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全文如下：SCMP : Laughing stock
Joining a group of strangers to laugh at nothing may sound odd, but enthusiasts of laughter yoga say it brings them health and happiness
Lau Kit-wai
Feb 24, 2009
On a surprisingly grey morning after days of sunny weather, a group of elderly men and women gather on the podium of Lai King Estate. They stand in a loose circle and stretch their arms to the sky. Then, laughing and chortling, they yell: "We are the healthiest and happiest people in the world. Very good, very good, YEAH."
Dick Yu Dick-fu, 33, is the man behind this manic burst of good humour but he's no comedian. Yu is an instructor in laughter yoga. "We all encounter sadness at some point in our lives, but that's not important. What's important is for us to become happy again as soon as we can," he tells the group at the end of the drill, urging participants to give each other a thumbs-up.
Developed by Indian doctor Madan Kataria in 1995 when he realised his patients' immune systems improved dramatically following explosions of mirth, laughter yoga combines simulated laughter with stretching exercises and yogic breathing techniques. Starting with a five-person group in a Mumbai park, laughter yoga has since gained a worldwide following, including 30 clubs in Japan and 13 in Taiwan.
Now it's catching on in Hong Kong, too, thanks to the efforts of Yu, a hypnotherapist and certified "laughter leader".
Yu was intrigued by laughter yoga after seeing a TV programme on the subject two years ago, and visited Taiwan frequently to learn the technique from local laughter clubs and at a workshop led by Kataria. "It's not like going to a therapy session during which you have to go through all your problems with a counsellor. Laughing is the most direct way to bring about health and happiness, and it is so simple that everyone can manage it," he says.
Yu began promoting the exercise in Hong Kong last year, holding talks and laughter sessions for medical workers, cancer patients, teachers and others in his spare time. Collaborating with NGOs, he also recently launched weekly laughter clubs for the elderly in Lai King and Ho Man Tin. "Laughing by myself is no fun. I teach laughter yoga for free so more people can practise regularly together in their neighbourhood," he says.
Each 30-minute session begins with some stretching, claps and chants of "ho-ho, ha-ha-ha" before launching into a series of playful laughter exercises.
There's "milk-pouring laughter", which involves participants pouring imaginary glasses of milk and shrieking with glee as they pretend to drink. With "firecracker laughter", two people are designated to act as burning firecrackers while the others close in on the pair. When the "firecrackers" explode by stretching out their arms, the rest disperse, bursting out in laughter.
Yu says imitating the "ho-ho" and "ha-ha" sounds of laughter is an essential part of the technique, which helps increase blood flow and has a similar effect to aerobic exercise. "The key is our brain can't tell the difference between real and fake laughter, and reacts in the same way, releasing bio-chemicals such as endorphins, facilitating metabolism and improving our immune system," he says.
Participants are discovering there may be some truth to the old saying that laughter is the best medicine. "I haven't been sick - not even catching a cold - since I began practising laughter yoga a few months ago," says Yung Suk-kuen, a 58-year-old housewife. "When I laugh I feel as if every organ in my body is exercising. My whole body feels relaxed."Whatever the physical benefits, they find it good fun. Some exercises can look silly to casual observers but the participants are obviously enjoying themselves.
"I thought I had forgotten how to laugh," says Choi Yuk-lin, 82, flashing a bright smile after the session in Lai King. "In the past I was too busy raising my children; life was so hard that there was nothing for me to laugh about. But now I am laughing my head off. I want to make up for all the fun and laughter I missed over the years."
Yu says laughter yoga isn't just a kind of exercise but a tool to instil a positive attitude towards life. The technique of encouraging laughter for no good reason can lead to genuine happiness because it helps us become less rigid and critical, and helps recapture some childhood innocence, he says.
"Children laugh naturally. They feel happy when stimulated physically. Children laugh about 400 times a day but adults only about a dozen [times]." Some exercises aim to serve as a buffer when things go wrong in real life, says Yu. For instance, "crying laughter" and "angry laughter" call for participants to crouch in pretend despair or rage before springing up with guffaws.
There's a resemblance to Pavlovian conditioning.
"Laughing is a signal for happiness and health. If you keep sending these signals to your brain [through the exercises], you will become more positive when encountering bad situations in real life," Yu says.
Venus Wong Pui-yan, a research counsellor at the University of Hong Kong's Centre on Behavioral Health, says laughter yoga is based on the eastern concept of a close connection between mind and body. The Indian technique is very similar to a traditional Chinese exercise called "ha" breathing or happy breathing, which requires people to put on a happy face and shout out "ha" and "ho" as long as they can, she says.
In Chinese medical theory, different sounds correspond with different organs, which in turn correspond with different moods. Ha, the sound of laughter, is related to the heart, for instance, while "ho", a sound of greeting, is related to the lungs. So chanting "ha" and "ho" can clear our heads and help us to relax, Wong says.
The centre taught "ha" breathing to cancer patients a few years ago and many found it helped them cope better with pain and trauma. "Our cultural background inhibits us from expressing how we feel," Wong says. "When we are angry or sad we are taught not to display our emotions. Many of our emotional problems are therefore reflected in our body. People should learn to release their emotions through these exercises because we are so repressed in our daily lives."
Retiree Leung Mui, 76, says practising laughter yoga has helped her not to hold grudges. "When people are being mean to me I will laugh even harder," she says. "To me the most important thing now is to be happy and then make other people feel happy too."
The enthusiastic Leung has also been trying to convince her daughter of its benefits. "She thinks it is silly but I know she is under a lot of stress at work, so whenever she comes to visit me I try to teach her a few laughter yoga techniques before dinner," Leung says.
Yu hopes to set up laughter clubs in every neighbourhood to perk up laughter-deprived Hongkongers. "Nowadays everyone seems to be living under a cloud," he says.
He has begun recruiting members online to set up another laughter club at Victoria Park, and is also offering free sessions to NGOs and people who can commit to regular practice.
Recalling his trips to Taiwan, he says passers-by who saw laughter yoga being practised in parks often joined in and eventually set up clubs in their own neighbourhoods.
Internet postings and word-of-mouth recommendations spawned even more. "Laughter is contagious and can spread to every level of life," Yu says. "If there's a laughter club in every community, I believe more people can live in harmony."
