Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face. — Victor Hugo
Lighten Up with Laughter Classes
Laughter means different things to different people. For some, when they hear someone laugh, they think that the person is goofing off and they don’t take the person seriously. For others, they are jealous, wishing they could laugh more. Lighten Up with Laughter explores beliefs about laughter, the benefits of laughter, shares some interesting facts and describes the many ways we can incorporate laughter into our day.
Lighten Up with Laughter is based on the philosophy that we can choose to laugh and that we can develop our capacity to laugh. The course is not only educational, it is interactive and fun with many opportunities to laugh!
Call or email for more details and scheduled offerings.
Laughter Yoga
Laughter Yoga is a unique laughter based program which has been proven to improve physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Laughter Yoga does not include any yoga postures, just laughing, deep breathing and a guided relaxation at the end of the session.
Laughter is generated by doing a variety of activities and laughing while we do them. Even if someone doesn’t feel like laughing, they are encouraged to ‘fake it til they make it’. The laughter quickly shifts to genuine laughter.
The program is interactive, lighthearted and fun! It is appropriate for anyone at any age or fitness level.
Laughter Yoga is offered in 3 ways:
- FREE weekly 30 minute zoom Laughter Yoga
- In person, open to the public
- In person or zoom sessions sponsored by an organization
Yoga includes deep breathing with the poses, which helps you relax. In Laughter Yoga, we replace the poses with activities and laughing. We take deep breaths between the activities.
We do not tell jokes or stories. We do lighthearted ‘activities’ and laugh while we do them.
One example of an activity is to imagine you are conducting a symphony. We move our arms as a conductor does and laugh while we do it. Another example of an activity is to pretend that you dropped food on your clean shirt and laugh. Often, looking at others acting this out makes us laugh harder and gives us additional ways to act it out. When we are doing activities, we use our imagination and have a lighthearted, playful attitude and laugh.
Everyone who tries Laughter Yoga had a ‘first time’. There is no judgment and no right or wrong way to do any of the activities. Some of the participants have said that they felt awkward for 2 or 3 sessions. After that, they began enjoying it much more. Laughter Yoga is about people getting together, being lighthearted and laughing. Laughter Yoga isn’t for everyone, just like yoga isn’t for everyone. What is important is that each of us finds a way to bring laughter into our lives.
