LOL, London

Laughing is free, fun and very embarrassing if done in public as a form of exercise. This is what I discovered recently when I visited a group of laughter yoga enthusiasts outside South Bank Center (an Arts center) in central London.

A group of 10 people from very different backgrounds including a computer maintenance expert, a street artist, a teacher, a counselor had all come together, with one serious aim: to laugh.

I am no stranger to laughter yoga. It was born in Mumbai, India, where I lived and worked for several years. A medical doctor devised it as yet another avatar of yoga.

It is a simple concept: when you see other people laughing, you begin to laugh which makes them laugh, which makes you laugh. It aims to do what any other form of yoga tries to do – reduce stress.

I have to admit, it did feel a bit awkward in the beginning.

“Laughing with somebody is an intimate experience, doing goofy things. It’s a little bit of a bizarre experience. I’m still processing it,” said Shona, a counselor, who was trying it out for the first time.

Once we got started, and introduced ourselves, it was down to the funny business. We talked gibberish, practiced various forms of laughter – shy laughter, angry laughter, no-money laughter and it ended with some clapping.

Nihat Tsolak, a banker by profession, is the “facilitator” of the group. He traveled to India a few months ago to train with Dr. Madan Kataria in Bangalore. He has tweaked some of the exercises.

“I spent five days with Dr. Kataria learning Laughter yoga. The philosophy, how it started and learning from his experience,” he says.

A passer-by stopped for a moment and concluded it is, “very British because it is so eccentric.”

This may be a gimmick but it still feels good to go out and laugh with a bunch of people for no particular reason at all.

Will I go back next week? LOL, of course I will.