Can fitness ever be fun? We sign up for a laughter yoga class to find out
We’re holding hands in a circle with ten strangers, taking turns contorting ourselves to crawl through a hula hoop then passing it to the next person without breaking the circle.
It might sound odd, but it’s one of many bizarre tasks in a new laughter yoga class at La Rosy Beauty Spa & Fitness Centre in Al Khalidiya.
Though yoga is over 5,000 years old, laughter yoga is a newer discipline. An Indian physician Madan Kataria started it in the 1990s after moving from a village to Mumbai and finding residents too serious. You can now try it in 65 countries.
The concept is simple: laugh your head off – and get fit in the process.
Scientists believe that laughter, even forced laughter, provides the brain with oxygen and produces endorphins – natural chemicals that make you happy. This relieves stress and boosts the immune system. So it seems laughter really is the best medicine.
Kathryn Armstrong is a certified laughter yoga instructor in Abu Dhabi.
Growing tired of other group-style classes that were too tough on her body, Kathryn participated in a laughter yoga class with her two daughters in the UK in 2014. She says, “I was hooked. In ordinary exercise classes people are only concerned about themselves and their bodies. But in laughter yoga participants interact with each other.”
On our visit, we join a dozen women of every shape, size and age standing nervously waiting for the class to start.
Kathryn puts us at ease, greeting us with high fives and hugs.
She starts by creating comical scenes for us to act out, which we begin with a low, forced laugh. First we imagine blowing a bubble with laughter, next we’re drinking pretend giggle juice. Before long, we’re doing the conga, laughing our head off.
Eye contact is encouraged, because, we find, when you’re looking at someone giggling straight in the eye, you can’t help but giggle back.
Soon our chuckles turn into roars of laughter and the noise level reaches a frenzied pitch.
Our favourite activity is a pretend phone call, which sees us mimicking answering a phone then giggling as if the caller on the other end is hilarious.
Sound ridiculous? That’s because it is. We look ridiculous, we feel ridiculous, we are ridiculous – but that’s why it’s fun.
The class makes you step outside your comfort zone and by the end of it we feel rejuvenated, relaxed and stress-free. Only our cheeks hurt from over-use.
Like us, Susan Simmons is a fellow first-time participant. She says, “At first I was nervous laughing in a room full of strangers. But the laughter is extremely contagious so my barriers came down quickly. By the end I felt as if I’d made a group of new friends.
Laughter yoga makes exercise fun. And when you laugh, the world laughs with you.
AED 50 at La Rosy Beauty Spa & Fitness Centre, Al Khalidiya. AED 30 at Susan Young Beauty Centre, Al Bateen. The schedule varies each week. Contact: 050 739 5592 or search for laughter yoga with Kathryn on Facebook.
Hi
I want to know about the location of each venue and the schedule pls