Laughter Yoga and Compassion

In this video, we’ll combine the heart-opening spirit of loving-kindness with the healing power of laughter. Why? Because laughter is one of the quickest, most natural ways to shift your state of mind and body. It’s a built-in tool we all have — and the best part is, it works whether it’s spontaneous or intentional.

Transcript

In this lesson we're combining loving kindness with one of the fastest ways to shift your mood. Laughter. So here's the thing your body, Your brain doesn't know the difference, Doesn't care if the laughter is real or not. It still triggers those feel-good chemicals. It lightens up the tension and lifts your heart. So you can be faking laughing and it won't know the difference right. So we're going to laugh in three different rounds. First we'll laugh for someone you love. Then we'll laugh for a stranger and finally we'll laugh for yourself. And of course I know you're watching the recording so just follow along right. Just follow along. All right let's do this. Let's do this together. So the first one we'll do is for a loved one. And I invite you to close your eyes and invite you to picture someone that you love dearly. Of course it could be a family member, A friend or even a pet. And see them smiling at you right. See them smiling at you. They're full of joy. They're full of happiness. Now start to laugh for them. Even if it feels silly. Just let the laughter come. Ready? We're going to do it for about 20 seconds. One, Two, Three. Beautiful. Good work. Imagine that your laughter was wrapping them in a beautiful light and you know a beautiful comfortable blanket. All right now we're going to try this again but this time we're going to do it with a stranger. So picture a stranger. Someone that you might have seen walking down the street or something like that. Maybe you saw them at the grocery store. Maybe you saw them at a coffee shop. You don't know them personally but right now they could use a spark of joy. Right? Because I think we could all use that. So see them in your mind's eye and laugh for them. And we'll begin on the count of three. One, Two, Three. Good work. Wonderful. Notice how it feels to send out joy even to someone you don't know. All right. Guess who's next? You are. It's your turn. It's your turn now. So picture yourself in your happiest most carefree state. Laughing. Maybe even being a little goofy or silly. See yourself smiling and joyful and light-hearted. Now and on the count of three we're going to laugh for you. We're going to last laugh for ourselves now. All right. One, Two, Three. All right. Take a nice deep breath and let it go. You deserve this much joy. You deserve just as much joy as anyone else. Notice how you feel right now. Do you feel a little lighter? I know I do. I feel a lot happier. I feel a lot a lot brighter. And that is the magic of laughter and of course of connecting with someone else, Right? Connecting with a little bit of kindness too. And of course, You can tap into that at any time that you need.