Saturday, October 15, 2011

Laughter sets you Free

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to be free.”

Sometimes I feel like the Statue of Liberty. As a Laughter Yoga Leader, I say a prayer before every laughter session and sometimes it sounds just like that. “Let them come. Whoever needs to be here, whoever needs more laughter in their life right now.”

And I have had all kinds of people come.

A laughter club member once told me he laughs to relieve sadness. It’s true. And I’ve seen it with those who’ve been through the worst in life. They can laugh the best. They need the healing. Instinctively they know that laughter can bring them back.

I recall one young woman who came with her mother. If I had to give her a label, it might be autistic. But I hate labels because we are all so much more than that.

This woman paced the empty corners of the room before we began. She never made eye contact with me or anyone else. She never spoke and seemed very uncomfortable in general. Yet she appeared to be there of her own choice.

And laugh she did. Not overly boisterous by any means, but she laughed. It seemed like an unused muscle. I noticed some people looking at her making mental note of her uniqueness.

But when we did The Wave Laugh (we pass a laugh around a circle like “the wave”), she emerged out of her shell. She got more and more playful, spontaneous and adventurous. Far more than the rest of us. I loved it!

I love when the laughter club can include everyone. The diversity of humanity all bonding together.

Photo: Wikimedia

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