What Happens in a Laughter Yoga Workshop?

Here is an outline of what typically happens during a laughter yoga workshop:

Introduction

You will be given an introduction into laughter yoga. This will include information about what laughter yoga is and the benefits of laughter and deep breathing exercises for holistic health and wellbeing. You will receive key information to help you to achieve the benefits of laughter during the session, as well as some tools that you can use in your daily life for enhanced health and happiness.

Warm-Up Exercises

You will be guided through some warm-up exercises to prepare the body for laughter.

Laughter Workout

The laughter yoga workout will alternate between laughter exercises, rhythmic clapping and deep breathing exercises.

Laughter Exercises

Laughter exercises are often playful and many incorporate acting techniques to act out a scenario. They are designed to simulate laughter, but with eye contact, group dynamics and the contagious nature of laughter, real, hearty laughter begins to flow from the body.

Rhythmic Clapping

In laughter yoga, we clap with the hands parallel for full palm-to-palm, finger-to-finger contact. This stimulates the acupressure points in the hands and energises us.

The chant HO, HO, HA, HA, HA is added to the clapping pattern. These sounds stimulate the movement of the diaphragm, a key muscle involved in laughing and in yoga breathing. When movement is also added, positive energy builds and joyful feelings emerge.

Deep Breathing Exercises

Deep breathing exercises bring relaxation to the mind and body. One key feature of yoga breathing is that exhalation is longer than inhalation, in order to activate the calming branch of the autonomic nervous system, known as the parasympathetic nervous system. One of the easiest, and certainly the most fun way to exhale for longer, is to laugh.

Laughter Meditation

Most laughter yoga sessions of 45 minutes and longer will involve a laughter meditation. A laughter meditation is more about spontaneous laughter and a deeper level of laughter is often experienced, during this stage. This is a powerful opportunity to release a whole range of repressed emotions from the body and can bring about a healthy, emotional catharsis.

Grounding Exercise

Energy can reach high levels during laughter yoga, so the workshop will involve a grounding exercise, such as a guided relaxation, to ground the energy of laughter and stabilise the body systems. This is where the real benefits of laughter yoga can be felt. People commonly report that they feel relaxed, yet energised and positive at the end of a laughter yoga workshop.

Laugh and Live Well offers tailored laughter yoga workshops throughout Sydney and NSW. Contact us to discuss how we can tailor a workshop for your organisation.

“We don’t laugh because we’re happy, we’re happy because we laugh.’’ – William James