If you’ve ever come across a dozen adults laughing uncontrollably while running around an empty field, chances are that you’ve stumbled upon laughter yoga.
Developed in India in 1995, the practice has many proven health benefits, but is hardly known about in much of Ireland.
Kinvara woman, Jenni McGinley, is aiming to change all of that and has been getting the people of Clare and Galway to laugh themselves healthy for the past six years.
And like many great ideas, Jenni came across laughter yoga while walking around the Body and Soul area of Electric Picnic.
“I discovered it by chance at Electric Picnic about seven years ago. I saw a sign that said laughter yoga and I immediately wanted to know where it was on and what it was about,” she said.
“It was in a marquee in the Body and Soul area and I went down and signed up straight away. I couldn’t wait to see what it was all about. When I did, I loved it, I loved the fun of it.
“Immediately I was hooked. I started doing some research and I came across an Irish lady called Mary Ananda Shakti, she runs training courses for Laughter Yoga Ireland, so I signed up for them with my sister Cara, she really loved it as well.
“We were so inspired by the training that I decided to set up Kinvara Laughter Yoga and my sister set up Sligo Laughter Yoga, because she is based up in Sligo. We have been running classes and workshops ever since.”
While Jenni does practice more traditional yoga, she explains that laughter yoga is very different to the stretches and poses that most people picture when they think about yoga.
“Sometimes having yoga in the name can actually put people off. People sometimes think they haven’t been practicing yoga in a while or they are not limber enough. People sometimes imagine that they have to do these yoga poses while laughing, and it’s not like that at all,” she said.
“The breath is the main yoga element in it. It started off in India back in 1995 with Doctor Madan Kataria.
“He was a practicing doctor for 18 years and he did a research paper on laughter, he found that people who were sick with chronic conditions all suffered from low mood and he wondered would laughter help them at all.
“So himself and his wife and some friends went out into a park and started telling jokes and making themselves laugh and they found that that improved their mood. After a while, they ran out of jokes, so they had to come up with a system to make them laugh.
“So Doctor Kataria started to investigate intentional laughter, or laughing for no reason. He was able to show that there was amazing health benefits from laughter and to put in place a method for achieving intentional laughter.
“His wife Madhuri was a yoga instructor and she thought that using yogic breathing could also be a key part of this process, so that was also incorporated.
“It is all about using breathing to engage the diaphragm, using that deep yogic breath, and she believed that movement was really necessary as well.
“So they put it all together and came up with this method for laughter yoga. That’s what it is, it is stretching, breathing, some movement and some laughter exercises.”
The practice to laughter is built around three main elements. The first is laughter, the second is deep yogic breaths and the third is clapping.
Each of the three elements do different things for a person’s body and mind.
“First and foremost, it is a mindfulness process where we are choosing to laugh. It is about doing that intentional laughter. It is based on the principal of fake it to you make it,” said Jenni.
“The brain can’t tell the difference between real laughter and fake laughter so it starts producing serotonin and oxytocin, dopamine and endorphins. It also reduces cortisol, the stress hormone in the body.
“It improves the immune system, it lifts mood, it lowers your blood pressure, it helps fight illness, disease, depression. It is also an amazing cardiovascular workout, it is great for the lungs and it creates a sustained positive energy.
“It is a series of laughter exercises, which are simple, easy, childlike and fun. They are kind-of like drama visualisation games. They are designed to lead us into this laughter, this spontaneous laughter.
“The idea is that after some intentional laughter, you then start to laugh spontaneously.
“You’re having fun, you’re listening to other people, connecting with other people and after a while the laughter becomes natural. That is what the laughter exercises do.
“Between the laughter exercises there is also breathing. I like to do a visualisation breath as well, a mindful, connecting breath. I encourage people to connect to something different with each breath and at the same time continuing with the deep inhalation, and a full exhalation.
“The aim is to get the exhales longer than the inhales so you are clearing out all that stale breath in your lungs and the easiest way to do that is to laugh it out.
That helps to place you in a relaxed state and triggers the parasympathetic nervous system.
“The third element then is clapping. In laughter yoga we clap palm to palm, finger to finger. What that does is it wakes up all the aquapuncture points that are in the hands. There are over 30 of them and they all correspond to a different part or organ of the body.
“At the end there is a laughter meditation. What that is is a prolonged session of laughing. You need at least 10 to 15 minutes of prolonged laughter to really feel all of these health benefits. All the exercises and games, all the movements, are leading up to this culmination of the laughter meditation.
“We usually start with a little giggle and let it build up to a roaring laugh. It is very enjoyable.
“People just go with it, they close their eyes, they keep breathing. After that then I guide the class to be really mindful and really feel how they feel in that energy.
“I encourage them to feel the energy that is flowing through their bodies, explain that they have created that energy and they need to share it. They need to notice how simple things like intention and positivity can have big impacts.”
While there are no guarantees, Jenni believes that anyone who comes to laughter yoga with an open mind, will get something out of it.
“I would never force it on someone. Some people don’t know what is really good for them,” she said.
“Most people will get something out of it. It’s better if people choose to do the class and are not coaxed into it. I find that the people who want to do the class are open and enthusiastic and willing, they want to laugh.
“But at the same time, even hearing other people’s laughter has a benefit. If you engage with it in any way at all, you can’t take yourself too seriously, and you do end up laughing.
“Even people who are dubious, they hear the health benefits and they understand them.
“I ask them to get the judgie-monkeys off their back and get rid of the critical crickets. We are laughing for the health of it and everyone feels better afterwards.
“I love doing this as a mindfulness based practice and using laughter to notice our place in the world. It is about really going with the positivity in the body.”
To hear more about laughter yoga search for Kinvara Laughter Yoga on Facebook or Instagram.
Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and blogger who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.