MARION — On Sunday, May 7, laughter echoed through the field in front of the Benjamin D. Cushing Community Center in Marion.

There, Marion resident Doug Savage led a group through a session of laughter yoga to celebrate World Laughter Day, which is held on the first Sunday of May.

Savage has been practicing laughter yoga for years and received a laughter yoga instructor certification. 

The session began with one minute of laughter for world peace. According to Savage, “the whole premise behind laughter yoga is to bring about world peace through laughter.”

Although somewhat hesitant at first, participants quickly joined in. With a “ho ho” here and a “ha ha” there, the whole group was soon in stitches — all without telling a single joke.

“There’s no joke telling, no humor and no comedy,” said Savage. “It’s done with child-like playfulness, eye contact, moving around and pretty soon it becomes really contagious laughter.”

And as the group practiced different laughter exercises that saw them laughing with their “claws” out like a lion, laughing while ripping up an imaginary credit card bill, and even laughing while pretending to ride a roller coaster.

Savage explained that the practice of laughter yoga was first started in India by physician Madan Kataria in 1995. Since then, said Savage, the practice has spread across the globe.

According to Savage, laughter — even make-believe laughter — can have health benefits including providing the body with more oxygen.

“Your body doesn’t know the difference between real and make-believe laughter, as long as you're willing to laugh,” he said.

Savage runs laughter yoga workshops every Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Congregational Church in Wareham. For more information, visit https://www.savagelaughter.org/.