Most of my life has been serious. Very serious. If I’ve played, being an introvert, it’s been mainly with one person or alone. Many of my younger years were spent playing outside — in the woods behind our house — alone. I seemed to like it that way.

Laughter is social. Even if we laugh alone, it’s usually about something we remember that happened in a group. Or, we laugh at ourselves (I do this more and more these days).

Today, I was walking out of Kroger, which has a distinct entrance and exit, at a swift pace, and nearly crashed into the enter doors. I laughed – actually fairly loudly – at myself. Then everyone around me joined in. So I laughed it up and laughed with them. Then people started comforting and teasing me… “Oh, I’ve almost done that so many times…”  “Lucky you stopped when you did…”

I didn’t laugh much playing in the woods. I was seriously busy building play forts and creating all of the highways between them. Sometimes we play seriously. There is a time to seriously play, too. ‘Tis the season.

Test your play tolerance and come to a laughter yoga session. Revive your ability to seriously play. Laughing for no reason may affect what you do this season and make it brighter, lighter. Ha ha HO HO HO.

We don’t necessarily need laughter yoga at parties in order to have fun this season – but having someone come to lead a session proves to add quite a spark.

I was invited to a private party this past weekend to lead laughter yoga. The hostess wanted to help eveyone relax and to make a memory.  The group arrived looking a bit hurried and was quiet. However, after a few laughter games, hilarity was not a rarity.

The men, responsible for cooking hor d’oeuvres, came running in from the kitchen, alarmed, after we cheered, ”Very good, very good, yay!”  Twelve women with a glass of wine and stress to get out can cheer loudly enough for houses ’round the neighborhood to hear.

Their laughter continued robustly after the session was over. The atmosphere was quite different from women rushing to get there on time and being tired from work. 

I’m convinced that relationships — whether friendships, romantic or families — that laugh together, stay together. What a way to introduce eating dinner together every night? Hold a laughter session, even if for just a few minutes. Invent some new laughter games.

I’ve been laughing with my sweetie for about a year, and can testify that had we not led laughter yoga sessions together a few times weekly, sometimes daily, our relationship would not have the same ease. We would be more tense around each other. Prickly. Laughter yoga smoothed our edges and opened our communication.

I’m so thankful to have discovered this path and for my many gifted teachers along the way. Laughter yoga truly transforms — parties, relationships, and if you stick with it — everything!

“Humor in relationships is touchy: Laughter can bring you closer, or it can pack a cruel punch. How to avoid the pitfalls and use humor to strengthen your bond.”
Link: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200606/crack-me

Laughter yoga has always seemed like a form of giving gratitude – for each other, for ourselves and for what has been gifted to us.

I’ve come up with a few new laughter games to celebrate the opportunity to give gratitude. The first is making gibberish small talk. It’s similar to the greetings games except we’re gibberish-ing to each other.  More games: Snoring after the meal, the green jello mold, stirring the stew, being giant parade balloons, and of course, the turkey squawk game.

Hope to see you soon!  

Today Jon & I volunteered with JABA, at the Mary Williams Center with about 4 older women, out of 20 or so who could have participated. That ended up being great, because those who participated were enthusiastic.

Jon cherishes the older generation. He regularly remarks about how wise they are, how much they know and could pass on if we’d give them a chance… so he did most of the talking. I did most of leading the games.

This group couldn’t move very much. Their mobility was limited to standing up – then only briefly. However, by then end of class, endorphins had started flowing and a lady reported how much better her arthritis felt throughout her body.

Endorphins are the neurochemicals responsible for the “runner’s high” that we get after aerobic exercise. They’re also released when we laugh. They have more pain-killing power than morphine, which is why arthritis is helped by laughter yoga. We also forget about pain when we’re laughing.

Laugh yourself to health!

We’ve all heard that when we give, ultimately, it comes back to us. I’ve found this to be real. This is one of the more powerful spiritual principles for manifesting. We reap what we sow. If we sow joy, we reap joy. Maybe not where we expect to, but it will show up – predictably when we need it the most.

I am grateful for chances to volunteer to lead laughter yoga. I limit myself to those I can afford, financially and emotionally. I know my gifts and where I lead with the most grace. When I give laughter, my heart is emptied – full of room to receive. I become more aware of when and how I receive what I need. Then gratitude happens… which helps me want to give again. It’s an automatic spirtual cycle that is already in place. We just need to step in. It’s our move.

If you offer a class by-donation only, even if you suggest an amount (say, $5-10), newspapers usually will list it for free because they consider it a free event. This is how I’ve gotten the word out about Laughter Yoga in Charlottesville over the past two years.

That’s one of the many topics we’ll be covering in the upcoming retreat, “Build and Market Your Spiritual Practice” on November 15th. The retreat is designed to help find budget-mindful ways to market your practice. Join us!

http://www.yogalaughs.com/mworkshop/schedule1.html

As I lead laughter yoga at the jail with women inmates, I learn a valuable lesson with each session. The inmates I laugh with are part of a re-entry program. Remaining in the re-entry program requires them to attend almost all classes. Twice a week, they are “required” to laugh with me in “laughter class”. I’ve been volunteering with re-entry groups at the jail for over a year. Each group is very different in their response to laughter yoga.  

The current group of women has been especially “tough”, meaning, about three out of the six in the group will not laugh unless they feel like it. In jail, most people aren’t there because they’ve had such a great life. It’s no surprise that they don’t feel like laughing. Trying to get some of the more angry and “hardened” inmates to laugh can feel like a going on a long run up a mountain.

But I’ve found that not trying to do anything is one way to disarm their rigidity. I’m transparent. Present in the moment. I abandon my laughter yoga agenda before each class and determine to meet them where they are. I know this isn’t conventional, but it seems to help them trust me and each other. Once they understand that my time with them is also their time — to vent, laugh, cry, and relax — they also let go of their agenda of refusing to laugh.  

They say my laughter is contagious. I share some of my story about laughter yoga each week, give them handouts with articles about laughter yoga, and make the most of each of their giggles. I include “feedback time” in every session after the silent meditation. It provides them with a sense of control and co-leadership of the class.

With each class, I try to build build build… trust. During one class with this group, building trust involved an inmate sharing a painful circumstance around her son for almost 45 minutes. He is 4 and was having major surgery that he may or may not have survived. She couldn’t be with him. She just had to wait for the news about the surgery from the Warden. She wasn’t in a place to laugh for no reason until she had been heard, hugged and allowed to cry. She didn’t ask to be in my class. She was there because she didn’t want to get kicked out of the re-entry program. I had to respect that. She ended up using laughter to release stress and blew the top off of the jail with her loud, silly laughter. She also wept during the silent meditation. Her remarks afterward were abundant – one really touched me. “Now, this is peace.”

The lesson for me for groups like these? Be fully empty with the laughter yoga goal in sight, but not as your required outcome for every class. They know why you’re there. They’ll follow your lead in time. Let them have control in a situation where they very little.

Thanks to Jeffrey for support and easy-to-do suggestions!

I faked my laughter during these days and proved that “fake” laughter works almost as well as “belly” laughter. I felt so much better after the meetings, even though I didn’t have the inner resources to put forth the effort to really laugh.

This is a rigorous but do-able spiritual discipline. Like any yoga, the more we practice it, the easier it becomes.

We’re still waiting for others to join us! I tend to morph energy from other participants and be inspired by their willingness to be goofy and courage to laugh, “in spite of.”

Our plan is to carry on for about 90 days, give or take a beach vacation for a few days. Kundalini Yoga posits our habits change within 40 days and our subconscious minds shift within 90 days of doing the same discipline each day. I am eager to see what changes and heals in my life just from laughing, on purpose, each day.

ha ha ha,
Leigh

I found it a little bit more difficult to laugh in the park this morning, and was a bit more self-conscious. That was my hang-up. I really tried to think and laugh at the same time. It’s almost impossible to do and tiring.

We came up with three new laughter games — progressive decibel laughter, swimming strokes laughter, and tight rope laughter. 

Jon and I are practicing, I think, for the time when people actually do show up to laugh with us. We’ll seem to know what we’re doing. We certainly helped a few passers-by laugh this morning.

Mainly, the consistency of making a commitment to laugh together every day – in a public place – will make all the difference in our relationship and perspectives as we stick to it.

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From Jon:

Laughing Day Two – June 30, 2009

I felt little resistance today to arriving at the park, in fact was eager.  I have no attachment at this point with any number of participants.  Actually it is slightly less intimidating to just laugh with Leigh, as we are comfortable and familiar; the challenges will come as new people are added.

Leigh created a couple new games today (see above). I find myself more drawn to the motions that seem to open body postures.  The Archer, Tiny Measure and the Hands over Head, all seem to be freeing.  I am however more comfortable in closing in, Sneezing, Balloon Blowing and Colapsing in Laughter all fold inward and feel safer somehow.

Meditation today was grand.  The laughing section was slightly more forced, and I was tired…less inclined to push than yesterday.  However, I went in deeply and quickly during the silent meditation.  My connection to earth, with grass and sun was very strong and very tuned to a natural setting.  The bustle of the waking downtown area was a grand contrast.  I felt so grateful that I was able to not shut it out, but in fact, embrace the external as a soundtrack to my internal quiet.

Since last year, I’ve wanted to start a laughter club in Lee Park. It’s just been on my heart to do.

Jon and I showed up at 7:55 a.m., put up our sign and started with the usual warm-up laughter games. No one else joined us this morning. Although we missed our supporters, we were mainly there for ourselves. We have the ability to get too serious and need to laugh, every day, as a spiritual discipline. It brings us much more levity, which helps small things stay small.

I felt the energy disperse with every “Very good, very good, yay!” that we cheered. We confused a few dogs. Otherwise, people pretended we weren’t there. They looked down at the sidewalk and walked by like nothing was happening. I guess I would have done the same a few years ago.

I realized how much my inhibitions have shrunk to a workable size for authentic social interaction as a result of leading laughter yoga each week for two years.

Staring at the bright blue sky in the morning while laughing, then meditating, was a special treat. The weather was gorgeous. We left refreshed and ready to start the day. It was great. Come join us!