MARION — The laughter was ceaseless and contagious. It spanned giggles and guffaws and at one point even turned into entirely silent chuckling.

No jokes were told, but Doug Savage and the others gathered Sunday, May 5 in front of the Marion Council on Aging just couldn’t stop laughing.

With Savage leading, the group practiced “laughter yoga” in celebration of World Laughter Day.

Laughter yoga is a “unique form of exercise where you laugh for no reason,” according to Bill Hamaker, who with his wife Linda trains and teaches the program.

Eye contact and playfulness turn the various drills into bouts of childlike laughter, he said.

“The whole thing works because your body doesn’t know the difference between laughter exercises where you pretend to laugh and regular laughter,” Bill Hamaker said. “The body still does the same physical things, which is release endorphins and a lot of other stuff which is healthy.”

Laughter yoga was developed in Mumbai, India by Dr. Madan Kataria. “World peace through laughter” is the program’s mission.

The session in Marion to celebrate World Laughter Day opened with one minute of unadulterated laughing.

“You tell people that there’s no jokes involved, and they say ‘What?’” Savage said. “They don’t get it.”

The group cycled through different laughter exercises — like dance laughing, throwing a ball and laughing upon catching it, and laughing to the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

“Laughter is the best medicine,” Linda Hamaker said. “There’s no doubt about it. I really wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for laughter yoga. That’s the truth.”

At one point during the session, Savage’s phone rang. His son was calling. Savage picked up, put his son on speaker and aimed the phone towards the group. They laughed collectively and then wished him a happy World Laughter Day.

Tricia Whiffen, an Avon resident in attendance, said laughter yoga is “empowering.”

“It’s so important for people to interact and make eye contact,” she said.

Closing out the session, the group recited together.

“You are awesome,” they said. “I am awesome. We are awesome.” Then they laughed.