If one of your New Year's resolutions for 2020 was to elevate your mental health wellness, this mid-week mindfulness activity by downtown's Bloom might be just what the doctor ordered.
The hypnotherapy and coaching practice is offering free laughter yoga sessions every third Wednesday of the month.
If you're not familiar, as the name implies, the yoga sessions involve movements intended to make participants laugh — real or fake laughter. The practice was popularized by Indian doctor Madan Kataria in 1995. (In 2010, The New Yorker ran this feature on Kataria, calling him "the laughing guru.")
"The practice stems from the idea that the body has no idea whether or not it is faking laughter. The session occurs without any true reason to laugh, pushing the attendee to find it in themselves to evoke joy," a press release from Bloom explains. “Laughter creates a higher state of gratitude and gratitude leads to a deeper state of peace.”
The sessions will be led by Rose Meenach, Cincinnati-based hypnotherapist and founder of Bloom. Guests can expect breathing exercises, acting and visualization techniques and "a push towards experiencing play."
The series kicks off Jan. 15 and yoga sessions run from 5-6 p.m. at Bloom, located at downtown co-working office space 1628 Ltd., at 11 Garfield Place.
