The summer holiday season is behind us and we’re heading into February. I’m setting out to make it feel-good February by spreading word about Laughter Yoga.
Of course, laughter does make us feel good, right?
Perhaps you enjoyed plenty of laughs with friends over the festive season or had time to binge a fav comedy series, chortling all the way. or went down the rabbit hole of funny memes on socials…
What about laughing without any of that, without comedy or jokes, simply when we want to, as a physical practice? Even when not in the mood… That’s Laughter Yoga. Engaging our ‘laughter muscles’, moving playfully, clapping, breathing deep and letting that belly laugh out – over and over again.
Laughter Yoga, devised by a physician in India and his yogi wife 30 year ago this year, is so much more than just a laugh and a bit of fun.
When we laugh heartily for some minutes at a time—10 to 15 minutes of laughter—there’s physiological change.
You do feel good after just one session of laughter yoga but as with any exercise, any yoga, the real benefits and learnings come with repeated practice.
Quite apart from the physical benefits, Laughter Yoga encourages kindness and gratitude and compassion.
Laughter Yoga helps us connect with our inner self and with others. In terms of social connection, I call it ‘speed friending’.
It helps us learn to reset when life throws challenges, and deal with those curveballs a little better. Shift happens. Our stress hormones get wound back, our body starts to relax, our worries and cares are put on hold – like a mini vacation – and when we’re finished, we’ve given space to that which niggled before and can reassess from a perspective of “is this going to be important in 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days, 5 months’ time?”
How to apply Laughter Yoga for Feel Good February
So here we are on the brink of a new month. Let’s make it Feel Good February. Are you ready to try Laughter Yoga to feel good? You can get along to a laughter club – what we call in-person hubs of joyful practice are run by volunteers in their neighbourhoods. You’ll find a list of those in Queensland here along with online options.
You can laugh alone. Try a laughie: a 60 second video recording of yourself, laughing, on your phone, and replay it a couple of times a day. You’ll find yourself laughing along and maybe, as the research shows, feeling better with it.
You could even try these laughter exercises on your own too.
May your February feel very good very good YAY!!!
HeatherJoy Campbell is a laughter yoga teacher/trainer who runs two laughter clubs in her part of the world, southeast Queensland’s Moreton Bay, and delivers stress-busting and teambuilding workshops using the platform of laughter yoga and principles of the science of happiness, on demand.