In praise of the devilish wind

disapproved of . . . . well probably quite a few things.

But most particularly the laughing yoga classes that have become part of the resort’s relaxation offerings.

This monkey business, under the tutelage of school teacher, laughing enthusiast and nearperfectly named Anaya Smiley, is proffered on the basis of health benefits, stress release, and fun.

We are indebted to Smiley for the factoid that the average male farts more than he laughs. The veracity of this is something that we haven’t been able to independently verify, though we might make the airy observation that it’s certainly plausible in the case of men doing yoga.

The physical benefits of laughter are understood to varying degrees but if there’s one area of human endeavour where the benefits have perhaps been underused, we would suggest it’s sport tactics.

By the end of the 1990s The Lancet was reporting Dutch research on the behaviour of muscles during laughter, essentially concluding that ‘‘weak with laughter’’ isn’t just a metaphor.

The researchers were looking for something else entirely, exploring the debilitating medical condition cataplexy in which people collapse and sometimes injure themselves in moments of emotion. As it happens the research group of students, getting wired up, came over all silly with banter. And there you go – their muscles perceptibly weakened.

Consider the sporting implications. Maybe some of the nastier cricket sledging is less of a problem for the batsman than a cracking good wisecrack from slips would be.

Maybe the next time the All Blacks are narrowly ahead with time nearly up, scrum in front of the posts, Aaron or TJ might come up with a one-liner, drearily familiar to our own expecting-it front row, but deliriously funny for the fresh audience packing down against them.

All the more powerful, surely, because it’s in those circumstances when we’re most acutely aware that we mustn’t, mustn’t laugh that we struggle hardest not to.

The ethical considerations would need to be addressed, obviously. Safety too. They’d probably have to ban it in weightlifting.