Come, Laugh Your Way to Health!

By John B. Monteiro
Bellevision Media Network

John Monteiro’s tryst with laughter clubs goes back to early 1990s. He has been anchor at the Gateway Laughter Club in downtown Bombay. He started the first and only lunchtime laughter club for office-goers in Ballard Estate, Bombay. He was the first to introduce  laughter sessions, for a week, in Mangalore in November 1998 at Lighthouse Hill car park, and held one-time demonstration sessions at Roshni Nilaya and Hotel Manjarun (now Taj Gateway). He started Bondel Laughter Club on December 8, 2002, commencing at 6:15 AM (lasting 20 minutes). The programme continues, six days a week, earlier on an open maidan and now inside Bondel Bodyzone Gym. There is no formal membership, no leadership hierarchy or fees and participation is open to persons of both sexes and all age groups.

 

29 Feb 2012: “Laughter is the best Medicine”. This is the registered trademark of a popular column familiar to generations ofReader’s Digest. While the title of the column is copyright, laughter itself is as free as air or love.

 

The properties of laughter as a healing agent, especially in the context of mental stress and tensions that mark the modern urban world have been widely recognised. In 1999, speaking at a seminar in Mumbai, Dr. Dale Anderson, a physician with 36 years of practice in USA, Australia and Ireland, declared that “laughter is a great medicine. Happy patients are healthy patients. A smile can produce immediate change in the physical, mental and emotional state. Laughing improves face value, reduces stress, enhances body posture, relaxes muscles, improves immunity functions of the body and reduces pain and tissue inflammation”.

 

The book, Chicken soup for the Soul, notes that the famous writer, Norman Cousins, was diagnosed as “terminally ill” and given 6 months to live. He reasoned that if worry, depression and anger were the cause of his illness, can wellness be created by positivity? He resorted to laughter as a way out of his illness. He saw funny movies, read funny stories and asked friends to call whenever they said, heard or did something funny. He fully recovered and lived 20 happy, healthy and productive years. Since Cousins’ ground-breaking subjective work, scientific studies have shown that laughter has a curative effect on the body, mind and emotions.

 

There is a saying that when you cry, you cry alone but when you laugh, the world laughs with you. That is the rationale behind the laughter clubs which have multiplied all over the world over the past fifteen years. They work on the principle of collective laughter.

 

In this context, Bondel Laughter Club commenced its daily sessions on December 8, 2002. The sessions start at 6.15 A.M. and last 15 minutes. Regular participants wear caps with “Bondel Laughter Club” screen-printed on them. Birthdays and wedding anniversaries are celebrated with extra Patiala laughters and distribution of sweets. Similarly, new participants are introduced and cheered with Patiala laughters.

 

What is this Patiala laughter? It is one of the many types of laughter that are sequentially raised during the session. The session starts with a silent prayer followed by Aha-ha, Ho-hoe, in a clapping mode, with participants moving in circles (Chakra). Then there are a series of light physical and yogic exercises lasting about 7 minutes. This is a type of foreplay for the laughter proper.

 

The laughter proper part of the session starts with greetings/welcome laughter when participants approach each other with folded hands and light laughter. Then there is Aha-ha, Ho- hoe in the laughter mode with related body movements. The third laughter is called social/drawing room laughter which is interactive. This is followed by Patiala laughter, named after the famous Patiala peg. This is full throated, accompanied by upward movements of hands. The fifth laughter is called mouth-open-no-noise, which is followed by pigeon laughter(also called beauty laughter) - mouth closed, head turning up and down as when pigeons are in a romantic mode. The seventh laughter is called crescendo wherein, as the hands move upwards, the laughter intensifies from low to high. The next laughter is vowels -two bursts of laughter after calling out A E I O U. The participants step forward and backward after each laughter. The ninth is named after the Tiger. The participants put out their tongue and imitate a tiger jumping at its prey, with forward stretched paws (hands). The last laughter is called cocktail wherein the participants can laugh as they please to their heart’s content.

 

At the close of the laughter sequences start the self esteem declarations. These are based on the belief that one is what he thinks he is. These declarations are: 1. I am the healthiest person in the world. 2.  I am the happiest person in the world.3 I am the luckiest person in the world 4 I forgive every one 5. Every day and every hour I feel better and better. 6. I am not alone; God is with me. 7 We are members of Bondel Laughter Club. The declarations are made twice each followed by bursts of laughter. The session is closed by rhythmic clapping to the words “One, two, three; laughter is free. East or West, laughter is the best” five times. The anchor concludes with “Have a nice day”.

 

“Laugh your way to health” has been coined, imitating the slogan “walk your way to health”. So, one can walk and laugh by a bit of time management. If one walks for 40 minutes in the morning, one can adjust it to fit in the 15-minute laughter club sessions. Apart from the health angle, laughter clubs also provide the setting for promoting social relationships, which are also healthy. So, overall, Bondel Laughter Club provides a win-win forum for healthy and happy living.

 

Proper venue and timing are important. It is preferable to hold sessions in public parks, gardens or maidans so that the public can easily join. The sessions should not be held on full stomach. Morning is the best time.

 

Many participants in laughter club say that the happy mood for the rest of the day is set by laughing away in the morning. There is a purpose and method in this apparent madness. Let your hair down and laugh. See the difference!

 

For those serious about starting laughter clubs, I have produced a CD which was released by the then Vic Chancellor of Mangalore University, Prof.  K M Kavariappa, at a function at Mangalore Press Club to mark the second anniversary of my website  www.welcometoreason.com (Interactive Cerebral Challenger) on July 17, 2009. It is now accessible  by clicking on “Laughter” on the top band of the home page of my website. It can also be accessed on Google by clicking on “John B. Monteiro” – the first entry under my name being the video on laughter. It is also on YouTube and can be accessed by typing “Laughter Club Bondel”

 

Jon B. Monteiro, author and journalist is thee editor of his website  www.welcometoreason.com (Interactive Cerebral Challenger) – with provision for instant response.