General info on laughter workshops, plus 'why' and 'what' to expect from a laughter session...

CONFIRMED GENERAL PUBLIC EVENTS 2013:
*Evolution Arts, Brighton, 1/2 day laughter workshops throughout the year. For further information and to book please contact: www.evolutionarts.org.uk Click on Body and Mind and choose Laugh Alive / Tel: 01273 204 204

INDIVIDUAL EVENTS - Corporate events, hen parties and group sessions are constantly being arranged.  Workshops regularly take place in France, Spain, Brighton, London and throughout the UK.  

Please call or email for further information.

People who laugh and people who don’t laugh!   As each event is custom-built the Laughter Gym can cater to most individuals, groups and organisations. 

In conjunction with the breath, laughter is directed and channelled throughout the body in a unique and fun way.  So, if you find it hard to find your smile, let alone break into a full guffaw… the Laughter Gym can ‘introduce’ and ‘induce’ your laughter, igniting the spark and opening the channels to natural, effort-free laughter.  If your life is already full of chuckles and rowdy roars, you can experience and enjoy the added, healthy benefits of awakening and revitalising every part of your body with a new style of laughter! 

Laughter sessions are open to people from all age groups, fitness levels and cultures.  The Laughter Gym is the perfect leveller and bonds groups and individuals from all walks of life.  No experience is necessary but a willingness to smile and have fun is helpful.

Photo Credit: David McHugh – Daily Express

Laugh Alive sessions explore laughter, use laughter as a therapeutic, creative tool and fuse fun with purpose.  Varied workshops usually include a Laughter Gym session (incorporating Laughter Yoga) and can include a diverse selection of exercises, tools and techniques, talks and interactive discussions surrounding laughter, humour and positive intention.  Tools can be given to cope with stress and to focus on self-development and self-discovery. 

The Laughter Gym works without the need for the participants to be entertained, no individual is singled out and it is an interactive group experience.  The Laughter Gym involves stretching, breathing, making eye contact and interacting with others around the room, whilst using specific simulated and stimulated laughter exercises to induce a state of relaxation, spontaneous laughter and a non-strenuous but dynamic workout for the mind, body and soul.  The group may also develop creative laughter techniques and experience a relaxing or energy raising, guided visualisation.  Breathing plays a key roll as we use laughter to break down stress and barriers and the breath to spread laughter throughout the body and to release.

At a Laughter Gym you can laugh your way to health and fitness.  The laughter exercises are quirky, fun and a great stress-buster, stimulating the respiratory, circulatory, digestive and muscular systems.   Participants may experience an aerobic workout from the inside-out and have fun with ‘internal jogging!   One of the most prominent laughter researchers, Dr William Fry, suggests that 100 laughs a day are equivalent to 10 minutes on a rowing machine! 

People are just crying out for laughter!  The serious benefits of laughter are becoming widely known and Laughter Yoga is becoming increasingly popular, helping not only the average individual but people with cancer, diabetes and ME.  Many health practitioners now realise that laughter, joy and happiness play an extremely important therapeutic role.
Oh…!  And did we say it’s great fun!!!!!!!!?

Laughter Yoga isn't postural yoga (although some postures have been developed by laughter leaders) but is mostly a series of exercises or techniques combined with fun and therapeutic laughter, movement and breathing which is experienced in a group. Laughter Yoga derives from pranayama breathing which increases a person’s lung capacity and helps to facilitate and stimulate natural laughter. These techniques coupled with group energy and the breath take laughter, healing and release to all corners of the body, mind and spirit.

Laughter Yoga is constantly evolving with new exercises being created and developed by individual laughter facilitators. Each Laughter Yoga experience is unique too with leaders building in their own distinctive personalities and ideas to their sessions.