I Learnt To Live In The Present Moment With Laughter Yoga

Cedric Komar, USA: I came across Laughter Yoga through the Internet several years ago. Though the idea was very appealing, I told myself that I would look into it later. And then my life started changing two years ago with my first trip to India for an Ayurveda retreat. The reason why my wife and I went to India was fertility treatment as a last chance to have a baby after 6 years of unsuccessful efforts. This trip had two profound effects on me. The first one is that my wife fell pregnant right after we returned from this trip following a last IVF cycle. The second impact was that for the following six months after our trip, I religiously followed the lifestyle of Ayurveda with nutrition, meditation, pranayama, yoga and I never felt so great.

I had a breakthrough the day my son was born. One hour before my wife gave birth; I was holding her hand in the delivery room. We were alone, and the atmosphere was full of spirituality. And I suddenly experienced the meaning of We Are One that my Ayurveda Doctor was repeating to me. It meant we are all connected; I am a part of all the people sharing my life, my mother and father, my wife and friends and my son to be at that time. We Are One meant, when I am harming myself, I am harming others, and when I am harming others I am harming myself; when I love myself, I love others and when I love others I love myself. It was a profound spiritual experience and much more than an intellectual observation because my entire being, mind and matter grasped how interconnected we all are.

The second big change came last year. Following the same Ayurveda lifestyle, I realized that the professional life I was living was keeping me small as a human being. As a business manager working for a large publicly listed multinational company, the truth crystallized into my mind one morning during meditation. The mission statement of the company based on short-term profit was not anymore aligned with my purpose in life. The truth is that it has never been aligned with me but I was in denial all these years. So I finally resigned and decided to go for 2 transformational experiences that would help me to live a greater life.

I first went to a Vipassana meditation course in July 2011, which is helping me to connect with my inner self. I also decided to come to Bangalore and become a professional Laughter Yoga teacher with the help of Dr. Madan Kataria. I realized that I had no time to wait anymore like some years ago when I came across Laughter Yoga on the Internet. I had to do it, now for the good of others and for my own good. Since my training, the spirit of laughter is helping me to ground myself in the present moment, which is the only thing I have. It also helps me to be more detached from the vicissitudes of life.

Today, when I look back at my personal experience I believe, the people who most resist Laughter Yoga are the persons that most need it. As a professional Laughter Yoga teacher, it is my mission to help these people go beyond their fears and express their inner self to live a much greater life through harmony, peace, laughter and love.