This term, our My Online Schooling Junior pupils have been taking part in a very special kind of online lesson - Laughtercise! Laughtercise is all about fun, laughter, smiles and wellbeing, with a bit of fitness as a happy side-effect from all the silliness. With sessions taking place each Monday for the rest of the term, what better way to start the week than having a good old giggle?!
Laughtercise is run by two 'Chief Chucklers' - Aaron Betesta and Harriet Brady-Jackson. With backgrounds in laughter yoga and fitness, they are committed to spreading the joy of laughter no matter how old you are. Originally designed for adults, Laughtercise have also been offering free children's sessions for primary schools across the country.
Read our mini interview with Aaron below to find out more about what they do and all the amazing benefits a good chuckle can offer:
What inspired you to create Laughtercise?
To spread joy, wellbeing and laughter to millions of adults and children. My business partner, Harriet, and I love being silly, so what better way to make a living than getting people wiggling and giggling!? We’d be doing it anyway :)
It’s amazing you’re offering free children's sessions for primary schools! What does a typical children's Laughtercise session involve?
A children’s session is pretty bonkers. It’s got a bit of everything. Bouncing, dancing, shaking, wiggling and giggling. Each session is themed. For example, going to the zoo or going on holiday. In our sessions, children move like a monkey, laugh like a hyena and run as fast as Usain Bolt! We also do some giggle exercises where we make the noises haha, hoho and hehe. I’m always sweating lots after doing a session so it’s certainly a good physical workout! We also teach children some deep breathing techniques to help with their continual wellbeing.
What are the key benefits of Laughtercise for children?
To burn off energy in a hugely positive way. To have fun and smile. The feel good of being silly and playful. To laugh with their friends. It’s basically like a wonderful multi-vitamin tablet of everything a child needs for well-being!
What are adult Laughtercise sessions like?
We started our business by doing adult sessions and it just grew into doing sessions for children. We love doing adult sessions. We’ve only been able to do virtual sessions recently, but they’ve gone down a storm. We’ve done lots of sessions for businesses and their employees as well as sessions for NHS organisations. Adult sessions are about tapping into the fact that, as adults, we giggle a lot when we’re trying to be serious. They are about giving adults an opportunity to be a bit playful. With all the seriousness in the world, it works wonders for our mental health to be ‘unserious’ every now and again.
If you want a giggle, head over to our website www.laughtercise.co.uk for a 1 min highlights video of a session we did with a business!
Do you have any top tips that families can use day to day?
Be silly and chuckle as much as you can together. Do the breathing exercises together that we teach in the sessions. Bond through well-being.
We'd like to extend a huge thank you to the Laughtercise team for working with us on this blog, and for helping us further support the wellbeing of our Junior pupils. If those huge grins are anything to go by, we know they've been loving the sessions so far!
If you'd like to find out more about Laughtercise and what they do, head on over to laughtercise.co.uk. You can also follow them on:
My Online Schooling is a global online British school that offers a flexible, full-time English Curriculum-led education to children all over the world. We provide live online lessons which follow a set syllabus, offering our pupils the opportunity to receive International GCSE and A-Level qualifications that open doors to higher education. Click here to find out more about our school.