If Maya Carrington feels worried before a flight she takes out her mobile phone and has a laugh with her imaginary friend.

“The best way to use laughter therapy when you are by yourself is to pretend you are sharing a joke with a friend on your phone,” says Maya, aged 60.

“People are worried they are going to be stared at if they just start laughing, but if you pretend you are on your phone no one bats an eyelid.

“When I teach laughter yoga I take people gently through it and a session can last for around a while. One of the basic breathing techniques involves making ho-ho-ho, ha-ha-ha sounds, which is brilliant at getting all the stale air out of your lungs.”

Maya, who lives on Monins Avenue in Tipton, teaches laughter ‘yoga’, which she claims is the way to a happy life. She is offering her services to companies and claims she can improve productivity by making staff feel better about themselves.

And she claims that in times of recession, laughter can relieve stress and reduce blood pressure.

She says: “I want to teach this technique to people so they can do it themselves.

“Before you start doing any exercises you have to make the mental switch to allow yourself to laugh – that is the hardest part of laughter yoga.

“It can help to have some things to hand that can act as a trigger for your laughter. I encourage everyone to have chuckle boxes filled with items that will remind you of a funny experience. One of my triggers is the thing that inspired me to train as a laughter yoga therapist. I was really stressed and in a mad rush to get to my next meeting.

“But all the traffic stopped for a duck and her ducklings to waddle across the road in front of us.There was nothing any of us could do and I couldn’t stop laughing – it was then that I realised I was taking life too seriously and I needed to do something different.”

In 2005 Maya travelled to Australia to learn the art of laughter yoga. Laughter yoga was devised by Dr Madan Kataria in 1993 in India when he realised the health benefits of laughter. Even fake laughter produced some benefits.

It not only helps to produce the happy chemicals known as endorphins but it releases stress, normalises high blood pressure and reduces pain and depression.

“I decided to study laughter yoga after I read a quote from Jerry Hall saying she loved it,” says Maya.

“I spent a month in Australia and admit I found it very overpowering on my first day. I walked into this room where everyone was laughing.

Maya recently went to the Village Hotel in Dudley to see if she could get the staff giggling.

“I want to work with people before they go into work because I believe laughter yoga will de-stress them for the day ahead and make them more creative,” says Maya.

“I only have things around me that make me happy and I like to focus on good memories. I don’t like humour which is cruel where people are laughing at someone. If people are laughing together it can make a team stronger and create camaraderie.”