Free Laughter Yoga Club Join us before Beginner's Yoga Mondays 6:10-6:25pm (Sept-May)
What is Laughter Yoga? 1. Laughter Yoga is not comedy; it is an exercise program. It is a unique concept where anyone can learn to laugh without relying on humor, jokes, or comedy. 2. We initiate laughter as an exercise in a group setting. Through eye contact and childlike playfulness, it quickly transforms into genuine and contagious laughter. 3. The reason we call it Laughter Yoga is that it combines laughter exercises with deep breathing. This brings more oxygen to the body and the brain, which makes one feel more energetic and healthier. 4. Scientific studies show that the body cannot differentiate between real laughterand voluntary laughter. One gets the same health benefits whether laughter is real or simulated. 5. Laughter Yoga was founded by Dr. Madan Kataria, a medical doctor from India with five individuals in a Mumbai park in 1995. Today, there are thousands of free laughter clubs in over 100 countries. In addition to social laughter clubs, laughter yoga is also practiced in senior centers, companies and corporations, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, yoga studios, organizations for physically and mentally challenged individuals, police departments, prisons, and many other venues.
Why practice Laughter Yoga? Many people ask why they should force themselves to laugh and what’s wrong with laughter occurring naturally and spontaneously through watching funny movies, jokes, and comedies. Here are three basic reasons why one must practice Laughter Yoga to gain maximum health benefits: 1. Sustained Laughter: In order to obtain scientifically proven health benefits of laughter, we need to laugh for at least 10 to 15 minutes continuously with some deep breathing in between. As natural laughter typically lasts for only 3-4seconds at a time, it is not sufficient to bring about physiological and psychological changes in our body. Since in Laughter Yoga, laughter is practiced as an exercise, we can prolong our laughter for as long as we want. 2. Hearty Laughter: To reap the health benefits of laughter, it has to be hearty and deep laughter coming from your belly. While it might not be socially acceptable to laugh loudly, Laughter Yoga sessions provide a safe environment where one can laugh heartily without any social implications. 3. Unconditional Laughter: Natural laughter that occurs in our daily lives depends on many reasons and conditions, but the fact is that there are not many circumstances that make us laugh. This means we often leave laughter to chance; it may happen, or it may not. In Laughter Yoga, we do not leave laughter to chance, but we practice it with commitment. This is a guaranteed way of obtaining the health benefits of laughter.
Benefits of Laughter Yoga 1. Elevates Mood-Laughter Yoga can change your mood within minutes by releasing endorphins from your brain cells. This makes you feel good and if you are in a good mood you do everything well. It makes you cheerful all throughout the day. 2. Health Benefits-Laughter Yoga reduces stress and strengthens the immune system. If your immune system is strong you will not fall sick easily and if you have chronic health conditions, it will help to heal faster. 3. Business Benefits-Our brain needs 25 percent more oxygen for optimal functioning. Laughter exercises can increase net supply of oxygen to our body and brain which helps to improve efficiency and performance. You will feel energetic and can work more than you normally do without getting tired. 4. Social Connector-Quality of life depends upon quality of our friends and our relationships. Laughter is a great connector of people and brings lots of good friend with caring and sharing relationship. 5. Laughing through Challenges-Anyone can laugh when times are good, but Laughter Yoga teaches people to laugh unconditionally so that they can laugh even when times are hard. It provides strength in adversity, a coping mechanism to help people keep a positive mental attitude regardless of circumstances.
Restore & Restock A Time to Relax & Donate to the Melrose Area Food Shelf Every 1st Friday 6-7pm Registration Required: 320-290-3312
We care about Melrose and the surrounding communities. We are grateful to offer a free restorative yoga class, with props every 1st Friday of the month. A non-perishable food item, household necessity item or monetary donation to the food shelf is all you need to attend this relaxing hour of restorative yoga. The first Friday of the month at 6p in the Yoga Melrose studio on Main Street Melrose.
DUTCHMIGHT YOGA Yoga for kids 1st Saturday of every month 9-10am
To show we care about the little ones in our community, we offer a free will offer kids class the first Saturday of every month. We love to have parents join us or enjoy some free time while we play and discover yoga. We practice mindful ways to calm our body and play with various poses through song, story and games. As a TCIT (Teacher Child Interaction Training) elementary teacher, I work to strengthen teacher-child relationship skills in a mindful space to grow. We have enjoyed teaching kids throughout our 9 years in Melrose. So many memories!