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Yoga Week 4

This week I practiced laughter yoga followed by meditation. The laughter yoga video was instructed by Bianca Spears, unlike the typical mellow yoga teacher she was very cheerful and excited. She led the class very well and made the laughing for 20 minutes enjoyable. We also clapped because it served as pressure points and took deep breaths. It is said there are many benefits to laughter yoga which is why I wanted to try it after a very complicated week. It did make me laugh because I felt silly doing it. 


I also tried meditation for the first time in over six months. The guide was named Sara Raymond. She was very calm and had a soothing voice. The meditation was mainly for mindfulness and being present. This was a very big change of scene from the fu laughter yoga to a very relaxing and calm meditation. I did enjoy the contrast and felt the benefits of both. As we discussed in class, everything the instructors were saying could not be true, but the power of the mind made me believe I did feel everything they said. For example, I could not literally feel the tension melt from my body but I imagined it and felt as if my problems really were gone. 


Yoga is practiced as a ritual because especially in the east it is seen as a religion. There are a series of poses one goes through to become more enlightened. Many people also perform yoga on a daily or weekly basis and this makes their practice much more advanced. Now that  I have been doing yoga for a few weeks I feel as if it is a ritual for me and it gets more intense each week since I am taking longer classes and learning of different types of yoga. I am not sure if I have felt any enlightenment, but I definitely have felt more positivity and calmness within myself and the people around me.


Laughter Yoga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVkG3L79sL4

Meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2zdUXve6fQ 

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