Laughing yoga with Kapila Rasnayaka
By Venessa Anthony
Kapila Rasnayaka is a gender consultant, Founder of Voices of Humans for a genderless society, and a community social worker with expertise in art-based advocacy and working with marginalised groups. He has been engaged in social activism with a number of local and international organisations including the United Nations (UN). Rasnayaka is a design thinker, environmentalist, artist, theatre director, motivational speaker, and now a laughing yoga conductor.
In Conversation with The Morning Brunch, he talked about how he discovered laughing yoga. “I practised yoga for my health and wellbeing back when I was in India, and that’s when I found out about laughing yoga. Laughing yoga is a very beautiful thing. We laugh and we smile. It’s a very human experience; it doesn’t involve your skin colour, race, gender, class, or caste. Everybody is one. We can all smile.”
You may be wondering what exactly laughing yoga is. Laughing yoga is a modern exercise involving prolonged voluntary laughter. This type of yoga is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides similar physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter. It is usually conducted in groups, with eye contact and much playfulness between participants, as it’s quite a lax form of yoga.
“It gives positive energy and vibrations. Everyone tries to make others happy, but I think I was born with that. Sarcasm is my thing, so I thought maybe I could use it as a tool to make other people happy.”
Explaining why he began promoting this practice in Sri Lanka, he said laughing yoga is all about equality, which is why he thought our country could use it.
“I do sessions for companies and individuals as well as children and young people. During art workshops, I use relaxation as a tool for self-management. These days for many companies, they have the same pattern of work – nine-to-five jobs – and most of their interaction throughout the day is with their computer,” he said, going on to invite any company or organisation to contact him if they are open for a session.
Speaking on the topic why he chose to engage in laughing yoga, Rasnayaka said: “I love it. It’s my hobby, not a money-oriented thing. I love making people happy, and that’s why I use social media to make people laugh.”
Laughing yoga can be performed by anyone. People of all ages as well as fitness and cognitive levels can participate. Best of all, one doesn’t have to be happy, have a sense of humour, or be in a good mood to take part and gain benefits. The whole point is for the body to learn how to laugh without needing humour.
Rasnayaka connotated the various elements involved in this field of yoga, explaining: “One session is about one-and-a-half hours long. I began experimenting with smiling and laughing – for example, how we can laugh while we make coffee, how we can laugh while making a call, and how we can laugh or smile when we sleep and wake up. We can also laugh through our body language.”
He talked about some of the feedback he received from his previously conducted sessions. He said he had even done sessions with foreign volunteers. “They shared their experience with me, They didn’t realise they could change their entire thought process and strength. It’s a very powerful thing,” he said, adding that If you practise hard enough, you will gain the ability to laugh through a storm; it will help you get through the bad days and make the good ones more special. “It’s a very miraculous journey, but it’s not magic. Quite the contrary actually – it’s a very practical skill.”
Unfortunately, with the pandemic still rearing its head in our country, spirits and morale have been quite low lately. Rasnayaka talked about how laughing yoga could be the cure for that, saying: “Laughing yoga is really important at this point in time. Most people are working from home or studying from home, and they’re stressed.”
When asked if the session he conducted live on Facebook on 17 December as part of the communiTEA project was going to be a series or a one-off programme, he responded saying: “I plan on starting online Zoom laughing yoga sessions for anyone who wishes to learn. Everybody can enjoy it, with their families, loved ones, and friends. You can perform it anywhere that is comfortable for you, be it the bed or the couch; they can enjoy laughing yoga together.”
Now that you’ve learned about laughing yoga, why don’t you try it for yourself?
Instagram: @kapilarasnayaka
Facebook: @Dreamerkapila