The brain may forget many things, but somewhere deep inside, the body still remembers how to laugh.
One of the things no one really prepares you for when a loved one develops dementia is how quickly the emotional weather can change. One minute Mama is sunshine and humming along happily, and the next minute the clouds roll in out of nowhere. She can move from cheerful to sad, from sad to frustrated, from frustrated to suddenly very critical—all in the span of a few minutes. It’s like living with a tiny emotional thunderstorm that pops up without warning. And when you’re the one trying to care for her, you learn pretty quickly that keeping the atmosphere calm becomes the number one priority.
So I’ve been on a quiet mission: Operation Keep Mama Peaceful.
That mission has involved trying a variety of strategies some sensible, some creative, and some that would probably look a little ridiculous if someone walked in unannounced. But caregiving teaches you something important: dignity matters, but sometimes laughter matters even more.
That’s how we stumbled into something called laugh yoga.
Now if you’ve never heard of laugh yoga, you’re not alone. The idea sounds a little strange at first—almost like something someone invented after too much coffee. But it’s actually a real practice that began in 1995, developed by an Indian physician named Dr. Madan Kataria. His concept was surprisingly simple: the body benefits from laughter whether it starts as genuine humor or as a deliberate exercise. In other words, your body doesn’t really care if you’re laughing at a joke or just pretending at first—the benefits still show up.