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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, April 25, 2004: Louise Ayotte is attracted to people who laugh loud and a lot, so she signed up for three hours of heavy breathing, face-making and laughing in Dr. Madan Kataria’s class on how to unleash more contagious giggles. Kataria is a Bombay physician who’s making a tour of Canada to train aspiring laughter coaches. A session last year in Montreal drew followers from across the country, and his teachings have inspired people to form clubs in search of the incredible release of unstoppable laughter. “I train people to laugh without humour or jokes. Jokes are intellectual, and not everyone gets them. We laugh at nothing as a form of exercise,” Kataria said. Converts to his “laughter yoga” believe it helps them deal with stress and depression while bolstering their immune systems.



With a public awareness campaign in Montreal this summer followers hope to gather 25,000 people to giggle in unison on World Laughter Day in May 2005. Louise at first feared she had stepped into loonyville when a woman in the audience burst out howling at Dr Kataria, and had to be removed until she was calm enough to follow instructions. “He had us doing all kinds of crazy things,” Ayotte said. “Walking around and hugging each other, making a face like a roaring lion.” Kataria urges students to force the laughs out at first, even if they don’t feel like it, and leads exercises such as argument laughter, in which participants march at each other, laughing and wagging their index fingers. In milkshake laughter, people pretend to hold glasses of milk, shaking them and chuckling. Soon, he promises, people reach a state of meditative laughter as giggles flow freely and for no apparent reason. Sure enough, Ayotte, a retired teacher, had tears rolling down her cheeks. “It was just contagious. I couldn’t stop,” she said.



Countless studies have shown that uncontrollable laughing produces health benefits, and that state is reached by eye contact. “It’s a human connection that really reduces inhibitions and shyness,” Kataria said. “Once you are willing and you start to let it go, it comes easily.” Lone Sorensen, a devotee who travelled from Yellowknife to Montreal, said Kataria’s visits leave lasting legacies. Sorensen is working with fledgling groups across the country to organise a national celebration. “It’s spreading like a ripple of laughter,” she said. The reverberation from a crowd of people laughing together is amazing. You can hear it around the world. It’s the sound of peace.”

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