Travelling with
Laughter Yoga
Only three weeks after,
we were sitting in the airplane to India with four Germans to face a new
adventure: laughing, singing, dancing and playing in India. Since my travel mates Jürgen, Mo and Haesoon were really keen
to fulfill their upcoming job as “Laughter Ambassadors”, we had a lot of fun
and laughter already on the flight. On the way from Delhi to Bangalore, we realized a little Laughter Yoga Airplane Flashmob. Usually, I am very
sceptical about actions like these where you do laughter yoga without
asking the people before. But the reactions of the passengers were very positive. Some came afterwerds and asked for laughter clubs, others participated in the exercises,
many applauded afterwards, and even the pilot said “thank you to the laughter
yoga team”, when he announced the landing.
Laughter Yoga at
School
Right on our first
day, we experienced a special hightlight of our trip. We visited a school where
laughter yoga is part of the classes. There is even an own class room just to
do laughter yoga. On this day – August 15th - we experienced the
celebrations of India’s Independence Day at this school. And we could see how
it is possible to integrate laughter yoga into daily life of the students – and
how much fun the children have. Dr. Kataria visits this school (very nearby the office building of laughter yoga university) regularly and offers free laughter yoga sessions. Some pictures of
this School and the celebrations, you find here…
Laughter Yoga International
– a unique community
The Festival took
place in a beautiful meditation resort near Bangalore – the Ancient School of
Wisdom. There was silence, a huge variety of plants and animals, peace and very delicious Indian food. Around 30 people from all parts
of the world had found their way to this place. Beside us – altogether 6
persons from Germany – there werde laughter yogis from Italy, Malaysia, Israel,
Denmark, Portugal, Indonesia, Venezuela, Singapur, USA, Belgium, Libanon,
England and of course from India. It is always beatiful to see how people of
such different culture, background and religion feel immediately connected by laughter. There
were many inspiring conversations, moments of laughing and crying
together, hugs, encouragement, caring for each other and a lot of joy. This feeling
of connection also expressed itself by a Love Song with “I love you” in all the different languages.
The Rhythm of Joy
The first thing we
learned in the Festival: Laughter Yoga is not only Laughter Yoga. Dr. Madan
Kataria made clear that his intention was to amplify the concept of laughter yoga and bring in new
ideas. For this, he had engaged Kula and Sofia, who were incredible with
their Body Percussion Work. With very simple methods, a basic dance step, some clapping rhythms
and some sounds, they created a dynamic group energy which was exceptional.
There
was also the musician Pintu, who just had to play his guitar with his funny smile,
and everybody was fascinated. We all were encouraged to be creative, invent new
melodies, songs and movements. The only condition:
Every song, every dance, should contain whatever kind of laughter or sounds like “„hoho haha hihi“.
Laughter
Yoga University? That’s all of us!
Madan found a clever way to organize a festival like this. Instead of fixing
timetables and inviting dozens of speakers, he organized it “Indian style”. There was no
program, just a whiteboard on which everybody could write down a workshop he would like to offer. The whiteboard was filled very quickly with interesting
topics from laughter yogis who had to offer far more than only
laughter yoga. Some might think now, "well, Dr. K took a very easy way". But why not? He
just did it in the way he likes to proceed things: “Keep it simple”. Of course,
from German perspective not everything was organized in a perfect way, some things
might be superficial or were missing, some things might have happened at the wrong
time in the wrong place. But after all, we realized that everything was fine as
ist was and fitted well. Finally, we enjoyed such a variety of a program which we would have
hardly had anywhere else – and all this for a fair price.
My conclusion: We can all shine
I took home many inspirations for my work. But I also realized: Everything
is in us. Every single person has the creativity to develop own exercises
and ideas, everybody has the potential to shine. We all have the abilities to
bring laughter, joy and love to the people. And this is not about competition
with each other, neither about being the number one. Nobody takes away anything
from anybody, if we all follow a common vision. I realized for myself: the more
openly I give away ideas and inspirations, the more comes back to me. Not only as
positive resonance, but also in form of wellnes, happiness and wealth.
Dr. Madan Kataria
gives the best example for this. He does not claim to be the “Guru”, he rather acts as a “collector of ideas”. With laughter yoga, he did not
invent something absolutely new. But he brought together several elements in a
genius way and spread those out to the world. He was the one who made possible this worldwide movement, which is spreading more and more every day. Now,
with his new extended view on the four elements of joy (dancing, singing,
playing, laughing), Madan is doing the same. He collects ideas by the people. He does not take them away from the people, but spreads them and lets
the people shine. As he himself says: “The best teachers are those who make stars out of their students.” Thanks, Madan, for this great lecture!
Infos
and Videos from Laughter Yoga Learning Festival
Next Laughter Yoga Learning Festival:
1st to 7th February 2016 in Bangalore, Indien
Workshop „Body
Percussion“ with Kula & Sofia: 14th – 16th Oktober
2016 in Cologne, Germany
Facebook-Page about the Festival...
Next International Certified Laughter Yoga Teachers' Training in Germany: October 19th till 23rd, 2016
Next International Certified Laughter Yoga Teachers' Training in Germany: October 19th till 23rd, 2016
Videos
of the Workshops
Singing
Dancing
Laughing
Playing and more…
