Monday, September 8, 2008

Laughter yoga

I woke up in an anxious mood this morning. It was a challenge to get out of bed even though I had a lot to do. Maybe you've been in the place where what you think of when you awake are things like, " Are the people I work with really getting help? Do I know what I'm doing? Is my body really falling apart or is my neck pain just from sleeping on it wierd?" Then in the shower I couldn't remember whether I had already put conditioner on my hair or not. It felt a little slippery so I decided I must have. Then I started to wonder whether my mind was going too.
I actually got a lot accomplished this morning but I didn't feel like I did. Although I often can laugh at myself when things aren't going well, I wasn't laughing.
I left to go to Laughter Yoga and was so preoccupied I missed the turn. When I got there I felt self-conscious interacting with the people there even though I know and like many of them.
Half way through the hour of laughter yoga, a combination of clapping stretching and silly laughter yoga exercises in which you laugh for no reason, I was aware that I was having so much fun. I remembered how awful I had felt when I got there. Meredith Vaughn was leading the group today. She and her husband Davey brought laughter yoga to Denver two and a half years ago after attending a training with Dr. Madam Kataria, the Indian family physician who founded it. Meredith was in her best form. Everyone was loose and silly. Even the people who were there for the first time seemed relaxed and comfortable. There is something so healing about being a complete idiot in an accepting space where other people are doing the same thing. In the beginning when nothing felt funny, I could fake laughter and soon I was really laughing. I really do think laugher is the best medicine. The tone was very playful and Meredith was supporting all of us in having fun by doing it herself. It seemed as if all of us had let go of trying to do it right and were just there yukking it up together. Maybe that is part of it. Being present and doing the exercises, the little voice whispering my inadequacies that I woke up listening to, wasn't around. It's hard to laugh and be self-critical at the same time. Maybe that's the true beauty of Laughter Yoga. It is an opportunity to set all the serious stuff aside and just be there and laugh. It is such a gift to give ourselves. A time to let go of pretending we have to have a stick up our butts and be someone we are not. Laughing is so much easier in a group when others are laughing too.
Go to www.denverlaughs.com to find groups in the area and the next laughter yoga leader training November 8th and9th. There have now been 600,000 laughter yoga participants world wide.
I want to remember to laugh even when I am by myself. I am laughing now. Once I get jumpstarted by laughter yoga, it is easier to laugh by myself and at myself, for that matter. Try an experiment. Think of something that is bothering you right now. Maybe something of medium size, not the biggest thing that is bothering you. Then have yourself a private little chuckle or a little grin or a big guffaw.
What a blog hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...

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