MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos are certified happy people. We just love to laugh, joke around, and make fun of ourselves. Laugh trip sessions over any conversation are not unusual. In whatever situation, however difficult it may be, we find a reason to smile and laugh.

For most Filipinos, laughter is indeed the best medicine!

So it comes as no surprise that Filipinos are now fully embracing a new method of meditation called laughter yoga, an exercise routine that combines unconditional laughter with yogic breathing (breathe control – Pranayama).

Founded in Mumbai India in 1995 by a physician, Dr. Madan Kataria, laughter yoga is now widely available in more than 60 countries. It was brought to the Philippines by Elvie Estavillo in 2000 and since then, this unique and unconventional yoga has spread all over the country. To date there are 30 laughter yoga clubs in the Philippines.

“The traditional yoga is very strict in the sense that there is no laughing. But here, we combine laughing exercises and we try to connect with one another through contagious laughing. It helps us achieve a better disposition,” explains Pinoy Laughter Yoga founder and laughter yoga professor Paolo Trinidad.

Trinidad discovered the power of laughter yoga and its benefits just this year. He attended Estavillo’s workshop and was inspired to continue the practice. Soon, he found himself going for a training workshop in the birthplace of laughter yoga in Mumbai, India.

“It has done a lot for me. I lost a very important person in my life but through laughter yoga, I was able to deal with it and the best thing about it is that my disposition changed and my comfort zone really widened. I’m more daring now, for example. But the best thing is it’s really the mindset that has widened and the peace that you experience,” Trinidad shares.

Pinoy Laughter Yoga is different from the general yoga practice. Trinidad himself developed specific exercises to modify the method to suit Filipinos. He also researches a lot to integrate other practices, like Tai Chi, into laughter yoga.

“I wanted to inculcate Filipino values, nationalism, and the back to the basics culture,” Trinidad explains. “‘Yung sa India, masyadong seryoso and it is culture-based. Puwede rin naman dito ‘yun, but I can be a copycat and I chose to be different. What’s the point of being a copycat when I can promote my culture.”

YOGA AND LAUGHTER FOR THE DEAF, ADHD

So different is Trinidad’s method that he is out to prove that even for the hearing-impaired, laughter yoga works!

In a recent session held at the Miriam College-Southeast Asian Institute for the Deaf (MC-SAID), he showed how everyone — including elementary and high school hearing-impaired students — may benefit from laughter yoga.

In the session, Trinidad starts with warm-up routines to exercise the body as well as facial muscles. These exercises can be quite silly, which is the whole point! Take these deep breathing exercises for instance – inhaling deeply while making “sour” and “crumpled” faces and releasing air with a big “Hah!” through a mouth wide open.

“To stimulate laughter, I asked the deaf to do facial exercises, humming and yawning to make it easier for them to laugh,” he explains.

MC-SAID initiated the project as a way of relaxation for its 70 students (from Grade 1 to fourth year high school) and hopefully to encourage them to express themselves more. Deaf students tend to be timid and interact less with others, especially with hearing people, since they feel they will not be able to communicate properly and are ridiculed even.

“This is a way to wind down before they go on to a break and this is part of the guidance program. Our students have little ways to express themselves so we thought of inviting the laughter yoga people,” explains MC-SAID assistant principal Clarigel Cadiz.

At first, the deaf kids were reluctant to do the exercises. “Being deaf they are more sensitive about what you look like and your expressions because they cannot really hear. So they tend to temper themselves and watch what they do,” Cadiz says.

But as the session progressed, the students started to loosen up and to commit to the activity. Trinidad was assisted by an interpreter all throughout the session.

“The benefits may be the same physically but for people with special needs like them who have different problems, they become more interactive and confident after the session. Plus as students laughter yoga can also increase one’s IQ,” Trinidad adds.

Trinidad has also worked with people with cerebral palsy and plans to work with people with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

His work with correctional inmates also yielded good results.

“At the Correctional Institute for Women, it has been documented that the behaviors of the inmates have changed. Mas peace-loving sila, mas disciplined and that was also evident in a jail in Malabon where it is known that female inmates would be fighting with each other, now they do that but laugh at each other. But it’s not only the laughter, their EQ has increased,” he reports.

FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT!

In the laughter yoga session proper, participants are asked to do specific laughter exercises like playful exercises, physical laughter exercises, and so on. Participants are asked to sing Filipino songs like “Pen Pen de Sara Pen” or the “Bahay Kubo”. He also replaced the original laughter yoga chant of “Ho, ho, ha-ha-ha, ho, ho” to “Noy-pi, noy-Pi-noy”.

“I’m doing this because there is a subliminal effect that they have to go back to something that is really innate and appreciate their culture. The people will realize how great our culture is which I also lecture on,” he says.

Other exercises also include the hearty belly laugh, where the participants try to laugh continuously for 10 minutes.

“In laughter yoga, there is no reason for you to laugh but you have to laugh and that’s the hardest thing. The approach is more of body-mind approach instead of the mind-body approach. According to Dr. Kataria, we can fool the mind but the catch is you just have to fake it until you make it,” he says.

Trinidad says it has been noted in India and other European countries that people who practice laughter yoga regularly increase their emotional and intellectual quotients and also lower their stress levels. People with medical conditions, or in a depressed state, or have special needs, benefit the most.

“First, it will increase your endorphins, which will make you feel happy and then you become positive. Endorphins are the natural opiate so it will get rid of the pain of your body, headaches, toothaches, arthritis, etc.” Trinidad says. “If you enjoy the session, you get rid of stress, which is one of the killers. It’s a perfect cardiovascular workout; it would massage your external organs. And since oxygen is the food of our blood, it would really help the blood become healthier.”

Laughter yoga has become an advocacy for Trinidad. He simply wants to spread its benefits, the joy derived.

“Although sometimes they cannot afford it they just give me an honorarium, maliit lang pero I don’t mind it because the practice spreads to others.”

To spread Pinoy Laughter Yoga, he also trains trainors twice a month. Trainors who finish the training are then certified by Laughter Yoga International.

(For details on laughter yoga, contact 0926-6493779).