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In 1995, thepioneer of the movement was impressed by the findings of Norman Cousins, a leadingjournalist in U.S.A. dying from a degenerative disease, who then thru'the therapeutic use of laughter managed to heal himself completely.Dr. Kataria then tried various methods to arouse laughter within friends &patients and for this initially tried the turn-by-turn telling of jokes.However very soon the stock of good jokes was depleted and rather than abortthe experiment, he resorted to certain psycho-social and playfultechniques to arouse laughter in a group. Whereas these worked to an extent, itwas only when Dr. Kataria stumbled on a branch of yoga called hasya yoga (the Sanskrit original name of laughteryoga) that he was able to obtain deep,lasting belly laughter amongst his participants. He then built uponthe yoga connection of laughter and designedthe laughter exercises based on existing yoga postures &practices for maximum benefit.
Dr. Katariadiscovered that by linking the mind-body-soul together in an integratedmanner thru' yogic breathing and other yogic exercises, he could reach the verysouls of the people he laughed with. These exercises are playful and value-based,thus inciting the participant to feel more excited and enthusiastic. The endresult is that the inner spirit of laughter is realised, leading to hearty,aerobic belly laughter with all the attendant benefits. The fullorigins of laughteryoga canbe studied from the yogaconnection.
The brain cannotrecognise self-induced laughter from the laughter from external stimuli andwhat to some may seem like a silly and artificial beginning almost always leadsinto a natural euphoric state of hearty laughter.
Since its humblebeginnings in 1995, the movement has spread in scope and recognition by the media and scientific community alikeand is tipped to grow considerably in the coming years.