"Dr. Katari ... invited me to a first session with a lovely group of rapists, murderers and robbers." --John Cleese in The Benefits of Laughter Yoga with John Cleese

Whenever I start researching uplifting stories involving science or technology for Kenneth Cole's Awearnessblog, I always end up unearthing some really funky project from India. The latest is the Yoga of Laughter created by Dr Madan Kataria who has this published on his website, Laughter Yoga :

Laugh yourself healthy We all know that laughter makes us feel good. A regular 20 minute laughter session can have a profound impact on our health and wellbeing. Laughter is gentle exercise. It fill your lungs and body with oxygen, deep-clears your breathing passages and exercises your lungs. This is really important for people who don't get regular aerobic exercise.

When we laugh our bodies release a cocktail of hormones & chemicals that have startling positive effects on our system. Stress is reduced, blood pressure drops, depression is lifted, your immune system is boosted & more. Western science is just starting to discover the great effects of laughter.

In The Science of Laughter, a study that appeared in 2000 in Psychology Today, Robert Provine has a bit of a different take about the benefits.

He doesn't believe there is such a thing as an actual aerobic benefit comparable to actual exercising --sorry girls, you're gonna have to hit that urban bouncer anyway. His central thesis is that laughter is a primal communication trigger that is meant to bring people together. So his theory is that in feeling good with other people, the benefits of laughter are triggered through hormones, chemicals and overall feelings of awesomeness.

It's funny because I cannot end my day without either watching Comedy Central or reading a gossip blog. I need to have something funny right before I go to sleep to de-stress and bring lightness and mirth into my life after a hard day of writing about the woes of the world.

When my day totally has been overwhelmed by major chunks of suckitude, I bring out my secret weapon and watch this :

If you can't laugh with that video, honestly, am sending you to India to visit Dr. Kataria.

Enjoy!