Dr. Kataria’s Laughter Yoga Diary

For the past years I have received many requests from South African for laughter yoga.

Last month Madhuri and I finally set foot in Africa. This has been a dream of mine and I felt a feeling of accomplishment and happiness as we set foot on African soil for the first time in Johannesburg.

We conducted public seminars in Johannesburg and Pretoria and also a laughter leader training course in Johannesburg. South Africa is a beautiful country with warm welcoming people who love to laugh. The laughter energy at some of our sessions was memorable. I especially remember the great session at Yoga Connection where we met such wonderful people — thank you Carley, laughter-blaster Basho, Alan and all!

In Cape Town we were amazed at the great natural beauty of the city, mountains and sea. We ran a leader training course at Cape Town Medi Spa, a wonderful venue — thanks to owner Ian and his team for the great support and hospitality. The laughter energy at the Cape Town course was fantastic.

We have 50 new laughter leaders in South Africa and seeing how well people responded and how committed our leaders are I am confident that laughter yoga will spread very quickly. Already I have reports of sessions being held in Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg with plans for laughter yoga in yoga studios, hospitals, townships, orphanages, prisons, schools, offices, MS and cancer groups, an upmarket spa, major companies and more.

The press response was very good, with radio & tv sessions and coverage in major magazines including Longevity and Marie Claire. Special thanks to Janine of LaughSA, Kaz of Total Media, and Nikki of the UPliftment Program for their hard work in support of laughter yoga.

I love South Africa and will return soon.