Dr. Kataria’s Laughter Yoga Diary

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a special type of depression that sets around Thanksgiving holidays. Around half a million Americans suffer from SAD every year with the change of season. They experience serious mood changes, access sleep, low energy levels and craving for sweet and starchy food.

Laughter is an extremely powerful tool that counters depression. Most people laugh when in a good mood, but very few can laugh when they’re sad. You must have observed that people who laugh frequently are less likely to be depressed, whereas depressed people hardly laugh. Read more…

Did you know that I used to be a stage actor for about 9 years during my college days. I think actor and doctor combination has worked wonders for spreading Laughter Clubs ha ha ha. In the month of August 2007 I was invited to do a laughter yoga seminar with an actors academy in Mumbai.

There were about 80 aspiring actors and actresses who attended the session. After the session Laughter Yoga has become part of their curriculum. I have some insights about how laughter yoga can help public speakers, actors, singers and other performing artists to overcome stage fright, and help them communicate and perform to the maximum.

Research has proved a well established link between the body and mind. It has been found that the state of mind, whether positive or negative, is mirrored in a corresponding bodily expression or ‘body behavior’. Bodily enacting of any emotional behavior triggers a similar change in the state of mind.

Dr. Dale Anderson (Minnesota USA) tells of an American actor who did tragic roles for so long that she went into a depression with classical physical symptoms. She turned to her doctors, but after extensive physical testing she was declared physically healthy. After taking advice from psychologists the doctors advised her to stop playing tragic roles and turn to comedy. She followed their advice and her symptoms and depression disappeared.

These facts can form the basis of helping actors, public speakers and other stage artists who sometimes are victims of their own profession. Their biggest fear is stage and camera fright and lack of self confidence. Laughter yoga has the ability to overcome these negative emotions and give them a sense of well being and help them to excel in their performance. It helps to alleviate nervousness and shyness thereby improving upon their talents.

As laughter yoga effectively combines yogic breathing with laughter exercises and lays emphasis on diaphragmatic breathing, it enhances the supply of oxygen and helps relieve symptoms of stress and anxiety. All performing artists need a good breathing capacity for rendition of dialogues and voice intonations. Laughter yoga helps to develop deep breathing techniques thus helping them to relax and overcome any negative feelings.
There is a lot of similarity between actors and Laughter Yoga members. Both learn to enact emotions and fake them. The exception being that in Laughter Yoga ‘fake’ laughter turns into ‘real’ and contagious laughter after some time and generates a state of total well being.

There are some distinct advantages of being a laughter club member:

LY members learn to laugh in order to be healthy. Health is a priority and they are totally committed to doing the laughter exercises. Actors on the other hand are trained to acquire skills for performance. Health is not their main concern. They are doing it just for a living.

Laughter members are not being judged. They are free from anxiety of performance. Actors suffer from the stress of being judged all the time as their performance is based on the appreciation of others.

Laughter Yoga members are motivated by a feeling of well being whereas performers are motivated by the audience and their judgments.

Most of the time I only talk about life changing experiences but on November 7th, 2007 I actually had a life saving experience with an elderly lady who suddenly collapsed in front of my eyes.

That day Madhuri reminded me several times that we were to go for a house warming party. Though tired I thought it would be a great break from work. About 200 people were gathered at the party all singing clapping and dancing. Just 5 minutes before dinner, the mother of the host Mrs. Raj Khanna collapsed and everyone yelled out at me for help. On examining her it seemed she had a cardiac arrest. There was no pulse, no breathing and no heart beat. Another doctor present thought she was almost dead and suggested she be rushed to the hospital. But I jumped in and started giving her cardiac massage and mouth to mouth respiration because there was no point in taking her to the hospital as there was no heart beat and respiration. Madhuri kept on inspiring me to continue with CPR.
There was chaos and confusion and most people were requested to leave for dinner. Meanwhile, I kept pumping her chest and giving her mouth to mouth respiration for nearly five minutes when all at once she started breathing and her heart beat came back. After her miraculous revival, we rushed her to the hospital for further medical treatment and investigation. It was discovered that the reason for her cardiac arrest was very high levels of potassium in the blood due to chronic kidney failure.

After two days she was discharged and I went to see her. The whole family was so grateful and blessed me for my heroic endeavour. It has become the talk of the town and I was honored in a public gathering for saving her life.

This is the third time in the history of my medical career I revived someone from cardiac arrest. I feel good and it was humbling experience. I’m glad I haven’t forgotten my medical skills even though I’m not practicing medicine regularly.

Last week I watched one of our laughter leaders from Gujarat , Kamlesh Masalawalla introduce Laughter Yoga in a fitness centre. It was well received by youngsters in the gym undergoing bodybuilding and weight reduction programmes.

Laughter yoga is a very good value addition for fitness centers to bring some fun and joy along with their exercise programmes. Any exercise routine tends to become repetitive and boring and people have the tendency to give up their exercise programmes because of boredom. But Laughter yoga is a fun exercise that is easy to stick to.

Professor William Fry from Stanford University equated laughter with aerobic exercise in his research on the effects of laughter on human physiology. He found that 10 minutes of hearty laughter is equal to 30 minutes on the rowing machine. And this is in respect to cardiopulmonary endurance. The heart rate of 120 can be achieved much faster through laughing than running on the jogging tracks. Therefore, Laughter yoga is ideally suited for busy professionals and businesspeople who have very little time to exercise. Just 20 minutes of laughter gives similar results as those of going to the gym for an hour.

As compared to any other exercise programme laughter yoga is a cost-effective and time-saving technique. It is self motivating and improves the mood conditions thereby giving a sense of well-being.

Laughter yoga can also be beneficial for aspiring athletes who want to improve their performance. Since breathing capacity is one of the factors which determine stamina, a bout of laughter before any competitive sports activity will increase relaxation levels and reduce anxiety and nervousness. Laughter boosting technique or Calcutta laughter is the best technique to achieve this.

During my visit to San Jose, USA in September 2007. I met Claire Powell who is laughter leader and she told me her story of doing laughter yoga exercises while giving birth to her second child. I hope more and more women starting laughing while going through labor pains – Dr. Kataria.

On March 3rd 2007 at 11:58 am my 2nd son, Billy, was born. I remember laying in bed around 2 am staring at the moon through my window and not being able to sleep. I chuckled to myself and got up knowing that the long wait would soon be over and hours ahead would be eventful.

Walking the halls of my home breathing and counting through my labor signals they evolved into a pattern. At 4 am I decided to call my Mom and Dad and let them know it was time to start their drive so they could be present when their newest grandson took his first breath. Then I took a bath.

At 8 am I decided to wake my husband and let him know what was going on. Then a call to let my class know that I wouldn’t be teaching in the pool that morning. “Are you in labor?” a voice asked on the other line. “Yes”, I said and we both laughed.

A couple of hours later my parents arrived. I remember letting out an ironic Ha Ha to get through a “big one” when my Father came through the door and announced he was ready for the party as my older son simultaneously jumped on my back to play. OOOOF!

I was urged to go to the hospital and remember making everyone wait while I finished my tea. My Mom and I got into the car and my husband drove us to the hospital. Things were moving fast and I laughed as I gripped the car handle hoping I wouldn’t have the baby right there while going down the freeway.

We arrived at the hospital, I got checked in and undressed. Intense labor was on. I remember thinking, “I have Laughter.” I stood by the side of the bed, raised my arms in the air and laughed what I guess could be described as Hearty Laughter. Then, POP! just like a water balloon my water broke.

Next, I got into the bed and in less than two (I had to restrain myself) pushes out came my baby boy. After passing all inspections and filling out all required paperwork we were able to leave the hospital and be resting at home by the next evening.

Claire Powell