• On the occasion of World Laughter Day, this Sunday, May 7, 20 Minutes (or rather one of its Health journalists) decided to participate in a laughter yoga session in Paris.
  • On the program to start: twenty minutes of continuous laughter.
  • "We call them laughter exercises for no reason," explains Fanny Pioffret, the teacher. At first, you can force yourself by making gestures that promote letting go, until it becomes natural. »

Lock yourself in a room for an hour with only one mission in mind: laugh. I discovered this concept, called rigology, in one of Squeezie's videos entitled "Who is the imposter?". And I wondered who could do such an activity. The idea seemed incongruous, not to say embarrassing. But because you don't have to die stupid (and I never miss an opportunity to strengthen my zygomatics), I took advantage of the arrival of World Laughter Day, this Sunday, May 7, to participate in a laughter yoga session.

If between noon and two, some sit on the terrace with colleagues or decide to go to the gym to push cast iron, they find themselves close to the Opera Garnier, in Paris, to split the pear. Among the seven participants of the day, Fanny Pioffret, the teacher. Red hair, short cut and laughing blue eyes, the forty-year-old spent twelve years in marketing before converting into shiatsu, sophrology and... The yoga of laughter. "It's yoga, but without a yoga pose," she begins by explaining. And I must admit that it suits me well...

Laughter exercises for no reason

On the program, to start: twenty minutes of continuous laughter. Even though I'm naturally jovial, my last memory of sluggishness lasting so long was a chemistry class in fifth grade, with my girlfriend Jennifer, which earned us an hour of glue. The programme therefore seems to me to be slightly ambitious. "We call them laughter exercises for no reason," Fanny continues. At first, you can force yourself by making gestures that promote letting go, until it becomes natural. Only one prohibition: do not mock. "Don't judge yourself. Not yourself, not the others." Second instruction: look into your eyes. We start gently with a muscle warm-up, starting with the jaw. Alternating duckface and mouth wide open, I try not to think about the head I send back to others. Because in my opinion, there is something to laugh about (yes, that's the goal, but we said that here, we do not laugh).



Second step, therefore, after the warm-ups: the famous exercises of laughter for no reason. To make the training more fun, Fanny immerses her students in different atmospheres every week. Today, it's western. With my sneakers and baggy pants, I try to slip into the skin of a cowgirl. First exercise: talk to my companions of fortune in an incomprehensible language. I'm going for it. If the first seconds (or even minutes) are tinged with fear of ridicule, I quickly get caught up in the game. Quickly, laughter erupts. Seeing all these people laughing while looking you straight in the eye can be unsettling. I also learned that this type of yoga was not recommended for people suffering from paranoia attacks. We must detach ourselves from the idea that everyone is happily laughing at us. Because here, people curl up for one thing: the pleasure of laughter.

Admittedly, the kindness of my classmates of the day helps me feel safe. The exercises scroll. I have to pretend to catch a bull with my lasso and then 1,2,3... I must be laughing. We then close our eyes, separating into two groups. One imitates the cries of cows, the other of goats. We must then regroup without opening any eyelids. I feel like I'm going back to kindergarten, but in a good way.

Laughing gas... without laughing gas

For now, although I sometimes sketch a slight sneer, I force myself to snicker. Despite this, after ten minutes I already start to feel my abs (which are not often stimulated). And I understand the usefulness of warming up the jaw. I come to wonder if I laugh often enough on a daily basis to be in pain in such a short time. And it is after these ten minutes of exercise, the moment I put my hands on the shoulders of Marie-Hélène, a young retiree with a chestnut square and chic clothes, who happily imitates a horse (like me thirty seconds earlier), that I let my guard down and laugh for good. The situation seems so absurd to me that I can only let go. And it feels good.

Usually, my way of laughing is described as not very discreet (or even frankly noisy). Here I am here in my element. Hervé laughed loudly. Fanny does it very frankly, nodding her shoulders. It looks like a cartoon character. When I see all seven of us, laughing, running around, I have the impression that we have just taken nitrous oxide. Except that unlike laughing gas, laughter has no harmful effect.

Reduce stress, bond and relieve pain

"The benefits of laughter are many. It releases endorphins, relieves pain, improves sleep, reduces stress, creates bonds with others and boosts self-confidence," promises Fanny Pioffret. And it is not his students who will say otherwise. Mathilde tells me that, during the lockdown, she needed to cheer herself up. In search of a moment of joy, she types "funny videos" on Google and comes across a laughter yoga session. "I first asked myself, 'What is this thing?' ». But very quickly, she catches the virus. She has been coming every Wednesday for the past two years. "I think it's great to see people laughing. It feels so good. Marie-Hélène abounds. "Why should laughter only be reserved for children?"

It's time for the third part: laughter meditation. Everyone takes a mat, a towel or a large pareo and lies on the floor, to let go. And to let myself go, I let myself go. I can't stop laughing. As soon as I try to take my breath, I hear Fanny's chuckle on the left... and it starts again. The impression of being 10 years old, of participating in a pajama party where you should not make noise because the parents sleep next door. Except that there, we have the right to puff. That's even the goal. So I remove my hand in front of my mouth and there... That's the drama. I let out my most frank laugh: that of the pig. Because this delicate noise is a real truth serum, we can say that I had a good time.

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