At 7.30 a.m., when most people get ready for their morning walks or workouts, Madan Kataria, popularly known as the ‘laughing guru’, opens his laptop and logs on to Skype to facilitate a laughter session where people across the globe participate.
For those who do not have a park or a social laughing club, all they have to do is join a Skype laughing club.
The sessions, which started in 2008 after a suggestion from one of Mr. Kataria’s students, have now become extremely popular. At least 100 people log on to Skype every day to participate.
Around 10 Skype sessions everyday, each around 20 minutes, are facilitated from the Laughing Yoga University, headquartered at Jakkur. While a majority of the participants are from countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States, people from India too are logging in.
“A majority of participants are people from cities which do not have laughter clubs. While social clubs have breathing techniques and exercises, the Skype sessions only involve a group of people who switch on their audio and laugh together,” says Mr. Kataria, the university’s founder.
Mr. Kataria said that the high levels of depression and stress, as well as work pressure, had created a demand for the laughing sessions. “The body does not recognise the difference between real and fake laughter and laughing has several health benefits,” he says. While the Skype classes and the sessions at social laughter clubs are free of cost, those conducted for corporates are charged.
He has also conducted laughter sessions in Tihar jail for the prison inmates and plans to conduct them soon in the central prison at Parappana Agrahara here.
