Quite a few people have asked me about what it's been like to laugh in Lee Park every morning.
First, the challenging moments. Have you ever noticed when you verbalize an experience, it becomes much more present, therefore seems more "real," than if you had kept it to yourself? My personal experiences of how laughter affects my emotions has become much more present as I share. I suppose that's a good thing.
Laughter, like love (a wise friend tells me regularly), brings to the surface all that is unlike itself. The reason it surfaces? To be cleared and healed.
About the really fun, light-hearted parts - we've had visitors almost every day. The diversity is great! Two teenagers, one sharply dressed business man, a homeless man, and a young African-American woman. Because laughter yoga is accessible and a universal language, all of these folks seemed to enjoy the session and said they'd come back.
When we laugh more, our inhibitions drop. We tend to become more creative. Jon and I have enjoyed inventing quite a few new laughter games.
We've decided to change our meeting time to 5:00 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. in order to include a larger population. There simply aren't many folks in Lee Park at 8 a.m. As always, we would love to have you join us!
I find myself laughing more and harder/louder than usual. I must watch my laughter volume in quiet, serious places. Maybe I shouldn't.
I think the Ageless Senior Center Laughter Club felt the difference in my energy for laughter yoga Sunday. Leading was... easier, louder and more fun (for me).
I struggled to laugh just with Jon at first. Now I don't mind if no one shows up but the trees. In fact, I'm starting to really live it up and use my ever-expanding lung capacity as incognito training for the 4-miler.
Fake laughter works. I fake laughed through an entire 45-minute session one morning and felt so much better as I walked back to the car. It is indeed true that our brains don't know the difference between fake and "belly" laughter. We get the same benefit.
Kundalini Yoga, my favorite yoga style other than laughter yoga, suggests it takes 40 days of practicing the same exercise or habit to change another habit. It takes 90 days to undo subconscious patterns. We are commited to laugh in Lee Park for at least 90 days. I already perceive changes to my levels of stress (they're consistently lower and less easily spiked). I wonder what 90 days of laughter will bring?
laughlovepeace,
Leigh
