Louise and I attended a laughter yoga class on Sunday afternoon. It was at a studio on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. Here's the info. We didn't quite know what to expect, except that we had heard that these classes involve laughing for one hour.
We arrived a bit early, and were welcomed into a beautiful studio - warm, bright and with a circle of pillows on the floor. We sat and greeted other participants as they arrived. By the time the class began, there were about 35 people in the room.
Farah, who leads the laughter yoga club, introduced a new leader, Jeannie, who she called a "natural from the first time I met her." Jeannie had freckles and a broad grin. She welcomed us, then led us through a series of exercises for smiling, breathing and laughing. We worked in a big circle, and also moving around the room, encountering other class members and doing things that made us laugh (zippering open a smile from a serious face, talking in gibberish, giving extravagant compliments). In between exercises we repeated a mantra (ha-ha-ho-ho-ho with clapping and a big YAYYYY! at the end) and congratulated each other on excellent work with "Very GOOD" and namaste bows and more "YAAAAYYYY!" A room full of strangers blossomed into a gathering of goofy-guts friendly people in minutes. A couple of people seemed a bit more reserved than the others, but everyone got into it and shared laughter. The best part was at the end. We all lay down on the floor with our heads in the middle and our feet out toward the walls, and we laughed. Jeannie didn't have to get us started, we just laughed and laughed for probably 15 minutes. It tooks us a while to finish laughing and conclude the class.
We did a check in around the circle before leaving. People felt lighter, energized, optimistic about positive energy in the world, grateful. Louise and I floated out the door. My face hurt. Her belly hurt. Neither of us had ever laughed that much. We want to go back and do it some more.
question: what makes you laugh?
mompoet - I am a good laugher, but this was above and beyond all previous experience
1 comment:
Mompoet,
Your descriptionof the class, especially how everyone got on the floor and just laughed for 15 minutes is wonderful. I'msharing it with my readers because I kow they will enjoy it.
Thank you!
Catherine
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