Need a laugh? Think there’s nothing to laugh about in these troubled economic times?
Think again. One of the free San Diego Laughter Clubs could fix you up.
My first encounter with one of the clubs was in Balboa Park near the Organ Pavilion. I heard a group of people, standing under some nearby trees, roaring with laughter. As the belly laughs and guffaws continued unabated for several minutes, it began to sound like something unusual was going on. It was then that I spotted a sign announcing a “laughter yoga” session in progress, along with a schedule of weekly club meetings all over the county.
Since then I’ve learned that laughter yoga began in 1995 in Mumbai India. A family physician named Madan Kataria developed the concept, inspired by evidence that laughter affects health in a number of positive ways. He decided to start a club to reap some of these benefits, and initially he told jokes to provoke the mirth. But he soon ran out of material, and drawing upon research suggesting that the body cannot distinguish between fake and real laughter, he began using a variety of exercises in which participants simulate laughing.
Kataria started with just 5 people, but according to the website http://www.laughteryoga.org/, more than 6000 clubs in 60 countries have since been formed. The first one in San Diego got started in 2006, and since then about 10 groups have formed, meeting weekly. When I joined the one that assembles near Sixth and Spruce Saturday mornings at 9, I learned that the faked fun can morph quickly into geniune hilarity.
Although the session was free, I paid a small price in self-consciousness. But the others present — about eight folks varying in age from 20s to 60s — seemed to take my presence in stride. A gentle young man in a UCSD t-shirt led us through exercises that in turn were silly and childlike and comical. We laughed and laughed, and at first I felt like an actress playing a character yucking it up. But the whole situation was so funny, it started cracking me up for real. We concluded by lying down on our backs on the grass, and for reasons I can no longer articulate, tears at one point were streaming down my face, I was laughing so hard. Eventually, this final exercise subsided into giggles and chuckles and deep, relaxed breathing.
Laughter yoga proponents say this kind of activity strengthens the immune system, releases endorphins, helps control blood pressure, clears mucus out of the lungs, massages the digestive tract and other internal organs, decreases stress-inducing cortisol, and increases catecholamines (improving alertness and memory.) It did feel good.
For a list of weekly gatherings in San Diego, go to http://www.laughinginsandiego.com/. And note that if you’re too shy to try one of the face-to-face sessions, there are even phone-based meetings daily.
