Caryl Derenfeld, USA: On June 1, 2013, I made a presentation “Laughter – The Rhythm of Happiness” to about 1000 lovely participants at the TOPS convention in Santa Clara, California. It was a 90 minute talk and activity about using positive emotions and sustained laughter as a stress relief tool. Well received by the audience, they participated wholeheartedly in the discussion an...

Chandana Anandi, Malaysia: Since my childhood, I was on a spiritual path, my mother showed me how to be affectionate and my father raised me on the inspirational values expressed in the poetry of the philosopher, Khalil Gibran. Then in my teenage years, I was introduced to the Sivanada School of Yoga, where I began practicing body postures, breathing exercises and meditation, in search of a connec...

Nan Ho Yoon, South Korea: Four years ago when my husband retired, he started feeling lonely and gradually became more strict and stubborn. There was hardly any laughter in my life. It was at this point both of us felt we needed some change. One day while watching television, I came across Laughter Yoga which looked very different from the rest of the health exercises. I further searched the net fo...

Amit Kharbanda, Spain: At the age of twenty I left my home and started traveling in search of the most essential question – Who Am I ? Learning and practising many different spiritual paths. After many years I became a Kundalini Yoga Professor and started teaching Kundalini Yoga in many different countries. One year ago, while I was conducting a Kundalini Yoga Seminar in Moscow a participant...

Tullio Altieri, South Africa: I met Dr. Kataria in South Africa in 2007, when he trained me to lead Laughter Clubs and laughter classes on a regular basis. This had a profound effect on my life and I gained awareness of my emotional state. I learnt to be more joyful and overcame years of depression and got over being shy and holding back my connection to others. Just this month I attended the S...

Pauline Fung, HongKong: I lived in Hong Kong and earned my living as executive secretary to expatriates who came from UK, USA, Germany and Singapore. I was paid beautifully. But, the economy ran down and our company was restructured and acquired. Everyone left and I was the last one who witnessed the company to the end. Yet life has to go on. So many days and years I lived in misery until the day ...

Leigh Meredith, Virginia: “In actuality, misery is a moment of suffering allowed to become everything. So, when feeling miserable, we must look wider than what hurts. When feeling a splinter, we must, while trying to remove it, remember there is a body that is not splinter, and a spirit that is not splinter, and a world that is not splinter.”― Mark Nepo There is a laughter exercise ...

Bernadette Mcgree, Laughter Yoga teacher at the Linfield Laughter Club in Ireland says that laughter is good for a number of different reasons. It’s great for connecting people, excellent for helping people de-stress and feel more relaxed. As one of her participant says, “I went through a marriage breakdown and the distress that it caused. Laughter Yoga helped me to get my mind off it....

Kitty, Hong Kong: As an international laughing buddy from Hong Kong, I was privileged to join the Taiwan laughing buddies for their WLD celebration on 3rd May 2015, which was held in an amazing environment. There was no media coverage, grand venue, professional stage design, gorgeous props and gimmicks which one normally expects for a ‘great’ event, yet what I experienced on World Laug...

Angēla Essick Dykes, MI USA: During a recently held Laugh Fest in Michigan, Laughter Yoga instructor Angēla Essick Dykes conducted a series of laughter sessions which were designed to unleash laughs and inspire a sense of pure, unbridled joy. According to Dykes participants do not need any mat or yoga clothes to do Laughter Yoga; all they need is to leave their inhibitions behind and have fun. ...

Anak Agung Gede Sukarena, Jakarta: For years, Anak Agung Gede Sukarena, a middle aged man in Bali, did the rounds of doctors, healers, acupuncturists and alternative therapists trying to understand his ailments, which included shoulder and back pain, severe stomach cramping, migraines, insomnia and crippling phobias. By his early 50s, he lived in a state of total panic and fear. He was unable to s...

Lauro Lestani, Italy: I am a massage therapist and also teach Hatha Yoga. When I was six years old, my parents owned a bar, but unfortunately they did not get along. I tried to protect my mother from my father’s constant abusiveness whenever I could, but being so young it was difficult. In order to stop myself from shouting and crying, I made-up little games for myself and my kid brother ...