by Fatima Aruri
HEBRON, West Bank, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- In a small office at the Poly Technic University in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, a small team works to support the only Palestinian woman serving as the ambassador of laughter in Palestine.
Manal Dandis, who aspires to launch the first laughter yoga academy for Arabic speakers, studied for four years in India for a diploma to help Palestinians get over melancholy and frustration in their daily lives.
In the past few years, Dandis co-authored four books in Arabic language with the founder of laughter yoga Madan Kataria, two of which specialized in the impact of laughter yoga on ill individuals.
This type of yoga allows the body to heal itself by inhaling more oxygen and moving body muscles in a way that allows people to relax by contagious laughter.
There are 106 laughter yoga clubs around the world, and the Palestinian branch is the 107th.
"Laughter clubs have been established since 1995 ... We established the first club via Skype called Palestine's Laughter, that goes online every Tuesday at eight o'clock in the evening," Dandis said.
"We have people from all over the world joining us at that hour," she added.
Research has shown that practising laughter yoga for 10 minutes benefits the body, including burning calories, strengthening immune functions, and is highly effective with children.
"Our bodies respond quickly and influences come up in the form of hormonal changes, such as the hormone of happiness and endorphins released in the body," Dandis explained.
The sessions are usually structured to teach breathing techniques, stimulate laughter and end with relaxation techniques.
"When dealing with people who deal with pressure and tensions, or women subject to violence, the nature of the exercises would come to serve the purpose of either cleansing their memory or just changing their mood," she added.
While the laughter yoga became famous for its impact on people suffering illnesses, Dandis underlined that "laughter yoga is not only practised by sick people, it is practiced by healthy people, for both genders starting from three years old."
Laughter yoga can be practices in companies by people who have work pressures, in malls and commercial shops, and even in some prisons, she concluded.
