Laughter Yoga: Get The Joke At Laughter Hour

“Laughter Hours,” a Laughter Yoga program, has been meeting every month at The Meadows in North Smithfield, and certified laughter yoga instructor Mary McDonald hopes to bring a little mirth to Woonsocket.

Unlike conventional yoga programs, no mats or active-wear are necessary for the free program. Difficult exercises and strenuous poses are also absent from Laughter Yoga sessions. Participants are encouraged to bring their own water bottles, as sustained laughter, and the exercise designed to elicit that laughter, is as good as light aerobic exercise.

Sessions begin with introductions and silliness: Participants take turns sharing their names and each an outrageous claim, such as having swum the English Channel naked, being a Playboy Bunny, to being a mother of twenty children. The guidelines are read, including such rules as No Pain, No Strain; Move Randomly; Faking is Fine; and Stay in Your Right Brain.

After the introductions and guidelines, participants are compelled from the circle of seats and into the center where they march around in loose, ridiculous poses. They pretend to be sumo wrestlers; pretend to paint or stick Post-It notes to each other; open, spill, and devour invisible bottles of invisible “laughter pills.” Perhaps the most useful visualization practiced was one in which participants marched around the community room sending text messages on imaginary cell phones.

There are frequent cool-downs and breathing exercises, and the session ends with “laughter meditation: Participants lie on their backs on provided blankets, the room darkened, and simply laugh.

"I'd be willing to host another laughter club in Woonsocket if I could find the space for free," explained McDonald. The sessions in North Smithfield, she added, are open to everyone.

Laughter Yoga was developed in 1995, in India. The purpose of Laughter Yoga is to draw on the health benefits of sustained laughter: reduced blood pressure and stress; weight loss; relief of asthma symptoms; relief of chronic pain. More than six thousand laughter clubs exist in sixty-five countries around the world. McDonald became a certified laughter yoga instructor in 2010 and started Laughter Hours, in May 2011.

“Laughter Hours” was attended by just over a dozen northern Rhode Islanders, including one resident of The Meadows and a trio of new mothers from the Cumberland Moms Club. Another Laughter Yoga group meets every other Wednesday morning during July and August at Souter’s Hall in Slatersville. The only other Laughter Yoga group in Rhode Island meets in Providence.

Laughter Hours meets on the third Tuesday of every month in the community room at The Meadows, 2 Village Way, North Smithfield. For more information, visit www.laughterhours.com.