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Hi, everyone. I'm Haruna Honda,
the local communities navigator.
For today's episode, I'm visiting the Danshi area of Takamatsu.
I've got a good feeling that I'll find something really fun today.
Let's go explore with me!
Wh.. what? Is this people laughing?
What is this?
A dog barking? Yes, I hear a dog, but there's also a bunch of people laughing.
What's going on?
Oh, it's coming from this house.
They are really laughing. What are they doing??
Excuse me?
They are REALLY laughing.
What are they doing??
I'll open the door. Are you ready?
Isn't this something? Everyone's laughing.
Hi! Welcome.
Please give me a sec.
What?
What's happening?
Welcome to the world of Laughter Yoga.
So what's this? What's this? WHAT'S THIS??
I just walked in because I heard you guys laughing.
This is totally new to me.
Thank you so much for walking in!
So you said this is "Laughter Yoga"?
Yes, we are having a Laughter Yoga session.
A Laugher Yoga session?
I thought yoga was about doing poses.
Yes, in most regular yoga classes, people do poses.
But Laughter Yoga is different. Let me explain briefly.
In Laughter Yoga, we don't use jokes or comedy.
But these days, everyone knows laughter is great for our health, right?
So we laugh as an exercise to receive health benefits.
Anyone can do this, and we laugh for no reason.
You are already laughing! You are great.
When you said "we laugh for no reason"' I couldn't help start laughing.
You are perfect for this!
Good to hear. So you think I'll be good at this?
Absolutely!
THIS IS Laughter Yoga!
I see.
So it's not that you do yoga poses while laughing.
That's correct.
So it's all about laughing?
Yes, we just laugh, to feel better physically and mentally.
And we usually do LY in a group, and since laughter is contageous,
when we get together, play and laugh as an exercise,
usually a great, natural laugher, like you, starts laughing for real,
and everyone starts laughing for real.
This is a real fun exercise anyone can do.
It's strange, but I found myself smiling just by listening to you explain.
So are you the teacher?
Yes, I'm a LY teacher, Michi Morioka.
A LY teacher! Nice to meet you, Michi.
Can we find Laughter Yoga anywhere else?
A medical doctor in India created Laughter Yoga in 1995.
Wow! India? Cool. The home of yoga.
Yes, regular yoga as well as Laughter Yoga started in India.
Laughter Yoga has spread to over 70 countries in the world.
And there are LY leaders and teachers all over Japan and the world, who are certified by LY University in India.
There's also a few here today who took my training and are certified.
A few Laughter Yoga teachers?
Well, Laughter Yoga leaders.
And there are many more LY professionals all over the world.
Cool! I didn't know about this, but it sounds like this is a world-wide trend.
Yes, it's definitely a global craze!
Cool! So how do we do Laughter Yoga?
We start with clapping.
Clapping?
We already did this earlier, but let's review. We have a specific rythm,
and the rythm is 1-2, 1-2-3...
and now we'll add a chant to this. The chant is...
hoho hahaha...
So we have to go "yay", too?
Yes, and "yay" comes out of the blue so please watch out!!
Oh, OK!
Now we are ready for Laughter Yoga exercises!
So let's try a few.
Oh, I'll get to try Laughter Yoga exercises already!?
Yes, let's do it!
When you walked in, we were greeting each other using "namaste laughter".
This is an Indian-style greeting. We bring our palms together
and, instead of saying "namaste", we go "hahahahahaha"
Are you serious?
Yes, we were greeting this way.
But we've done this already.
So now, let's try the Western-style greeting.
Normally, Western people greet by shaking hands, not by bowing.
So... we'll just demonstrate.
We shake one hand and go hahahahaha.
We shake the other hand and go hahahahaha.
And we really express our joy of meeting each other.
Are you serious?
That's so cool.
So... one hand, the other hand, and then go crazy!
Yes! So please go around and meet people.
Everyone, please also go around and do greeting laughter!
This is so cool. This is fun!
Look! Everyone's laughing so much.
Once more!
I don't know why, but I feel so refreshed already.
Yes, when we laugh, we naturally start feeling better, don't we?
I should also mention, when I start the "hohohahaha", it's a sign that we'll end this exercise.
So please join me.
Roger!
This is great. This is a quite a work-out.
Yes, it's certainly a work-out and a great cardio exercise.
Cool! So everyone here does LY every week?
This is a LY club where we meet once a month.
"LY club" means non-profit. I do ask for 100 yen/person to cover the cost.
Wow! Just 100 yen.
I also hold a club at the Danshi Community Center once a month.
There's men and women, and there's a quite a wide range of age.
Yes, one of the great things about LY is that anyone can do it.
Can I interview some of the members? Is it OK?
This lady first. What made you start doing LY?
I was doing regular yoga.
Regular yoga where you do poses?
Yes, and one day I was searching for some information on yoga.
And I happened to find Laughter Yoga.
There's Laughter Yoga DVD's and I bought them.
That's how I got started. That was about 2 years ago.
Then I started coming here last year.
So you've been coming here for a bout a year.
How has this affected your life?
I just feel great all day after coming to this club.
I realize how important it is to laugh.
I also try to make my son laugh.
We definitely have more laughter in our day-to-day life now.
So it's like you find yourself smiling all the time?
That sounds great.
There's also a couple of guys here.
Like this gentleman here. Hi.
You have a fabulous smile.
How did you get involved in Laughter Yoga?
I saw about it on TV.
Guys normally don't laugh much.
Yes, I guess... Maybe they don't talk much, either.
So I thought it's important to laugh at least once a month to release stress.
You find that you can release stress by laughing.
Absolutely!
Any other changes in your life?
My body feels lighter.
Michi also taught us some breathing techniques
which I practice at home
and I've been feeling a lot lighter physically.
That baby there! Is she a LY member, too?
Hey, sweetie.
There's 3 generations today.
3 generations!?
You are the mom, and her mom!
So you 3 are a family.
Why are you doing Laughter Yoga?
There was a time I was feeling down, and my friend suggested I try Laughter Yoga.
I got hooked at the very first session.
So that "down" feeling went away by doing Laughter Yoga?
Yes, it totally disappeared!
Wow! That sounds great.
I think everyone who's feeling down should laugh.
And you bought your daughter.
And you brought YOUR daughter, the baby.
How do you feel about your mom changing through Laughter Yoga?
She's so energized when she comes back from Laughter Yoga.
I realized how important laughter is.
That's why I wanted to do this with her.
Anna, can you laugh?
She's a little shy.
Oh, that's a smile!!
How long is a session?
My session is an hour. We normally keep doing different exercises.
Then at the end, like regular yoga classes, we have time to cool down and relax, lying on our back.
I see.
Today, I really realized that we should laugh more.
Yes, it's really important. We don't laugh too much in our everyday life.
You are right. We don't laugh much.
Today, it's so cold outside and I was feeling really tight.
But I feel so light and relaxed now.
As a reporter, I'll make sure that I'll always smile.
Thank you so much everyone for having me here today.
I'll go now. Should I leave in a certain way? Should I be laughing as I go?
Good question! Let's line up and make an arch.
Wow! Wow! Wow! I think I know what you'll do.
This is going to be really special.
We'll shower you with laughter and celebration.
Please receive all our laughter.
All right!
Keep laughing, everyone!