of the studies employed comedy to make the subjects laugh.

Even Dr. Madan Kataria, who started the laughter yoga movement in 1995, began his first laughter club using jokes to provoke laughter.  It was only when the jokes ran out that he hit upon the idea of using childlike playfulness, instead of jokes, to generate the guffaws.

This idea, as with all ingenious inventions, spread rapidly throughout the world and became bigger than the man who invented it.  As Dr. K explains in his most recent diary entry, “I had always felt that the Laughter Yoga movement had spread like wildfire to so many countries in a very short period of time without advertising and marketing because an undeniable Higher Force was guiding and promoting it. I knew it was not about me, but about the work, the people and the benefits it provided…”

I have been a laughter yoga practitioner for over two years and have just now come to really understand the depth and perfection of this simple idea.  The laughter yoga movement will go on without you Dr. K, but I will be forever grateful.

When the class ended someone asked how I got started with laughter yoga, so I told them all the chicken story and how hard I had laughed with my sister over her chicken remark.  I remembered how great I felt after laughing that day.  In subsequent years, I searched for a way to duplicate that experience because it had left me feeling so relaxed—like I had never even heard of stress!

I also told them the story of the very first laughter class I led at the library and how one of the participants told their own laughter story.  Twenty years earlier, he had been with a co-worker in his cubicle when they started laughing at something and couldn’t stop.  He went on to say that he hadn’t laughed that hard again until that night at our laughter class.

It is a common theme.  We all remember a time when we were with a friend or a sibling and laughed at something silly and ended up in hysterics.  Fortunately, with laughter yoga, no one ever needs to wait twenty years to laugh like that again.

My friend Sarah recently hosted our monthly book club meeting in her new home and we decided to have a laughter session there to bless the new digs.  Tonight’s the night and the last few days have seen numerous Facebook postings looking forward to our evening.  Today, I was putting the laughter exercises together for our party and I started laughing out loud to myself.

Sarah and I have emailed each other today saying we can’t wait for tonight.  I am actually feeling a little giddy in anticipation.  It must be those endorphins multiplying.

Laughing with girlfriends has to be one of the greatest blessings we have in life.  Tonight’s ending exercise is going to be grateful laughter.

Our acquaintance is a perfect example of how I always receive more from my laughter classes than I give. Marie is the founder and president of the Alzheimer’s CURE Foundation, which has the utterly perfect and amazingly ambitious goal of raising a $20 million cash prize for the scientist(s) who finds a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. (See www.alzCURE.org for more information.) Immediately upon discovering this mission, I wanted to create a Laugh for the Cure fund raising event, an idea that fired up my imagination for a multitude of ways that laughter yoga can be used for good causes.

Even more immediate was the reminder that there are scores of caregivers in our area (indeed, in the world) that could use the instant stress relief that comes with sustained laughter. It is not enough to offer a free monthly laughter class. I want to reach out to the people who need it most as they are probably too overwhelmed to reach out to me.

With this goal in mind, I’m planning to attend certified laughter yoga teacher training in October. With this certification comes the ability to certify more laughter yoga leaders in our area. Hopefully this will enable laughter to become even more available to the people who need it most.

Laughter, by its very nature cannot be hoarded selfishly and shared parsimoniously. It must be distributed generously and dispersed to as many souls as possible. In this way it is returned to us tenfold.

Then on Wednesday (the next morning) I was scheduled to lead a class at Scouter’s Hall for “morning laughter hours” but somehow I woke up in a funk and convinced myself that no one was going to show up and I’d have to cancel the class. I was so depressed that I did not even write up any new laughter exercises. I just brought my notes from all the previous classes.

Much to my surprise, I had an almost full class show up on Wednesday morning and we had a really fun session. I was treated to a few new laughter exercises that my friends thought of from real life experiences. I left feeling totally uplifted and energized. I am so grateful for my laughter friends–old and new.

This is what it is all about. When you laugh together, everything is okay. That is why Dr. Kataria believes we can achieve world peace through laughter.

World peace is a lofty goal. I know I achieved happiness and serenity when I had been really down. Thank you laughter friends. You’ve reminded me why I started this movement locally. Friends and laughter is what it is all about.

In June Laughter Hours was featured in the “news” section of the American School of Laughter Yoga web site. Not only that, but the article had a link to my Laughter Hours web site! What a rush to see an article about Morning Laughter Hours that featured a link to my “about Mary” page.

We have so much more laughing to do this summer. I’ll be leading three more morning classes at Scouter’s Hall, and four classes for the residents at the Meadows, in addition to my August Laughter Hours class on August 16. All is well in my laughter world. I hope all is laughter in your world as well.

I hosted my first private laughter party in my home last Friday night with some laughter friends and a few guests that I had not met before.  The night was a rollicking, wondrous, incredible, glorious, phenomenal success.  I have the most beautiful girlfriends in the world.

We came together for a picture-taking laughter yoga session so that I would have new pictures for the Laughter Hours web site and also to enable me to create brochures and flyers for laughter events.  I could not have foreseen how much fun we would have, how hard we would laugh, and how close we would become.

Most of us achieved deep, sustained belly laughter—the wipe-the-tears-from-your-eyes and blow-your-nose laughter.  This is the best laughter because afterwards you feel so relaxed and totally free of stress.  Thanks to another girlfriend, I have a photo gallery of the evening.

Most of us hate to have our picture taken and hate looking at ourselves in pictures, so I owe a great debt to my girlfriends for braving the camera while letting go of their inhibitions and laughing.  It is a fact that everyone is truly beautiful when they laugh.

Thank you beautiful girls.  Never forget that your outward appearance matches your inner beauty, especially when you smile.  So keep laughing—you make the world a more beautiful place.

While on his web site, I found another quote of his that I really liked.  “I have not seen anyone dying of Laughter, but I know millions who are dying because they are not Laughing.”  Then when I was trying to find that quote again, I found an interesting Wikipedia page about people who were purported to have died from laughter.

On 24 March 1975, Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old bricklayer from King’s Lynn, England, died laughing while watching the “Kung Fu Kapers” episode of The Goodies, featuring a kilt-clad Scotsman battling a vicious black pudding with his bagpipes.  After twenty-five minutes of continuous laughter, Mitchell finally slumped on the sofa and died from heart failure.  His widow later sent The Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell’s final moments of life so pleasant.

If that wasn’t funny enough, legend has it that Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, 1611-c. 1660, a Scottish writer and translator, died in a fit of laughter on receiving the news of the Restoration of Charles II.  I wonder if he was the inspiration for the Shrek character, King Farquart.

I am sorry to say that I laughed out loud at these stories of people dying of laughter.  While I’m not at all afraid of dying of laughter myself, I have to say that I agree that it would be the best way to go.

But did they laugh?  Well, not so much.  But they had a great time pretending to be different animals and they had the ho ho ha ha ha clapping chant down to a tee.  I believe the younger girls were more inclined to laugh and the older girls were more self-concious.

Self-awareness and fear of being “uncool” happens at an earlier age than when I was growing up.  I expected that, but was still unprepared for the reality.  I will try to refrain from lamenting the loss of youth and yearning for the good old days.  You’re welcome.

However, I’d really like to find a way to get that set to laugh.  There must be a way to reach their inner sanctum.  Advertisers drool over this age-group because they seem to be able to get their parents to part with their disposable incomes quite easily.  I just want them to part with their inhibitions and laugh with me.

It has taken me a long while to come to friendly terms with my belly roll, double chin, and gray hair.  Laughter yoga has helped in this respect.  It’s alot harder to take yourself seriously when you are laughing.  It’s alot harder to be self-critical when you are laughing.  In fact, when you are laughing, things are pretty easy.

I’d love to let that tween, teen, and twenties set know that everything will be okay when you get older.  Especially if you laugh.

May 18, 2011

The nagging questions have been answered.  Will anyone come to my new laughter club?  Will any of the library laughter people come?  Will the room be big enough?  Will people enjoy laughter yoga and participate?  Will they get it?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes again.  Our first Laughter Hours laughter club meeting kicked off last night as planned.  There was just enough space and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  We even had kids there, which was a really wonderful surprise.  Thanks Mike and Sue!

Now I can exhale and plan better for next month.  We’ll do more exercises and have more music; and I’ll definitely push the tables back further so we have more room to really get around.

I keep thinking about the things I did wrong last night; I got there late, forgot the name tags, didn’t prepare enough exercises, (bl)hah, (bl)hah.  But none of those things seemed to matter at all.  We all laughed really hard and really long and left feeling de-stressed and happy and at peace.  We did our job.

Thanks to everyone who came—old friends and new friends, young friends and young-at-heart friends.  I am so very blessed in my life, and so very grateful.  Peace.