Class Clown

If you can't remember the last time you and your students shared a good laugh, humor may be the next step to your best class ever.

By Melissa Garvey

Play with Your Class

Kelly McGonigal, PhD, yoga instructor, and research psychologist at Stanford University, takes an alternative approach to inviting laughter into class. She prefers to play games.

For example, as students are filing into class, she'll ask them to divulge their favorite and least favorite poses and then choreograph them into a class.

McGonigal explains, "It's typically a very fun and playful class, because we get to face aversion, avoidance, and ego all together, out in the open, and consciously try to experience the poses in a different, heart-opening, and mind-opening way."

Laugh for No Reason

If telling jokes and playing games isn't your style, Dr. Kataria may be the laughter guru for you.

"Anyone can laugh for no reason at all," he says. "You can laugh even if you don't have a sense of humor [and] even if you're not happy."

After one hour of grounded asana practice, Dr. Kataria has his students fake it by contracting the abdominals and generating a hearty laugh through the diaphragm. "Whether you laugh for real or laugh for pretend, your body doesn't know the difference," he says.

He reserves his ten-minute laughter sessions for the end of class to energize his students and send them into the world with a renewed sense of joy.

Toys for Teachers

Ready to boost the laugh factor of your class routine? Play around with these tips.

• Act like a kid. "Take a kids' yoga teacher training, or try to observe some kids' yoga classes," suggests McGonigal.
• Get creative. Yoshida likes to make up poses or change the names of familiar asanas. One of her favorites is "Dying Roach" pose. Students lie on their backs, hands and legs in the air, and then shake their limbs while they laugh at themselves.
• Embrace awkwardness. "If you get an interesting idea for a game or a playful class and you're tempted to reject it because it seems weird or silly, pause and ask yourself, 'Why not?'" says McGonigal.
• Breathe. Let laughter replace the pranayama portion of class. It has all the benefits of yogic breathing, says Dr. Kataria, and it's fun!
• Maintain control. Humor should be used to quiet the mind and encourage presence. Socialization is a sign of distraction, warns Milgrom. If giggles get out of control, Yoshida recommends moving to another pose or changing the subject.
• Be yourself. You don't have to be a comedian to get your students to lighten up. Milgrom advises, "Simply connect to your heart with a smile while you teach and take yourself less seriously."

Melissa Garvey is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. You can read more of her thoughts on yoga and daily life at YogaPulse .

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