Laughter and why we want it in class.
We all know how good it feels to laugh and we have a vague idea that yes, laughing is good for us. However it is not always encouraged in Yoga. In fact in some Yoga classes if is downright forbidden. So why do we encourage laughter in our classes here at Adapted?
Firstly - Yoga is all about connection and we try to not just focus on the individual connection of a single student's mind, breathe and body- we want more!
For us we are here to connect students and communities together (hence why we do so much community work and our pay it forward programme https://www.adaptedyogaandpilates.com/support. What better way to achieve this than lightening the challenge of class by having a bit of a laugh together?
Secondly we use our classes to not only work the musculoskeletal system we are focussed on also bringing balance throughout all of our physical (and emotional and psychological) systems including immune system. Laughter has also been shown to help throughout all of our systems so it makes sense to combine the two!
Laughter reduces pain responses which can help alleviate the perception of challenge in class and helps our students with chronic pain and fatigue conditions.Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner.
With our huge focus on balance (not just the standing on one leg type!) in classes the balancing effects of laughter help us ease our own personal frustration, fear and imbalance. It seems like the ultimate way to increase the effects of Yoga and essentially it just makes a class experience much more fun!
If you are wanting to practice to Yoga more in your everyday life- allowing yourself a moment to laugh may just be the tonic.
