How Laughter Yoga Changed My Whole World

Gudrun Mathys, Switzerland: In May, 2010 while attending a medical congress, one of the topics for discussion was Laughter Yoga. I thought that is nothing for me. I rather go for a walk. But, it was raining heavily, so I decided to stay back and listen to the talk on Laughter Yoga. Believe me, during the hour long session, I was very impressed and convinced about the new concept of laughing without a reason and thought it would be of great help to my clients.

Gudrun Mathys

I learnt about Dr. Madan Kataria and how one day while waiting at an airport in Germany, he had pretended to laugh on his mobile phone as he had not been able to laugh for almost eight hours during flying. After hearing this inspiring story, all of us in the congress hall started laughing and chanting very good very good yeah.

The next day, while going through my mails in the office, I came to know that there were places available for Dr. Kataria’s Laughter Yoga training being held in Switzerland. I decide to sign up immediately as I was very keen to know more about the concept. Ever since then, not one day has gone without Laughter Yoga. Whenever I can, I also join the Skype Laughter Club which is very animating. To laugh together and recognize voices of friends is a great experience.

On the last day of training, I met a laughter teacher who ran a Laughter Club in Bern, Switzerland where I live, which made it very convenient for me to meet every week. I remember Dr. Kataria telling us that everyone needs someone to love and care, and also to be loved and cared. And guess what? A couple of days later, I received an e-mail after years from John, an old friend, and I started to weep. It was too much. He was my great love 34-35 years ago. Do you understand what was going on? I just couldn’t believe what was happening. Now we are in constant touch. He is living in Australia, but I wonder what the next surprise will be.

Isn’t that a lot of change? It has been a life changing training. Actually, I can’t find words to express what happened during those 5 days. I just feel very blessed. Somehow, my whole world has changed and I now look at life in a very different way.