Dr. Madan Kataria is the founder and originator of the Laughter Yoga movement worldwide. A medical doctor from Mumbai, India, is popularly known as the ‘Guru of Giggling’ (London Times). Dr. Kataria says that Laughter yoga is the ultimate protection plan against the coronavirus, after all, laughter is known to strengthen the immune system. Dr. Kataria started the first laughter club back in 1995 with just 5 people and now it has grown into a worldwide movement of more than 16,000 Laughter Yoga clubs in over 100 countries
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Contact Info
Website: www.laughteryoga.org
Most Influential Person
My mother – She never went to school and was the mother of 14 children. She was a classical example of mindfulness because she was totally involved in the family. She inspired me to become a doctor.
Effect on Emotions
Laughter yoga has helped me to balance my emotions. First, it works like a catharsis. All the negative experiences and emotions from the past that are not in my control, they are all sitting in my subconscious mind. How can I release those? Laughter works like a catharsis, it's a release mechanism.
Thoughts on Breathing
Your thoughts are connected to your breathing. With stress, your breathing gets faster. I cannot control my thoughts, but I can control my breathing.
The way you can change your thoughts is by changing the way you breathe. So laughter yoga and breathing exercises help you to bring down the number of thoughts and relearn how to breathe from the belly and from the diaphragm.
That brings more parasympathetic balance and you become more relaxed.
Suggested Resources
Book: Laughter Yoga: Daily Practices For Health and Happiness by Dr. Madan Kateria
Book: Emotion and Health: An Overview
Book: Emotional Intelligence: Daniel Goleman
Book: The Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
App: Laughter Guru (to be launched this month at www.LaughterYoga.org)
Bullying Story
We introduced laughter yoga in 2010 in different schools and we were just doing 5 to 10 minutes of laughter exercises with school children.
And our focus was not bullying, but the focus was helping children to reduce stress, improve their oxygenation, academic performance.
But surprisingly many teachers in Bangalore's schools, they reported that laughter yoga has helped in their school to stop bullying. When children start laughing, the bullying takes a back seat, so this was a surprise element for us.
Free Gift
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