Laughter Helped Me Cope With Cancer

Manal al-Attar, CLYT : When I first heard about Laughter Yoga, I decided to attend a session, where I learned about its several health benefits. Shortly after, I was diagnosed with cancer, which came as a big shock. But, it was regular practice of laughter exercises that made a significant improvement in my health and changed my whole life.

After three surgeries and several sessions of chemotherapy, I had begun to suffer from severe pain in the bones and was unable to move. I started using a wheelchair, but consistent pain in my arms made my situation very difficult as even painkillers and drugs had no effect, and I continued to suffer.

It was then that I decided to do Laughter Yoga regularly during the treatment between the doses of chemotherapy. I knew that  practicing Laughter Yoga increases the amount of oxygen that reach the body and brain, which leads to the activation of the immune system, and thus raises the efficiency of the whole body. Laughter Yoga helped me to walk back and move my arms naturally.

After experiencing the wonderful effect of Laughter Yoga on a personal level, I trained to become a Laughter Yoga leader in Bangalore, India.  I started conducting laughter sessions in centers specializing in the treatment of cancer, which gave my life a new meaning. On returning to Egypt, I became the first Egyptian teacher in this field, and began to teach the courses to train and prepare Laughter Yoga Leaders in Arabic for the first time, thereby helping people to become aware of the benefits of Laughter Yoga and how to  incorporate in their daily routine for