Gail's chuckle vision for the capital

Published on Friday 5 June 2009 09:34

A MONKEY, a crocodile and a couple of elephants are cavorting around the function room above the Grassmarket's Beehive Inn, which is, presumably, a first.

They're not the real thing, of course, but a small group of adults playing let's-pretend, with varying degrees of hilarity and self-consciousness.

This is laughter yoga, the latest offering to help the lighten the hearts of overstressed city dwellers.

The classes, run by Edinburgh life coach Gail Bryden, don't actually involve any yoga poses, just a series of short games designed to induce merriment, from circling the room dishing out comedy handshakes to a rendition of Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes.

For the more self-conscious, the good news is that it doesn't matter whether the laughter is a heart-felt guffaw or a strangled giggle.

'Fake it till you make it' is one of the mottos of the laughter yoga movement, and false laughter, apparently, has the same beneficial effect on mind and body as the real thing.

Among the many claims made for laughter, real or fake, are that it oxygenates the blood, cuts stress hormones, boosts the immune system and tones abdominal muscles. The idea began in India, where huge groups congregate outdoors for daily laughter sessions – which is where Gail, 36, first encountered it.

She once worked for Scottish and Newcastle brewery, designing branded glasses for use in pubs, but was made redundant and decided to retrain as a life coach. She was then offered a job working for drinks firm Diageo in Dublin – a role she had always wanted – and was tempted, briefly, back to the grindstone.

It was, however, short-lived: "I think it was just a sense of realising that there was more to life than work, and I wanted to do something worthwhile.

"I went to India about five years ago and came across laughter classes in Mumbai.

"I still remember the feeling that left me with, which was amazing."

So last year she took a two-day course in laughter yoga, where she met Belachew Girma, dubbed the 'World Laughter Master', who holds the record for the longest laugh in the world – an impressive three hours and six minutes.

"Belachew said to me that he felt that my laughter was a gift and I should be sharing it," she says.

A few trials sessions at last year's Festival followed, then a few months ago she took the plunge and began holding her own classes, aimed at anyone who needs a little more laughter in their life: "The thing that I love about laughter is that everybody knows how to do it, but we often don't get the chance to do it. Laughter is something that just seems to be so organic, so natural.

"There are no side effects – I've worked for two of the largest drinks companies, and the effects can be the same, but there's no hangover.

"It's possibly the most organic, natural type of thing you can do. It's about a return to innocence and allowing yourself to be playful."

Laughter can have more serious applications, however. Gail recently held a class for people suffering from dementia and their carers: "Even those that didn't necessarily have a large range of movement you could see in their eyes that the spirit was very much alive. I think for the carers it gave them the sense of release and relief. In terms of emotional responses it's such a small bridge between tears and laughter, it's an emotional release, and I think most of us would rather have that release by laughing than crying."

Tim Atkinson, 41, is at the Laughter Club for the second time, and he hopes the practice will help to lift his spirits. The NHS administrator from Musselburgh says: "I've heard before that laughter and endorphins can be very good for you and I came through quite a bit of depression recently, so I thought I'd like to give it a go.

"I want to feel better generally, to feel more up-beat, to be less self-conscious about laughing and smiling, to feel fitter and more awake.

"It feels a bit discomfiting at first, but once you break the ice you start getting into it.

"It is different from normal laughter – at first there's a little self-consciousness about trying to make yourself laugh, but as time goes on it does become natural."

Also returning for a second session is road sweeper Steven Hendry, 46, who says: "I felt brilliant after the last session. A lot of it was like child's play, but it was organised child's play for adults. Children play naturally and as adults we lose that. You do feel like a bit of a fool, but you soon get over it."

Steven has brought along his wife, Sandra, 44, a new recruit who turns out to be a real boon for the group – a natural giggler.

There's nothing like another person's genuine laughter for setting you off, and her initial, nervous giggles soon spiral into helpless laughter. Soon everyone else finds it hard to resist joining in.

The laughter games only last around 15 minutes, with the animal impressions as the grand finale.

With such a small group – the classes currently attract six to ten participants – it is hard to get everyone laughing genuinely and spontaneously, but the atmosphere is high enough to justify the period of meditation that ends the class, bringing everyone back down to a sense of calm.

Sandra has certainly enjoyed her first class.

She beams: "It just lifts your spirits. I could see that Steven had enjoyed it last month and I thought it was just light-hearted, harmless fun. It's supposed to be good for keeping fit as well, if you laugh a lot you can lose a bit of weight – it's the cheapest gym I've ever heard of."

Edinburgh Laughter Club meets upstairs at the Beehive Inn, Grassmarket, on the first Monday of every month and costs 5. There will also be an extra session at the Salisbury Centre in Salisbury Road on 15 August.

The proof that laughter really is the best medicine

SCIENTISTS still don't know exactly why laughter helps with our health – but study after study has proven it can have astounding effects.

In 1989, Dr Lee Berk, of Loma University Medical Centre, looked into the effects of laughter on ten healthy men. Five watched an hour-long comedy, the other five didn't. Blood samples taken from all ten showed that cortisol (the hormone released when under stress) decreased faster in the men who had watched the comedy.

It's also been shown to help with blood flow – researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Centre found volunteers' arteries relaxed after watching a comedy film and the blood flowed more freely for 30 to 45 minutes.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have also calculated that just 20 seconds of laughter could be as good for the lungs as three minutes spent on a rowing machine.

The medical profession has attempted to tap into this phenomenon. In the 1970s Patch Adams, set up the Gesundheit! Institute, a free hospital which combined health care with performing arts, crafts, and agriculture.

Laughter yoga in its current form began in Mumbai in 1995 with Dr Madan Kataria, who was inspired by the writings of American journalist Norman Cousins. Cousins claimed to have treated his own arthritis and heart disease by using laughter.

Dr Kataria went to his nearest park at 7am and persuaded a handful of people to laugh at his jokes. The group grew in following days, and as his jokes grew stale, he experimented with laughing for no reason. He found that, even if the laughter was artificial to begin with, it soon turned into natural euphoria. The idea spread, and there are now said to be 6,000 clubs in 60 countries.

In 2001 comedian John Cleese featured laughter yoga in his BBC series The Human Face, where he took part in one of Dr Kataria's laughter sessions. Cleese concluded: "I'm struck by how laughter connects you with people. It's almost impossible to maintain distance when you're howling with laughter."