this just plain ol' sounds like fun!

kate

Laughter Yoga Trend No Joke in California; Even Contrived Laughter
Good, Proponents Say
11-30-2006 11:07 AM
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. --  This is no joke: It's a typical day at sunny
Main Beach and a dozen people are wandering around with their hands in
the air, laughing hysterically, squawking like chickens and talking
gibberish.

Now limbered up, they suddenly form a loose circle and begin clapping
and chanting before they resume a group stretch.

This is laughter yoga, a sidesplitting new fitness fad that's part
traditional yoga, part improv and all silliness.

About 60 U.S. instructors who trained in India with the man who
invented the style now instruct thousands of practitioners from
California to Connecticut. About one-third of the known American
laughter yoga clubs are in California, said Sebastien Gendry, founder
of the American School of Laughter Yoga in Pasadena.

Jeffrey Briar, who founded the Laughter Yoga Institute in Laguna Beach
a month ago, said his daily yoga lessons are now such a common sight on
the beach that dog-walkers and joggers no longer stare. Sometimes they
even join in.

Briar has practiced laughter yoga for more than a year and said he has
shared his discovery with more than 4,500 people at the daily beachside
sessions. It doesn't matter if the laughter is forced or fake in the
beginning, he said.

"Most people think they have to feel good first in order to laugh. But
you can start from nothing, you can even start feeling unhappy and just
laugh as a form of exercise, and happy feelings follow," said Briar, a
slight 51-year-old with a perpetual grin, intentionally mismatched
Converse sneakers and piercing blue eyes.

Briar, who also teaches more traditional yoga, said laughter enhances
the breathing exercises that are so important to yoga and creates
social interaction that isn't found in other styles which focus more on
inward concentration.

"If you're laughing with a group of other people, fake laughter very
quickly becomes real," he said. "It's part of the social phenomenon."

Numerous scientific studies have found that daily laughter can help
lift depression, lower blood pressure and boost the immune system, but
yoga and health experts say little has been done to study the combined
effects of chuckles and chakras.

Roger Cole, a San Diego-based certified yoga instructor and Ph.D. in
health psychology, said laughter yoga builds on the idea that certain
poses can combat depression. But he worries about the forced nature of
laughter yoga.

"The idea that putting a posture, as it were, on your face _ a smile _
is an idea that's not foreign to yoga," Cole said. "But the whole
concept seems pretty contrived and uncomfortable. I think it could
work, but there are more tried and true versions out there."

Back at the beach, Briar's daily class looks a lot like a scene from
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Some are bundled in jackets and scarves against the winter chill, and
they begin by warming up with trills and chirps as they stretch their
arms overhead and rotate their hips.

Then it's on to the really serious stuff: a 45-minute series of light
yoga poses interspersed with improv-style exercises that include
telling an imaginary joke in gibberish, opening a phantom "milkshake of
happiness," playing on an imaginary swing set and scurrying around the
beach while flapping and squealing like a seagull.

The class ends with members lying on their backs on the sand, murmuring
in gibberish, chuckling spontaneously and beating their chests and
stomachs. Briar's only rule is they can't use any real words _ only
nonsense _ as they wind down.

Mercedes Cedillo, 45, attended her first laughter yoga class with a
friend this week. At first she was self-conscious as Briar led the
group through childish pantomimes, but that all changed by cool-down
time.

"At the beginning I was like, 'Oh my God. What am I doing? This is very
silly,'" said Cedillo. "But then you get connected to the inner child
and the things that we normally would get stressed about you can laugh
at."

_____

On the Net:

Laughter Yoga Institute at Laguna Beach: http://www.joyfulb.com

Laughter Yoga International: http://www.laughteryoga.org

American School of Laughter Yoga: http://www.laughangeles.com

... Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.

Chief, sounds like the "laughing in the spirit" craze that was around
several years ago in some churches.  Nothing is new under the sun, it would
seem.  Nanny

I love a good laugh and am fortuante to be blessed with an amusing DH (even
if amusement isn't always his intention!  heehee).  Weeks such as this past
one are so frustrating - my costo's been so bad, I can't tolerate laughing.  
It just isn't fair to have laughter restricted!