Or search name: Yogalaughs

This year with laughter yoga, I plan to start leading classes and workshops in Richmond. Yesterday, a nice yoga studio near Short Pump called me for an interview. Yay! I’m scheduled to speak at three conferences (one corporate). I finally have my first class at ACAC. The Valentine’s Celebration is something I’ll actually get paid for this year as Parks & Rec offered to host it. I’m calling NBC (local) to cover the event. After that celebration, I’m going to a private party to lead laughter yoga as part of the fun.

Sometimes, when class attendance is low, I get frustrated, even annoyed. I’ve held classes for almost 3 years. The good news is - there is a core group of about 5 who attend weekly at The Senior Center. Laughter yoga has become a vital part of their lives. Visitors seem to have such fun laughing with the laughter yoga “veterans.” I look back to the first few classes and I’m so grateful for the few and the brave who stuck with me, even if two people (or one!) showed up for class.

My solution for feeling frustrated is to start something new. Keep up the old, but reset and expand my vision even more. Some people love routine. I like to plow. Plowing the way so I can share a few more giggles.

It’s a simple way to convince your brain that you’re happy. In return, your brain will send out all kinds of signals and release neurochemicals that’ll convince your body and mind you’re happy. Creating laughter is the ultimate catch-22, fake-it-’til-you-make-it exercise.

How it works: You laugh. Your brain releases signs and signals to let your body know you’re happy. Your body responds by feeling good. So your mind acknowleges you feel happy. Then you laugh more. And so on…

But it all starts with a little laugh. So make the most of  ‘em and have a ha ha happy holiday season.

Today, she shared this story with me about helping one of her students lower their stress levels using laughter yoga… the student came in completely stressed out. The student rated her stress level at the top, 10 out of 10. Julie was able to help her calm down to 7 out of 10. Not knowing what else to do, Julie suggested that the student might need a good laugh.

Julie began teaching the student a few laughter games, starting with the “I don’t feel like laughing…” game. After a few short games, the student reported that her stress levels were down to 3.

In the west, something is funny, therefore we laugh. In laughter yoga classes, the opposite is true. Nothing is funny, we start laughing anyway, therefore things become very funny.

I’m sure nothing was funny to this stressed out student. But she was willing to laugh anyway. It’s when we don’t feel like laughing during laughter yoga that we reap the most dramatic results. Our stress lifts, moods stabilize and minds clear. All we have to do is laugh.

Julie initially came to classes to relieve her stress… now she’s passing some laughter along… and so on and so on…

“Peace begins with a smile.” – Mother Teresa.

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.

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

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!  

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!

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.

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