Have you heard of Laughter Yoga? A friend told me about it a couple years ago and I've been intrigued ever since. I love to laugh (who doesn't really) and I'm plagued with an infectious snort. What can I say? It's an endearing trait.
Right?
Anyway, I noticed on my school page that the college was offering an hour long introduction to Laughter Yoga. I'm trying new things so... I went.
Turns out, it's actually a studied, developed, and practiced... thing. And it's more complicated than people standing in a circle laughing at each other. Who knew? We all know laughter is good for the mind, body, and soul. Apparently, the body cannot tell the difference between real laughter and fake laughter. Huh.
The majority of the time is spent fake laughing. Which, in all honesty, feels really weird. But once I was able to concentrate on the sound I was supposed to make, as opposed to if I really thought whatever was going on was funny, it became much easier.
And really, the fake laughter often times became real laughter. Whether I was laughing at the absurdity of it all, or the person next to me snorted, or the girl across the way was having trouble breathing, I was laughing for realsies. We spent the hour laughing at gibberish conversations, doing the pinky dance, and imitating sounds in laughter.
And it was so much fun. I left the class feeling more energized and happy and with more bounce in my already cheery step.
So I suggest it. If you see a class in your area give it a try. You might be surprised.
Comments