Margaret Mason, USA: Margaret Mason was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS). It is a very painful chronic disease with possibly no cure. The pain is very intense and at times unbearable. She has been laughing all by herself. She and her partner watched Dr. Kataria’s Laughter Yoga videos on YouTube and then she started laughing alone. This has really helped her to g...

Michael Stretch, England: This story shows different aspects of my life; before and after my Laughter Yoga journey. Since an early age, I was a little aloof and had an occasional pattern of waking in the night amongst horrific deliriums that left me scared beyond belief. After a difficult parental divorce, I had a fairly normal childhood until before high school, when I began using substances as a...

Nihat Tsolak, London: With growing old, the biggest problem I realized was that I had forgotten how to play and have fun. Though I am very busy socially mainly organizing and facilitating concerts, poetry evenings, running drum circles etc. I still do not feel like I had fun or enjoyed myself. Even going to the pub or a restaurant does not quite appeal to me as I am not a heavy drinker and after a...

Ina, USA: After I returned from the Laughter Yoga training, my heart was filled with immense power, love and laughter. I drove to southern Minnesota to visit my in-laws in the rural town of Owatonna. Let’s just say my husband’s parents view the world through very different eyes than I do, so I often think that what I do seems a bit freaky to them, even though they love me very much. Bu...

Barbara Veale Smith, Oregon: I had never heard of Laughter Yoga, but when I heard the question, “Do you want to learn how to laugh unconditionally?” a clear “YES!” came from within me. I first heard about Laughter Yoga in 2009, when a friend with whom I had previously taken some yoga classes returned from Mexico where she trained and laughed with Dr. Kataria for a week! She...

Neeta, London: Laughter Yoga has become a growing family connecting people worldwide and many Certified Laughter Yoga Leaders & Teachers have become great friends. Technology has made it much easier for laughter leaders to stay in touch especially with Facebook & Skype. Here is an example of a Laughter Yoga Worldwide Exchange with Nita from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who is a Yoga teacher and ...

John Chen, Taiwan: It’s been six years since I took to Laughter Yoga and it has really changed my life and enriched my heart. My story is a little different. Unlike most laughter professionals who begin their Laughter Yoga journey because of some problem in life, I had no such predicament – my only purpose was to bring more happiness and joy into my life & family. Frankly speaki...

Kris, Ghent, Belgium: As long as I can remember I have been a very shy person. During my life I worked a lot on this problem, but never seemed to overcome it as I was afraid of people. In October 2006, I entered a Laughter Yoga club for the first time in Ghent and met laughter leader Luc. I felt immediately at home and the experience of laughing freely was amazing. I wanted more. Unfortunately,...

Marilyn Fogelquist, USA: I’m not a funny person. Neither can I tell jokes or remember them nor did I grow up in a home with humor. In fact, I didn’t learn any skills for defusing conflict or dealing effectively with stressful events and as for problems at home; we didn’t talk about them at all. As an adult, I gained skills for dealing with interpersonal relationships through my t...

Lyn-Dee, USA: Prior to Laughter Yoga, our days were awesome but there were times that things got in the way of our thoughts being positive and motivational. Although we are always about the solutions, we too have our challenges and would sometimes allow them ruin our day. But, ever since we took up Laughter Yoga, nothing gets in our way. We laugh at the challenges, we laugh during the solution pro...

Monica Odar, Lima Peru: I am 31 years old and am working as an assistant to the coordinator of the Faculty of Communications at Universidad de Lima. I love my job but it is very stressful at times due to which, some years ago, I started having health problems like migraine, insomnia and skin allergy. As I had never had any allergy problem before, my doctor felt that daily stress was the most likel...

Rachel Ades, Switzerland: My Laughter Yoga story begins a little bit different. It was one weekend when my son and his wife and kids came over to see us. As we chatted, my daughter in law told me about an article she read on Laughter Yoga. I thought that was exactly what I was looking for without knowing what I was looking for! The next day, I opened my laptop and typed first in German: “...