Laugh yourself happy

One of my new year’s resolutions is to have a positive attitude. About everything. I’m trying to be mindful about it, but was worried if it would be possible to maintain. I mean, i’m on day 4 and it is going well, but really, nothing bad has had time to happen yet.

And then I stumbled upon the golden ticket.

Laughter.

Or, to be particular, laugh yoga.

How silly! You might say. Yes, yes it is. Which is exactly the point and which is why it is so successful. The more you laugh, the more endorphins released into your blood stream. Your threshold for laughter decreases. Things become funnier, and life, simply rosier because now you can laugh about it.

I read about laugh yoga in Time Out New York, and of course wanted to try it out. An hour laughing with strangers? Sign me up! I convinced my dear friend Sindri to come with me (she needed to get over the sad day she had thinking about her boyfriend being buried in a mudslide in Brazil. He wasn’t, no where near it, but she let her imagination run off on that sad thought). So we made our way to a business building in midtown, and took an elevator down to a chiropractics office. There we sat and waited, along with a few others who were venturing out for this adventure for the first time, including a couple from London traveling the world. Hesitant, but also excited.

The doctor came in, with a big, bright smile on his face. I’m pretty sure all the laughing he does as a laugh leader is slowly turning him into an elf. We circled up, and were instructed to indroduce ourselves, as usual in most meeting. What was unusual, was the laughter following each introduction. “Hi, I’m Peter, and I’m a taxi cab driver.” Bahahahahaha! The room exploded. “I’m Mary, and I’m an actress.” Hysteria again. “I’m Richie and I’m a tourist.” “I’m Holly and I’m his girlfriend.” At this point, people are buckled over, wiping tears from their eyes. Including me, because, you see, there rule in laugh yoga is that you fake it until you make it. So, what started as a fake, over the top HAHAHA turned into a serious case of the giggles.

Throughout the hour of the most pleasant yoga I’ve ever done, we did laughing exercises- saying sorry while holding your ears out like a monkey (FYI, i’m never apologizing any other way again), an exaggerated laugh building from a small ha to a GWHAHAHAHA! How you would laugh off an embarrassing situation, or laughingly scold a naughty child. My favorite I think was the see who can hold in the laugh the longest game, because NO ONE could hold it in, and then we spent the next several minutes in belly-ache inducing laughter and tears.

There is a whole Laugh Yoga movement, with 7000 groups worldwide. In 2000, 10,000 people gathered together in Copenhagen to laugh for peace. It is really a peace movement because, as our teacher explained it to us, how can you shoot a gun if you are laughing?

I’m sold. I think I’ve found my therapy for the year. And if you are having a bad day, don’t be surprised if I mischievously suggest that we head over to a secret location one Monday night to cheer you up. Laughter is the best medicine and I’m ready for my spoonful.

Go ahead, laugh at me. It’ll do you some good.