Yoga now a laughing matter in India

NEW DELHI, India -- In India's capital city, where shacks sit in the shadow of five-star hotels and child beggars are still a common sight, it can sometimes feel as though there is little to laugh about.

Jiten Kohi, a self-dubbed laughter master, however, proves otherwise.

For the past six years, Kohi, an accountant for a thread manufacturing company, has been waking with the sun to belt a few "ha ha's" and "ho ho's" from his wide grin and round belly.

Kohi, 42, gathers each morning with 35 adults in a middle-class neighborhood of North Delhi to forget at least for a moment the car troubles, impending rent, and other frustrations of living in this crowded city -- by laughing away the stress in fits of giggles.

"Life today is hard," he said, "and sometimes the best medicine is laughter."

These adults have made a point of chuckling daily by taking up laughter yoga, a not-so-strenuous but oh-so-silly form of exercise that blends stretching with forced laughter.

"When you laugh, even for no reason, you create a positive energy," Kohi says. "This laughter helps create humor through the roughest of days."

Kohi leads one of more than 40 free laughter clubs around New Delhi.

Just after sunrise, smiling adults from all corners of the city circle up in neighborhood parks, take a wide stance and begin the practice with the "Namaste Laugh," or "Greeting Laugh" -- with palms together in front of the chest as in prayer.

This round of guffaws is usually followed by the "Lion Laugh," with arms outstretched and tongues stuck out to mime a lion's roar. Cell Laugh yogis pretend they are on their cell phone, laughing at the caller. And in the Patiala laugh, arms are raised and backs bent to imitate the jovial personalities found in the Patiala district in the Punjab, a north Indian state.

They hold up their hand as if it was a mirror and laugh at themselves; they turn to their neighbor in the circle and laugh at each other.

It's funny looking to the random observer, no doubt. But that's the point, the laughing yogis say.

"Sometimes you just don't have the time in the day to laugh," said Sandeep Garg, 40, an owner of a small grocery shop who at times struggles to make ends meet. "This way I always have a few minutes to laugh. To forget my worries."

Other laughers in the club says it's improved their physical state.

Ram Murti Mishra, 68, who retired from work in a factory, says after switching from traditional yoga to laughter yoga six months ago that he has less back pain and improved blood pressure.

"Before I couldn't walk around the park," Mishra said. "Now I walk everywhere."

Madan Kataria, 51, a doctor in Mumbai, developed Laughter Yoga with these health benefits in mind. The idea for scheduled laughing struck a dozen years ago, after he finished an article for a medical publication on the physical and mental benefits of laughter.

"I was totally amazed by the health benefits of laughter, but realized very few people laugh," Kataria said. "So I thought, why not start a laughter club."

Laughter, even if forced, reduces stress, which in turn reduces blood pressure, heart disease, and tension headaches, he says.

With five open-minded friends, Kataria began a movement that now has an international following with 5,000 clubs in 55 countries around Asia, North America and Europe.