When Molli Moll, Resi Renk and Inge Tschwarntke meet, they start right away: they laugh, laugh and laugh. The women have been training for over 20 years. They meet regularly to laugh at yoga. The laughing bacillus wants to infect as many people as possible with the laughing bacillus. They try to do this with laughter and the laughing tree. That’s why they simply called a walnut tree in the park in Gerolsbach, a little outside Pfaffenhofen, the “Laughing Tree”. Originally, “laughing tree” means border tree, but the laughing bacilli want to use their laughing tree to remind people that laughter is contagious and can cross boundaries.
Laughter is healthy and everyone understands that
“Laughter is a universal language around the world,” says Inge Tschwarntke. She founded the laughter club in Pfaffenhofen 22 years ago, at a time when her health was not going well and she was looking for medicine on a daily basis. Coming from India, the laughter movement spread around the world and also found followers in Pfaffenhofen in Upper Bavaria.
Laughter yoga according to Indian instructions
To this day, the Laughter Bacilli of Pfaffenhofen practice laughter yoga using stretching and breathing exercises, designed by Madan Kataria, a Mumbai-based doctor and yoga teacher. We laugh for no reason, emphasizes Resi Renk, and Inge Tschwarntke also gives a tip for those who have difficulty laughing.
Tip for beginners to laugh
“Stick a pencil between your teeth and the corners of your mouth will rise, so there’s no way around it. There’s Zygomaticus major. This is a nerve that tells the brain, ‘Now this is going to be fun!’ Or you might just start laughing softly.
The laughing bacilli practice laughter once a month in a practice room. Also happy on your excursions. And sometimes also on your laughing tree. It’s on a popular running route. Inge Tschwarntke finds it particularly easy to laugh. Because “five minutes of laughing is the same as twenty minutes of running. And then I stand there and laugh while the others run.”
Laughing garden with bee hotel on the way to school
The garden of laughter also delights many walkers and runners. Because the garden of laughter has grown over the years. Invites children and families to discover. Molli Moll, who has been planting and tending the garden for over ten years, has supplied laminated boards for hundreds of flowers, shrubs and herbs. The passionate gardener wants to help the many schoolchildren who pass through the Lachgarten on their way to Niederscheyern primary school to get to know plants better. “There are so many people who don’t know any plants. So I bought a laminator and just made badges and stuck them on the plans.”
In Molli Moll’s laughing garden you can find many favorite insects, like the wild carrot. As their white umbels spread, they attract bees, flies and many other insects. The wild carrot is a magnet, especially for the wild bees that lay their eggs in the nearby bee hotel. And this, in turn, pleases the laughing bacilli Molli Moll, whose laughing garden is right on the way to the school: “There are two schools. The children pass by. They go into the garden and look. What kind of plant is this and what species are they them? So I’m happy.