Yorkshire


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-lowdown">THE LOWDOWN</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="783" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/HDLY-1-1024x783.jpeg" alt="Muddy tries laughter yoga" class="wp-image-8176" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/HDLY-1-1024x783.jpeg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/HDLY-1-300x229.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/HDLY-1-768x587.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/HDLY-1-1536x1174.jpeg 1536w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/HDLY-1-2048x1566.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pic: Lucy Hanson</figcaption></figure>



<p>It’s a beautiful sunny day in West Yorkshire and I’m standing in a field laughing my head off. I stop abruptly, clap three times, then start up again. A group of walkers look on &#8211; baffled &#8211; and I am very embarrassed.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Luckily, I’m not alone. I’m here with laughter yoga practitioner Michelle Brown and she’s teaching me to guffaw my head off. Brown runs monthly laughter yoga sessions from <a href="https://www.corereform.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Core Reform Pilates</a> in Holmfirth. She also travels the county running corporate laughter yoga sessions and groups for older people.</p>



<p>I consider myself someone with a good sense of humour but, Brown carefully explains, “It’s really not about being funny or even finding anything funny. The fantastic thing about laughter yoga is that your body doesn’t know the difference between real laughter and fake laughter, so you get all the benefits of the endorphins and dopamine whether you’re laughing on the inside or not.” But the truth is that once you start laughing, even if you’re faking it, it’s very hard to stop, as anyone who’s ever tried to cheer a toddler up knows.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>Coincidentally, Brown <em>is</em> a funny person. Something of a renaissance woman, she’s done standup comedy, sung in bands and worked in PR so she knows a thing or two about presenting. But, she says, “what I find funny and what you find funny and what a different group of people finds funny, can be very different so this is not what makes people laugh.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="768" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Michelle1-1-1024x768.jpeg" alt="Michelle Brown" class="wp-image-8177" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Michelle1-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Michelle1-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Michelle1-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Michelle1-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/yorkshire/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2026/05/Michelle1-1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pic: Lucy Hanson</figcaption></figure>



<p>But she does also have the laughter chops and hers is loud and resonant. “Someone once asked if they could record my laugh as their ringtone,” she hoots, “I even once got told off in an office because I wasn’t laughing as much as I usually did and everyone was worried I’d bring the whole office down.”</p>



<p>Brown trained in laughter yoga a year ago after a friend introduced her to it. “She heard about it, and thought of me,” Brown says. Her training was with Lotte Mikkelsen, generally accepted to be the UK’s main laughter yoga guru but the practice itself was founded in India in the 90s, based on research that found that you can replicate the physiological and biochemical benefits of laughter by faking it.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-experience">THE EXPERIENCE</h2>



<p>The important thing is not whether you mean it but how you do it and where you do it from. Brown explains, “When we’re with our friends, we laugh for a few seconds and we laugh from our chest. But this is about the feeling when you’re really laughing so hard you can’t stop. It’s from your diaphragm and it hurts. It’s supposed to hurt!”&nbsp;</p>



<p>And, she’s right, it’s a heck of an exercise workout. “It’s really unusual to make it to 45 minutes because it’s a lot,” she says, “People always think they’ve laughed a lot before…”&nbsp;</p>



<p>That said, it’s a form of yoga that everyone can engage in. “I’ve done senior citizens yoga with everyone sitting down and I run sessions for people with disabilities &#8211; it’s very inclusive.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>During a session Brown covers everything from silent laughter, laughing in rhythm, laughing in the mirror, timed laughter (harder than it looks but also more effective than you can ever imagine) and laughing while bouncing. It’s incredibly silly but also incredibly freeing. Once you’ve got over the excruciation of a group of ramblers wondering what you’re up to, the permission to grunt and gurgle is so liberating it makes you laugh anyway. By the end of our session I feel quite comfortable beaming broadly at everyone I meet on the way back to my car.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Brown practises what she preaches: “When I’m getting dressed in the morning, I set a timer and just laugh, laugh, laugh,” she says, as she hands me some homework tasks, one of which seems to be waving at an imaginary friend in the mirror and then laughing until it becomes natural. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-verdict">THE VERDICT</h2>



<p>I&#8217;m all in. If the ramblers haven’t already alerted the authorities, my family are certainly going to think I’ve lost the plot when I go home and start waving at myself in the mirror. But, you know what? I’ll be able to laugh it off.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Contact Michelle Brown on <strong>michelle@francisbrowne.com</strong> or book sessions <a href="https://www.corereform.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-in-the-mood-for-more">IN THE MOOD FOR MORE?</h2>



<p><a href="https://muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/whats-on/whats-on-around-the-muddy-counties-this-weekend/">Hooray for May! Things to get your eyes and ears round this month</a><br><a href="https://muddystilettos.co.uk/eat-out/best-cookery-schools-uk/">Simmer down: The best cookery schools across the UK</a><br><a href="https://yorkshire.muddystilettos.co.uk/things-to-do/arts-culture/the-hills-are-alive-touring-musicals-coming-to-yorkshire/">Creative crush list – Yorkshire workshops that could change your career path (or at least your weekend)</a></p>


I say, I say, I say. Did you hear about the time Muddy tried laughter yoga?

You may also like