I recently had the privilege of taking a laughter yoga class! Although I am a very spiritual person, frequently meditate, and believe in all elements of the metaphysical world I have not yet joined a traditional yoga class (although it's been on my mind for years) nor had I even heard of laughter yoga.
My best friend and I were glancing through the local "hippie magazine" we typically pick up at whole foods titled Natural awakenings. She ran across an ad for laughter yoga, proceeded to read it out loud when I shouted, "let's do it! It'll be fun"! We picked a time that was best for us and headed to our first laughter yoga session full on anticipation a few days later.
Pete was the gentleman leading the group, although he is not the usual laughter yoga leader, he was full of vital information for us. Our session was only 30 minutes long, however Pete informed us they have classes that run an hour, and even though there is not your typical yoga stretching and workout, people still leave in a sweat.
Laughter yoga combines unconditional laughter with yogic breathing which helps calm the body and unconsciously put your mind in the moment, so you are focused on the now. Anyone can laugh for no reason without relying on outside tools, your body can not tell the difference between real and simulated laughter therefore offering your body the same health benefits.
We stood in a circle partaking in various laughing exercises while making eye contact with each other, I believe it is the eye contact combined with the silly, playful, child like exercises that soon turns your fake laughter into real laughter. We would shout out our favorite animal noise and follow it with laughter, or pretend we were in church or a library when something funny strikes yet you have to hold in the laughter, along with various other laughing exercises. It was followed by a brief guided meditation session, which I enjoyed.
There are several benefits to laughter yoga: To boost endorphins, when you are happy everything else seems to fall into place! It reduces stress, much like a typical cardio work out, also has been shown to help boost immunity, as well as help with a multitude of other ailments. Laughter yoga also has been shown to help create a more positive out look on life in turn boosting one's quality of life.
I absolutely agree that laughter yoga does do all the before mentioned things. It is a class I look forward to attending again, and bringing as many friends to as I can accumulate! You can't go through life taking it, as well as your self too seriously. It's okay to loosen up, have fun, de-stress and above all these things LAUGH!
