Happy belated world laughter day! Checkout how New York city, a town wrapped up in the financial crisis, is able to do a little healing by celebrating world laughter day.
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By Phillip Molnar
Original Article From NYDailyNews.com
The economy is in the toilet, swine flu is sweeping the globe and a steady rain is ruining a spring day in New York.
What better time to celebrate World Laughter Day?
“I just can’t stop laughing,” said Stan Rifkin, 56, of the upper East Side, who joined 22 other gigglers in Central Park for the annual event Sunday.
“Laughter leaders” led chants of “ha ha,” and “ho ho” to keep the crowd busting out chuckles while the rain poured out of a steely gray sky.
“If you can’t make it, fake it,” said Vic Cabral, 38, of Woodside, Queens.
Cabral joins a group each week in laughter-inducing yoga sessions in midtown. “At first I thought people don’t laugh in New York,” said Cabral. “It opened my eyes.”
Dr. Mandan Kataria started the so-called yoga laughter movement in 1996 in Mumbai, India.
Members do exercises to fight different types of stress. They run in place, briefly stop to stare at their watches, and then gleefully throw up their arms, erupting in laughter.
“There’s nothing you can do about being late, so you might as well laugh,” said Alex Eigorn, 48, of Roosevelt Island, who led the group.
Eingorn trained with Dr. Kataria, who told him it was the group’s mission to create world peace.
“There’s certain things you can’t do while laughing: fighting, arguing, being mad,” Eingorn said.
For two hours, the group convulsed with laughter, ignoring trivial problems like the economic crisis or the flu pandemic.
In fact, Kathleen Maguire said a good case of the ha-ha’s can even help you beat any dreaded disease.
“When you do laughter yoga, your immune system builds up,” said Maguire, 56.
Maguire, originally from Madison, N.J., and her husband recently drove back east from California after he lost his job.
“We laughed the whole way here,” she said.
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