Could it be that laughter really is the best medicine, wonders Fiona Murdoch
DID YOU hear the one about the laughologist? Within minutes she had a roomful of strangers talking gibberish, giggling into pretend mobile phones and crawling around on all fours, barking like labrador pups.
No, it's not a joke. Laughter sessions like these are taking place all over Ireland in businesses, libraries, hospitals, schools and people's homes. All in an effort to help people "get fit, get well and get happy".
That's the philosophy behind the new health craze, laughter yoga, devised by an Indian doctor following months of research into the widespread scientific evidence on the benefits of laughter. As a cardiologist, Dr Madan Kataria already knew that laughter stimulated the heart and blood circulation.
What he didn't know prior to his research was that it also increases breathing capacity, strengthens the immune system and helps aid the prevention of depression, anxiety and psychosomatic disorders. And that it boosts the level of endorphins - natural painkillers - in our bodies.
Kataria was particularly impressed by the book Anatomy of an Illness in which an American journalist, Norman Cousins, who suffered from an incurable disease of the spine called ankylosing spondylitis, described how he benefited from laughter therapy when no painkiller could help him.
After completing his research in 1995, Kataria promptly started the world's first laughter club in a public park in Bombay with four people. Thirteen years later there are now 1,200 laughter clubs globally. Half a dozen are in Ireland and with Mary Mitchell, founder of Laughter Yoga Ireland, training new laughter leaders every month, it is likely that this number will mushroom in the near future.
"There is no medicine like laughter," says Mitchell, who trained under Kataria - dubbed "the guru of giggling" - at a workshop in Munich in 2003. "It has been compared to magic fingers, which reach into the interior of the abdomen and massage your organs."
A session of laughter yoga starts with stimulation games followed by deep breathing and stimulated laughter exercises before moving on to more playful, childlike laughter. "Fake it until you make it", is the name of the game, pretend laughter invariably dissolving into the real thing. The body, in fact, cannot tell the difference between real and fake laughter, so even fake laughter brings with it all the health benefits.
Mitchell finds the laughter sessions an enjoyable break from her more serious work as a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist in Donegal. She starts off each day with "shower laughter". "It's fantastic because it really sets me up for the day," she says. "I laugh into all the places I am washing, and sometimes I don't want to get out I'm having such fun.
"The ideal is to have a laughter session every morning, because you create the energy you need for the day ahead. In India they meet every morning in parks, but that wouldn't work here because of the weather."
Most Irish laughter clubs meet on a weekly or fortnightly basis. While it works for children and adults alike, it seems it's the more mature who need it most. Children laugh about 500 times on an average day, while adults may only laugh five or six times. "Up to 15 times a day, if we're in the right environment," says Mitchell.
All kinds of people attend her workshops, including teachers, nurses and social workers, but up until now there has been no uptake from doctors, psychologists or psychiatrists. Mitchell would like to see members of the medical profession get involved, or at least recommend laughter clubs to their patients, especially those liable to anxiety or depression.
No one would quibble with the assertion that laughter induces a sense of wellbeing, but what might not be so obvious is that it is, in fact, a form of aerobic exercise. Dr William Fry of Stanford University has discovered that one minute of laughter is equal to 10 minutes using a rowing machine.
Anne McDonald, who trained under Kataria in 2004 at the only workshop he has ever held in Ireland, points out that laughter is physically exhausting. "If you did a session every single day it's the equivalent of going to the gym," she says. "But at least this way you get a smile on your face as well."
McDonald holds regular laughter sessions, and she finds these complement her work as a coach and mentor. Sometimes these are held in libraries and other public places, but she has also incorporated elements of laughter yoga into her training sessions both in social care and the corporate sector. These have an emphasis on self-care and creativity as well as having fun.
Having worked "at the miserable edge" in social care herself for many years - firstly as manager of the homeless hostel Haven House, and then as staff welfare officer with Fingal County Council - her "real passion" now is encouraging staff to take care of themselves.
"It's a sad fact that there will always be homeless people and victims," she says. "But there won't always be good staff if they don't take care of themselves while providing professional care."
Participants often feel a bit nervous or embarrassed at the start of a laughter yoga session. "But so does the facilitator," says McDonald. "And by the end you feel really good. Laughter is all about getting over ourselves - sometimes we take ourselves a bit too seriously - but if you can run around and bark like a dog, you can deal with most things."
• For more information see www.laughteryogaireland.organd www.mcdonaldcoaching.com