(Kelsey Ogletree/ Shape Magazine) — If you’ve seen any of the TikTok videos that feature someone laughing almost maniacally, you may have wondered what this silliness was all about — but then found yourself smiling or laughing right along with them. Laughter yoga, as the practice is coined, goes to show that laughter is indeed contagious. But what is it, really, and how does laughter yoga actually work?
“I like to describe laughter yoga as heavy on the laughter, light on the yoga,” explains Sarah Routman, a Minneapolis-based certified laughter yoga leader who runs a company called Laugh Healthy.
A better way to explain the concept of laughter yoga might be to say that it’s the act of engaging in deliberate, playful laughter, which sounds delightfully easy to try. “It’s learning how to laugh on purpose and recognizing that your body doesn’t know the difference between laughing on purpose and waiting on another reason to laugh,” says Routman. (…)