Laughing the way to good health

The club that started on May 27, 2002 has been spreading joy, happiness and health for the last 8 years.  Whether it rains or shines, the people of the laughter club come to the park every morning to laugh their hearts out.

The club was started by Yoga therapist Sudhakar Bhat and Dr Madhav Bhandary. Their initiative has been kept alive by residents of Gandhinagar area who have made this exercise a part of their life.

“Laughing is a wonderful morning exercise. It makes me feel healthy and carry positive energy to my workplace. I can share the same joy with my staff and students. The club is intellectually enriching,”says SDM College of Business Management Principal Dr Devaraj K who is a member of this club speaking to City Herald.

The club starts its activities sharp at 6.30 am on all the days of the week throughout the year. The instructor guides the members to do certain exercises that includes warm up and breathing exercises followed by a string of laughing exercises with hilarious names such as gregarious laugh, air hostess, thanda snan, laughing Buddha, masala tea, churning lassi, blowing the balloon, jaadu ki jappi, giggling, glittering, rope pulling and swinging.

“When Gandhinagar Park was stunning the public with its beauty we wanted participative activities here and hence the laughter club was started”, says founder member of the club Prabha Kudva.

The club does not have membership fee and is open to everybody. People who live in far away areas also come to be a part of the activities, she adds.

“Sickness that occurs in mind is a root cause to various physical ailments. Laughing exercises refreshes the mind helping the person to cope up with pressures, which he battles in his life,” says Anantha Kini the present in charge of the laughter club.“Laughter club has become like morning breakfast. We miss it we feel like we have missed an important thing in our life,” says Surekha Prabhu, another member of the club.

The 20 minute laughter exercise is ended with slogans like ‘We are the happiest people on earth’, ‘We are very healthy’ and later is followed by a joke session by the members of the club.