It was still dark when we climbed down the stairs of the ghat, leading to the Gange river. The air was cold and we couldn’t see anything beyond the steps ahead, just a white cold haze, surrounding us. When we stopped, on the gray concrete lane leading from one ghat to the other, we suddenly heard a choir of laughter. We looked at each others confused… what was it, where did that laughter was coming from? We took a few steps to our right and we discovered the source: a group of maybe 7 people, including a child, all following a yoga teacher, laughing after each move. “Laughter yoga” – an old Indian told us, seeing the confusion on our faces. Laughter yoga, or Hasyayoga, is a type of yoga that involves voluntary laughing. It is believed that voluntary laughter has the same psychological and physiological benefits as spontaneous laughter and, the forced laughter will anyway soon transform into real laughter. It is a technique developed by the Indian physicia...