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INTRODUCTION I started doing laughter yoga almost two years ago. It was a lucky accident that has changed my life.

My yoga class at the rec center changed its time and i could not leave work early enough to get there. The internet pointed me to a laughter yoga class. I had no idea what this was, and really didn’t think much about it ahead of time. It was yoga, it started at the right time and was close to my office.

My first experience was uncomfortable for me. I felt awkward laughing for no reason. I noticed after i left though a feeling of lightness. I experienced these opposite pushes- one which tried to protect me from looking silly and one which wanted to move towards feeling better.

Two years later, laughter yoga has changed my life. My mother was bipolar. I was an angry girl who grew into an angry teenager and then became an angry and anxious woman. This was something i just adapted to and it became my core, and something i was not even aware of.

Laughter yoga lightened me and gave me tools to feel and act differently. I am happy to talk about all the why’s and wherefore’s of laughter yoga relative to mindfulness, meditation and neuroplasticity and the social, emotional and physical benefits.

INDIA AND DR. KATARIA

In September, i had the opportunity to travel to India to study with Dr. Kataria; the founder of Laughter Yoga and become a laughter yoga teacher. Over five days, the international participants deepened our practices, studied new laughter exercises, and new breathing practices.  We shared our previous experiences leading laughter yoga sessions in very varied settings. At the end of the five days we were certified to train new laughter yoga leaders.

and not, say,  “Happy Day?”

There is something called Science of Happiness. People want to understand what is necessary to have more of this elusive thing.

Components of happiness include gratitude, altruism, and connections with other humans. Laughter yoga helps provide the connectivity and gratitude. Connections with other humans are a form of altruism.

The founder of Laughter Yoga, Dr. Madan Kataria would like to accomplish World Peace through Laughter. People cannot be angry and laugh simultaneously.

My goal is to see Laughter Yoga accepted as a legitimate form of yoga offered in Yoga Studios alongside with other more traditional forms of yoga. I see that as a way to spread its benefits more quickly and have people allow for playfulness on a daily basis. Laugther Yoga encourages people to experience their own openness and vulnerability in a safe forum. That is a gift for it to be something accessible and not frightening.

If you are in the Berkshires/Columbia County area this weekend, join us at the Art Annex Sunday July 16th, at 11am, for some pranayama (breathing), stretching and Hasya yoga, aka Laughter yoga.

Tonight’s Wednesday laughter Club had a fantastic turnout-a mix of new people, experienced people and old-timers. Believe it or not, I don’t always feel like laughing. It’s like not wanting to go to the gym. You don’t feel like going and you know how great you will feel if you manage to get there in spite of not wanting to.

I am reminded of a YouTube video of Dr. Kataria. He is looking into a bathroom mirror and speaking. He says, ” I really don’t feel like laughing. But I have to- I created laughter yoga, and this is what we do.” He looks in the mirror and says, “Ha.”[Pause] Ha Ha.” This cracks me up. Tonight, after a long weekend and torpid return to work, i lacked the energy for Laughter Yoga. This is when one really needs it!

What a surprise! About 6 people from Beth Bongar’s “Breath of Ha” workshop at the JCC joined our class. They had enjoyed her workshop and were happy to learn a weekly laughter club in Manhattan was available! An older gentleman joined us, who has been in laughter yoga classes since Vishwa Prakash started them in his textile studio many years ago. This gentleman was a trained laughter yoga leader. The dynamics of laughter include connections people make with each other. New people stimulate different energies and the connections are kinetic!! Through this electricity, people gain new insights into their own selves, even in the stillness that comes between laughs. The group lasted close to an hour and a half- more than usual. There is a sense of friendly intimacy through innocent playfulness. People come willing to risk and be open and see what happens. They set aside their judgements, or experience and meet their judgements and look at them from a new vantage point. People leave just a little lighter and a little different than when they came in. My stomach hurt from laughing so hard. We practiced some lovingkindness meditations for people in our lives. I want to thank everyone who joined in tonight.

As you practice laughter yoga over time, your threshold for laughter becomes lower. Laughter allows one to be able to lighten one’s mood in the face of challenges. This allows a space to detach from pressing problems; to stand back and gain perspective. It is called “de-identifying:” You are not angry- You are having a feeling called anger and you are also an awareness seeing that you have anger. This perspective allows internal space, distance and objectivity so you can weigh in before you act from anger, (or whatever the feeling is at that moment,)  To think, this comes from laughter!  How remarkable!

I returned to Gould Farm today for a laughter yoga session with residents and staff. The session was marked by hilarity, real and intentional.  All but one of today’s group had laughed with me before last month. The group remembered some of the exercises and seemed to like the familiarity with what was coming.

The new person noticed that during some of the laughter, he felt close to tears. That can be a byproduct of laughter yoga: by “un-numbing” ourselves and getting close to our feelings, we open ourselves up to other feelings inside of us. Deep breathing (pranyana) helps us calm ourselves. When we realize we can live with all of these feelings, there is an ownership, joy and new feelings of presence that arise.

There is a standard exercise in our Wednesday night group: “milking the cow.” We started to do it. The Gould Farm has actual cows, and members of the group were experienced milkers! I learned that nowadays, people put a contraption onto the cow that milks it for you! I don’t know if we can continue to do our Wednesday night milking the cow as we’ve been doing it.

The last time we were together, the group was more than twice as large as today. Some participants felt freer to laugh today in the more intimate group, while others thought the larger group was more conducive to laughing. We set another tentative date for Sunday May 28th, during the Memorial Day weekend.

There was a vase with beautiful forsythias and pink blossoms of some kind. I admired their beauty. As a gift, one of the residents brought me a vase from her room, so i could collect some forsythia and bring them home with me. I felt honored and touched by her generosity.