Vijay Sabharwall, India: I joined the JVCC Laughter Club in April 2015, when I was suffering from hipbone & lung cancer and was totally in a wheelchair, unable to stand even. After joining this club I found a drastic change in myself. My health is improving and I have put on weight. I am able to walk with the walker and can even drag my wheelchair to the club. I am able to do Laughter Yoga standing for almost half an hour. I can do my daily work myself and feel totally independent, as I don't need anybody's help. I feel my cancer has vanished and my digestion has improved.
My husband after seeing the change in my health continues to encourage me to go to the Laughter club. Everybody is so affectionate; I have no words to express my feelings to all the members. Thanks to Laughter Yoga which is putting life in many who are depressed & left the hope of life.
It has really done wonders for me!
Madhav Mhaske - It was a wonderful experience to go through the Silence Retreat program and observe three types of meditations namely Silence, Hearing and Humming. I felt very relaxed and light, especially during the exercise of writing a letter of forgiveness. I decided to write to my late father, seeking forgiveness for not being able to visit him before he died. All my life I carried this guilt, but after having written the letter I cried and felt much relieved. At last, I had got rid of my burden.
Other exercises like writing a letter to yourself to work upon your weaknesses and try to correct them and closing your eyes while eating were also very helpful. The Wisdom Game was another learning lesson to how to agree with another person’s point of view without compromising your position.
Over all it was five days of bliss!! Ha haha
Jamna - I started coming to the laughter club since the last two years. Earlier, I could not laugh openly, but now with regular laughter practice, I can laugh freely and openly. I had a slight hearing problem and my ears were blocked, but hearty laughter improved my hearing power and I feel much better. I was advised to undergo surgery, but thanks to laughter, there is no need for it, as regular laughter exercises has cleared the blockage in the ears to a large extent.
I enjoy these sessions early morning, which make me feel fresh and energized throughout the day.
Mangla - I was suffering with severe Parkinson’s which made me feel helpless and dependent. But, a year ago, I joined the laughter club and since then my condition improved by almost 50 per cent. I used to go through terrible tremors of Parkinson with my face and hands shivering badly. I could not work or lift anything with my hands. But, after a few laughter sessions, I saw a remarkable change in my condition. The tremors stopped and gradually I could feel the strength return. Though I had been under treatment, the medicines didn’t quite help and the doctors had advised me to exercise.
Laughter was just the exercise I needed. I started coming to the club regularly. Now, I can do a lot of work with my hands. In fact, there was a time I couldn’t lift a pen, but today thanks to the laughter club, I can use my hands and even play the harmonium! I feel more positive and confident in about everything.
Jagan Nath - After my accident in 1995 I did not laugh at all for 10 years and was slipping into depression. Soon after, I joined the Marol Maroshi Laughter club which helped to bring more laughter into my life. Now, I'am laughing more often. In the beginning, my family members thought I had gone crazy, but after seeing my increasing happiness they too want to join the club. I am sure one day they will.
Neeraj Agarwal - It was an awesome, overwhelming experience attending the 1 hour Laughter Yoga corporate seminar conducted by Dr. Madan Kataria at the MTHR management meet in Mumbai. In fact, by afternoon though drained, I still wondered What Next!
The session was electrifying and energetic and I found that my entire physiology changed within the first 10 minutes. I was charged and the effect stayed for many hours. I now look forward to relieve my work and personal stress with Laughter Yoga.
I also recommend laughter sessions for all corporates as it is the best tool for stress management and team building. If I had gone through this during my corporate days, I would had made this a part of my HR policy and HR manual.
Neeraj Agrawal
National Head Training and Development – Raheja Retail
G K Ramamurthy - G.K. Ramamurthy is barely three-weeks old member of the Laughter Club of Bangalore that meets at Lalbagh every morning from 7 am – 7.45 am. The 61-year-old senior, Ramamurthy was too immersed in his business and hardly gave a thought to the importance of exercise in daily life. After retirement, he found himself to be fat and was regretting abstaining from routine physical exercise. About three years ago, he met with an accident and as a result had multiple fractures in the chest and was immobilized for a considerable length of time. Ramamurthy felt hesitant to start off on a new exercise routine, like yoga because due to past medical condition, he has been finding it difficult to bend (even to pick up something that he may have accidentally dropped to the floor.)
As Ramamurthy continued with the routine of early morning walks, a friend, Kumar, insisted that he come to the Laughter Club and try the activities there for just one day. After much persuasion, Ramamurthy attended his first Laughter Club twenty days ago. At the end of the first session, Ramamurthy felt refreshed and energetic and the whole day went the same way. Ramamurthy says he enjoys the Laughter Yoga exercises and “doesn’t want to miss even for one day”.
Ramamurthy has been so energized that he has already brought in 5-6 new members, also seniors, to the Club to share the “activeness”.
At the end of each day’s Laughter Yoga session, Ramamurthy feels totally energized, active and no longer wants to sit idle for even a minute, through each day.
Dr S H Patil - Dr. S.H. Patil and his wife, native of Karnataka and resident in Mumbai for the last 50 years, has been practising Laughter Exercises for over 10 years now, post retirement. Dr. Patil and his wife Mrs. Patil were in Bangalore to attend the All India Laughter Yoga Conference, LAFF-2009 from Dec.4-6, 2009. A retired Scientist of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Dr. Patil is one of the 8-10 founder members of New Bombay Laughter Club at Vashi, with his wife.
The daily routine for Dr. Patil and friends, starts at 6.45 am with a free Yoga club for Seniors where they do half hour of Yoga-based joint exercises, followed by 15 minutes Laughter Exercises – as prescribed by Dr. Madan Kataria, Founder of Laughter Yoga. The next 20 minutes walking along a lake. The early morning routine ends in a Talk session of about 30-40 minutes. Most of these seniors have their children residing abroad. This group comes together to discover ways to enjoy themselves as elderly parents. The other activities of this group are an annual Picnic and occasional get together of 8-10 families for breakfast/favorite snack at one of the member’s house for joy. This group finds the Laughter Club a good way to support each other and enjoy life, in the absence of children. “This routine keeps us going fine”, says Dr. Patil.
“We review the benefit from Laughter Yoga on our health once in 2-3 years. For me, personally, Laughter Yoga has helped me overcome severe acidity that I was suffering from during my career days. I used to take 2 tablets, 4 times a day for many years. From the second year when I started Laughter Yoga, I was able to reduce the dosage and gradually, I have been off medication. Now I am able to eat spicy food and drink tea/coffee, though not regularly. I find that 15 minutes of Laughter Yoga a day for two years along with Yoga and physical fitness regime of half hour has tremendously improved my health. And what is amazing is the fact that at age 77 I am enjoying good health and medication-free life. Such is the health benefit.”
The New Bombay Laughter Club at Vashi started with a small group of 8-10 persons and has grown up to a 100. “On any given day, the average size of our Laughter Club is 25”, reveals Dr. Patil.
Neeta Fadia - I had heard about Laughter Clubs and the benefits people were getting by practicing Laughter Yoga. Since the last 10 years, I have been suffering from Advanced Osteoarthritis of the knee joints, which has severely hampered my mobility. Even after my Knee Replacement surgery last year, I found it very hard to stand even for 15 minutes without pain. But, thanks to an Evening Laughter Club that started in my building compound, I began attending the Laughter sessions regularly. Now, I can stand for more than half-an-hour continuously without pain. It is amazing how Laughter Yoga changed my life and my outlook.
Khushmita Sanghvi - As soon as I completed my Certified Laughter Yoga Training (CLYT) course in June 2010, I felt a distinctive shift in my perspective in life. I had already made a huge leap of faith last year by quitting my corporate job and becoming a full time yoga instructor, but Laughter Yoga took my journey ahead by a thousand miles!
I felt so light and clear in my head when I returned from the training, and just knew that I had found my purpose to be on earth – ‘To Spread Laughter’. The last two months have been a roller coaster for me as I started my own Laughter Club in Pune, which is getting stronger every week, and also did a few Laughter Yoga sessions with some NGO'S. I even landed up with a few corporate assignments which will further my cause to spread the word of laughter in different areas.
All in all I am grateful to reach out to more than 800 people in less than two months of Laughter Yoga Certification. I'm still laughing at destiny's little games but this time with complete faith in everything I do.
Khusmita can be reached at – khushmita@gmail.com
Jagat Bist - During the last hundred days, my wife Radhika and I have laughed with more than a thousand people. It has really been a life changing experience! We are now proud to have a life skill with us wherein we can connect to any group of people anywhere, anytime and make them laugh unconditionally. We feel cheerful throughout the day, and life is full of joy.
We have converted our bodies into factories that utilize oxygen from the atmosphere, rejuvenate each and every cell of our system and manufacture feel good endorphins. We are as healthy and energetic as one can be, and have not taken any medication since we turned ‘Laughter Yogis’. We feel deeply fulfilled as we are instruments of happiness and health for others and are able to touch their lives with a new joyous way of life. Our lives now have a meaning and a mission – to make others happy and healthy!
I had my tryst with Laughter Yoga one fine morning in Mumbai, more than a decade ago when I joined Dr. Madan Kataria leading a Laughter session in Lokhandwala park. The experience was simply out of the world! But, I had to wait for almost 10 years to become a laughter leader. I have never looked back after that, and today we run two Laughter clubs – the Suniket Laughter Club and Laughter Club of State Bank Learning Centre, Indore – regularly.
Here are some experiences shared by the members:
Let us begin with ourselves. The pain in my knee joints is a thing of the past. I get up early in the morning every day and work till late at night without any feeling of fatigue. Radhika doesn’t need her blood pressure pills any more and her frequents bouts of sinusitis has simply disappeared.
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Many among a group of newly promoted bank officers felt nervous to face the audience in their public speaking sessions. They were asked to join Laughter Yoga sessions, after which they shed all their inhibitions, and gathered the courage to speak freely.
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Another group was required to appear for a tough test for promotion to the next cadre. They felt tired at the end of the day, and had no energy left to study. Those who attended laughter exercises in the morning not only improved their attention span in classes but could also study for a couple of hours more in the evenings.
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An elderly businessman felt severe pain in his neck which traveled across his shoulders and back. The pain was acute and disabling. After he joined our laughter club, the pain is gone. He has developed a regular habit of getting up and going for morning walk. His wife tells us that he seldom laughed earlier and never mixed socially with people. She is pleasantly surprised at the transformation.
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An income tax officer, who retired recently, said that his lungs are fully cleared after a laughter session and the feeling of freshness lingers throughout the day.
We get feedback of feelings of well being, energy and health on a continual basis from our member friends.
V Malar - Since the last two decades, I have been training people from all walks of life in different areas like Health &Safety, Reproductive Health, Human rights etc. But, after some point of time, it started feeling monotonous and I wanted to give myself a break.In December, 2010, my brother saw a poster of Laugher Yoga leader training being conducted at Tiruvannamalai and insisted that I attend the training. I was very reluctant, but he was keen to put me in. The first day when he dropped me at the venue, I told him that if I get out immediately he should not blame me because according to me “Laughing without a reason" was a ridiculous idea and I was certainly not convinced.The training started and the "magic" happened. I got completely involved in this unique concept, where anyone can laugh without relying on any joke, humor or comedy. During lunch break, I came out to meet my brother who was waiting to pick me up. On seeing him, I started laughing and very curiously he also joined me. I narrated each and every exercise to him and his fiancé and they both decided to attend the next leader training. On 7th of Feb 2011, my brother got married and soon after the rituals, the newlyweds and I went to the Laughter Club and the members surprised us with a grand Laughter reception! Very inspired and motivated, I took up Laughter Yoga as a career and am now helping others to bring more laughter and joy in their lives.