We work in laughter.

We give that gift to everyone else.

How much do we give it to ourselves?

How have you found laughter and joy for yourself this last year?

I was terrified I’d turn into a marshmallow if I didn’t make a plan as soon as lockdown hit, which is how I come to be saying that I’ve been facilitating online laughter yoga for the last year. The offering was a gift to others, but being someone who does things when I’ve made myself accountable, I knew it was the only way I’d prioritise it for myself.

Though I trained in laughter yoga 10 years ago, I didn’t actually start facilitating it in earnest until the lockdown hit last year. I had always weaved it into my other work, but with all my work GONE, I thought I’d give it a go.

I can honestly say it has had a profound impact on me.

Waking up every weekday morning, looking for something to laugh about (especially on days where the world looks bleak personally or globally) has been a wonderful challenge for me that I’m hugely grateful for.

This year I’ve been “practising” laughter yoga. You know how we speak about yoga as a practice? It’s the same. Showing up day in, day out. Doing the laughter yoga “on the mat”, and watching the impact on my life “off the mat” throughout the rest of the day.

In laughter yoga, you don’t always laugh for real, not at first, anyway. Your body doesn’t know the difference, so it doesn’t matter, but little by little, the more I have practised, the more I notice real laughter, joy, delight in life bubble out of me.

I celebrate small victories and my creative brain has expanded. I’m more productive (as long as I harness the energy right!).

When we laugh, we breathe more deeply, we connect to ourselves and each other.

Other people who’ve joined me have described that they now breathe more fully than before, that they feel more confident, more resilient, more playful, more open-hearted, kinder, more creative.

I’ve no idea if it can help you, because it seems to impact us all in different ways, but this coming Friday, we’re going to take a little moment to invite the part of us that is very easily pleased by very simple silly things out to play, and see how it goes.

People think it’s all a bit “wacky”.

You are welcome to this opinion. It might feel like it at first, but actually, it’s incredibly serious.

Our lives have been so limited over this last year and we don’t really know when it’s going to end. This, for me is a safe way to still travel, have adventure, be challenged, play.

It’s likely we will edge out of the comfort zone, but we’re going to take it nice and gently.

There’ll be some laughter exercises, some writing, some checking-in, some celebrating.

I hope you can join me for what is going to be a really special hour.

And if you can’t join this session, you’re welcome to join me on weekday mornings.

There’s more info on my website: www.everybodylaughtogether.com