Heavenly Hirani's School of Laughing Yoga

by Sarah-Kate Lynch

Annie Jordan never wanted to go to India: there were too many poor people and the wrong sorts of smells. But when she ends up there anyway, to her great surprise it’s not the beggars who cling to her, it’s the lessons in life — courtesy of Heavenly Hirani and her beachside laughing yoga.

Genres: Fiction, India, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Womens Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2014

About the author

Sarah-Kate Lynch is quite a cranky journalist of several decades who prefers making things up to recording them accurately. This is not very good if you are a journalist, which may explain (a) the crankiness and (b) why she now writes novels.

She also writes two columns in the New Zealand Woman's Day, New Zealand's best-selling weekly magazine. One is about nothing and the other is about travel.

Sarah-Kate lives in a cliff top house on the wild west coast of New Zealand's North Island with a lovely dog called Ginger and a husband called Ted. Oh, hang on, no, that's not right. The dog is called Ted and the husband is Ginger.

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't stop reading this book! I may have been found beside the bath, shading the book from baby's splashes! It is bright, funny, inspiring and addictive. What will this repressed housewife do in India, alone, while her husband works? Why, go to laughing yoga, explore a slum, find the Taj Mahal and make peace with her life, of course.
Lynch was obviously taken with India and the feeling is infectious.
Beautifully written. I never know how to categorise Sarah-Kate Lynch's books, but I explained this to my husband as women's lit with great writing and depth.
The character development of Annie was amazing, I was so drawn to her.
The end just filled my heart to overflowing with happiness.

[April Cote · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Be truthful, gentle and fearless , she told herself. That was the best anyone could be."

A great read for those who love to travel and explore news cultures. Don't let the title sway you away from this read; it did not have much to do with yoga at all. This story is about self discovery and how sometimes we all just need to step out side of our selves to discover or even rediscover who we are and what hopes, dreams and desires one wants for themselves and others.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fun and enlightening book by this author. Annie the main character after a couple of tragedies decides reluctantly to take a trip to India with her husband on his business trip. Bored with her life and how she is treated by her family, she has become very unsure of herself and has become reluctant to explore outside her comfort zone. But once in India and with some gentle prodding from some of the locals, she starts to emerge as a new person.
The descriptions of the places and people she meets in India are wonderful, and there was a lot one can learn from some of the characters. Excellent story
The author herself who never having intended to go to India also followed her husband there when he was asked to go to Mumbai to work on the Disney film Million Dollar Arm, The author put a lot of her own experiences from the country into this story and also issues that friends of her were going through as a premise for Annie's problems, a lot of which I related to.

[Loene · Rating 2 out of 5]

A light read for a holiday. It does create vivid images of Mumbai and the various characters Annie meets are charming and colourful. Some are based on real characters. Her personal journey was predictable, but again her experiences of ungrateful children, being taken for granted as a housewife and mother had a realistic tinge. They were a necessary foil for her journey away from them.

[Sharah McConville · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable, uplifting novel.

[Tahli Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Was great to read from a woman's perspective and how in giving so much to her children, husband and mother- she had lost herself.
I was charmed by her journey of self discovery, and now want to go to India!

[Sherie Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book I resonated on a few levels with the main character and I felt for her as her mid life crisis forced her to do things she had never done before. The characters were colourful and I love how the book ended at the Taj Mahal 😁 a great book

[Toni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start that I have enjoyed many other of Ms.Lynch's novels. In this book I enjoyed the descriptions of India and of the locals. Unfortunately, I almost quit reading multiple times due to the annoying, self-pitying whining of the protagonist. Never has anyone annoyed me more. She was a middle aged, empty nester who recently lost her mother, I really tried to empathize ( especially since our lives could be considered similar in several ways); but all she does is whine and need Paxil. Depression is a true disease but I strongly dislike when someone blames their depression on someone else thus believing that someone else needs to change for them to find happiness. Her husband is concerned about her so he makes all the arrangements for her to accompany him to India on a business trip. She finally goes. She sees all of the sights, stays in 4 star hotel, attends laughing yoga, has pedicures, manicures, rests by a paradise pool and ...oh no, her husband must work while on a business trip . Oh horrors, he must not love her and her children if he is working , Oh horrors ,she should leave him for his insensitivity. Oh horrors, then why doesn't this female paragon make all of the arrangements for a true vacation for the 2 of them. A non- working vacation. He should be so lucky to be on a vacation such as you. ,On and on she complains and whines about everything and every aspect of her life past and present. I am non- violent yet I wanted to smack her. I could continue with so many examples but if you were to read them then you might as well read the book. Is any woman really this selfish and self- centered while telling us what a martyr she is?
However the insights into the sights of India were engaging and informative.If you would like to try this author, and you should try " Dolci di Love" or one of her other books.
I apologize to the author if this seems harsh however I am judging Annie not Sarah-Kate.

[Armelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn’t heard of Sarah-Kate Lynch’s work before, being a New Zealander I really need to start reading work by my adopted countrymen more often. But this book isn’t about New Zealand, it’s about India, which the author freely admits was a place she’d never had wanted to visit if it wasn’t for tagging along with her husband for work. It’s not somewhere that I’d ever thought about visiting either, until I read this book.

Heavenly Hirani’s School of Laughing Yoga was not the chewing-gum for the eyes, girly-girl fluff piece I was expecting. It was actually a real delight to read, as well as being easy to read, which can sometimes work against the integrity of a book - but Sarah-Kate gets the balance just right.

We follow the tale of an empty-nester trying to come to grips with her life after being so busy living it, bringing up kids and giving everything to her family, only to find that she is lost at the end of it all. This comes as a huge shock and leaves her wondering about her place in this new life.

What follows is an utterly charming, utterly unexpected discovery of India and turns the ‘big, smelly, dirty and scary’ label that’s usually attached to India on its head. Yes, India is probably still some of those things, but Sarah-Kate brings the country to life through the use of descriptive prose and the colourful people we meet who become like best friends. We discover a charming country that is unlike any other and kind-hearted people ready to help you explore, no matter how small-minded or set your preconceived ideas might be.

This book is for anyone who’s ever dreamed of going to India, but especially for all those people who have actively sought to avoid it.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my heart, this book! This book. It’s so empathetically detailed that the characters immediately become real. The details are sparklingly clear, making us feel like we’re feeling what Annie is feeling, seeing what she’s seeing. It’s stunning and so easy to visualize each moment as it unfolds. I loved each new character and the way their lives grew and entwined. I loved the themes of how small moments of kindness and connection can have huge effects, how family comes in many forms, how we have so much to learn from each other, how we are so alike even when we are thrown in another world, how it's never too late to begin again, and how laughter really is the best medicine. Ordinary kindness truly is magical and transformative, and it's miraculous to see what happens when we reconnect with our hearts and each other. Sometimes when we step outside ourselves, we find ourselves. I loved that perspective and reminder. The story pulled my heartstrings while also making me burst out in laughter. I smiled a ton. This was a great one, for sure.

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book about how not wanting to go somewhere,but going there anyway, turns out to be a blessing in disguise.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fab fab FAB book! I loved every moment reading this. Now, must get planning that trip to India!!

[etherealfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindle Unlimited e-book

[Fiona Story · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice story. One of Sarah-Kate Lynch's better ones.

[Regina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Sarah-Kate Lynch! Ever since I first discovered 'Blessed are the Cheesemakers' many years ago, I have read and immensely enjoyed everything I could find by SK. In fact, when I couldn't get my "stateside" hands on a copy of 'On Top of Everything', I emailed her, and she popped a copy in the mail to me from New Zealand! So, at this point, I kind of consider us friends. And reading this book felt like talking to a friend. I read it while on the tail end of a solo trip to Aruba (admittedly not exactly India, but still amazing and beautiful, and HOT!). I couldn't help but laugh and cry out loud while flying home to Boston, reading about Annie's discovery of who she really is and what she really wants once she realizes that her kids and husband don't need her anymore. Although this book is not focused on food like most of SK's books, it still has that way of richly describing everything that Annie eats, sees, and experiences while on her adventure. Thank you, as always Sarah-Kate, for a truly beautiful read. XOXO

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) I read the Kindle version of this book. Annie has experienced several major losses in her life with her mother’s death and her beloved dog going missing. Her two children are grown; her son rarely communicates with her and her daughter seems to view her more as a cash machine than anything else. She seems to be stuck in a rut when her husband suggests that she accompanies him on a business trip to India. She surprises both him and herself by agreeing to the trip. Initially intimidated by her surroundings, she begins to open up, particularly when she is encouraged to venture out to Heavenly Hirani’s laughing yoga classes. What could have been a typical journey of discovery novel (Hirani and her friends make fun of the now classic “Eat, Pray, Love” by calling it “Pasta, Ponder, Hanky-Panky”), is made more real by the deft characterization by the author.

[Funda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A love letter to India... I remember reading a couple of books by the author some years ago, yet none of them stayed with me apart from the titles. But this one was a delight to read. Yes, it has a predictable plot but the characters, even the minor ones are so real that, like a Dickens novel, they all come to life in your minds eyes. Obviously, it is told from a Westerner’s perspective but as the acknowledgment at the end of the book reveals, it is based on the author’s journey to the subcontinent. An unplanned journey that makes her fall in the love with country. No wonder this one is so different from her other titles. I also liked the fact that the main character is not a thirty year old who finds love in a foreign country, but a forty something mother who finds her way back to love and herself.

[J21mckinney · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️
The title shouldn’t sway one from reading this book. It has little to do with yoga yet it inspires the character, Annie, to begin her journey outside her comfort zone to self discovery. She rediscovers herself during a trip to India with her husband while he’s on a business trip. Her adventures help to reacquaint herself as a person and not only as a grieving daughter, a mother trying to accept an empty nest as well as a changing role as a wife.
So much of India is described in this book from white knuckle traffic to colorful clad pedestrians, describing the work of the dhobi wallahs to the shoe shiners and the detailed description of the amazing Taj Mahal and it’s beautiful romantic story of the Shar Jahan and his queen.
Truly worth reading.

[Patrice M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, easy read with good flow. Not much plot, but pleasant . Annie, the "middle aged" ( late 40's) housewife, accompanies her husband on a business trip to Mumbai. Her kids are grown, her mother just died, her dog disappeared, and her husband works and they have no meaningful interaction. She is left on her own in India as her husband is busy with work, but a hotel valet takes i upon himself to connect her with Heavenly Hirani's School of Laughing Yoga. That connection as well as her new tax driver friend change her expectations of the country and in turn, herself and her family.

[Elizabeth Schlatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable light read, as much about India or really, Western perceptions of India (true and untrue), as about its main character Annie's mid-life/empty-nest crisis. Sort of a fictional "Eat Pray Love" for British suburban housewives or sandwich generation folks. Seeing as I'll likely never go to India and that I love novels about women having mid-life crises, this was an easy "win" for me. Not five-star because I wasn't a fan of the ending. But I'll add that the author writes the most delightful acknowledgments and afterwords. This is the second novel by Lynch I've read, and she finishes with talking about her real-life inspirations for the plot, all with a lively touch of humor.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Gandhi's saying: "Be truthful, gentle and fearless" and you would be the best you can be.

This book was exactly what I needed at this time in my life. The story is an excellent one about a middle aged woman trying to figure out who she is after spending the last 25 years raising kids. This is a fantastic read for those who love to explore new cultures. It is a story about how sometimes you need to step outside of your normal life to rediscover who you are and remember your hopes, dreams, and desires.

The bad thing about this book? Now I REALLY want to go visit the Taj Mahal!

[loretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as a travelogue, interesting and delightful auxiliary characters. I confess that Annie and her frequent self pity began to annoy me. Plot was predictable but enjoyable. For me the main take away was that attitude is everything. Annie travels to India and finds people are happy in the most unenviable circumstances. It is clear that the author loves India and I appreciated her comments at the end of her novel. The funniest description was the locals title for Eat Pray And Love... Pasta Ponder And Hanky Panky.

[Fiona Groves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, Lovely, Lovely. Some books come along at just the right time. At 49 Annie finds herself with an empty nest, grieving the death of a parent and her dog has disappeared. The path back to herself starts when she accompanies her husband on a business trip to India and finds herself on a beach with Heavenly Hirani and her mixed bag of laughing yoga enthusiasts. Funny, poignant and insightful.

[Kathie Marcellus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure why I finished reading this book??

I felt the writing of the main plot was good. I just thought it very boring
to read about day after day of Annie's adventures that seemed to be going no where in the main story! I don't care for crowds. So to make the statement that there is 24Million people in one city makes me become ill!!
I would not recommend this book to a friend!

[TonyB · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a real treat. I haven't read Eat Love Pray. But, apparently there are some similar overtones. Regardless, it felt entirely unique to me. The writing takes you to India - honestly, a place a don't think a lot about. Now I feel like I've been there. The journey the main character is on is one of personal bravery and a bit of desperation. I won't spoil how it resolves, but suffice it to say, this one will have you page turning quickly and lighting your heart along the way.

[Tasman District Libraries]

This is an easy to read, feel good book. Annie Jordan has found herself in a stage of life where she feels invisible, unwanted and lost. On a whim, she accompanies her husband on a work trip to India, at first she hates everything and hardly leaves her hotel room but then she meets Heavenly Hirani and her laughing yoga. Annie learns to see herself and her life with new eyes and in doing so changes the course of it. NC

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book for $2 from a charity shop in Methven because we were camping and I’d forgotten to take a book. It was just the right kind of lazy summer read I was after.

It has a very Eat, Pray, Love vibe about it. A middle-aged white woman is dissatisfied with her suburban life: her kids have left home and don’t need her, her husband is busy working, her mother has died, her dog has run away. So she accompanies her husband on a work trip to India and here she finds herself.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was passed onto me to read by a friend who'd enjoyed it, but unfortunately I found it to be predictable, repetitive and formulaic and the storyline about a whinging privileged middle-aged woman just annoyed me.

It did give some interesting glimpses into India but it is really little more than a travelogue.

[Philippa Mulqueen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an engaging read. Light and gentle but also with some moments of wisdom and thoughtfulness. It made me want to try this type of yoga and wish that the pandemic hadn't got in the way of the trip to India we'd been thinking about for October. The author writes lovingly about Mumbai, it's people and struggles.

[Fiona Brodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. So colourful and fascinating and thought provoking

Annie Jordan never wanted to go to India: there were too many poor people and the wrong sorts of smells. But when she ends up there anyway, to her great surprise it’s not the beggars who cling to her, it’s the lessons in life — courtesy of Heavenly Hirani and her beachside laughing yoga