Laughter yoga. An oxymoron, I thought, when I had first heard these two words out loud. A few years ago, as I was still re-building my self-care regime from scratch, I was willing to grasp at anything that would assist me in finding new ways to care for myself, which included maintaining a good balance in my life through emotional, physical, spiritual, and environmental ways. Laughter yoga literally fell into my lap one day as I was perusing my local Community Centre Guide. “Why not?”, I thought to myself. So I joined. I showed up expecting a traditional yoga class, so I was decked out in my “gym clothes” with my yoga mat under one arm.
Traditional, though, is not what I experienced. For the one full hour of class we laughed, joked, made funny eye contact, and allowed ourselves to genuinely embrace silliness. We moved through guided laughter yoga poses, which ended in shouting jubilantly “very good, very good, yay!” Close to the end of the hour, we joined together at the end to thank each other for sharing our laughter and vulnerability with one another. Gosh, I was amazed at how relaxed, thankful, and cared for I felt!
If you’re keen to learn more, Jeannie Magenta’s website is a great place to start as is The Laughter Yoga University website.
Have fun and don’t forget to laugh!
By Anisa M.
moodsmart 