A guide from Laughter Circle

Laughter yoga exercises: simple guided activities to try.

Laughter yoga exercises are short, playful and deliberately unglamorous: breathing, clapping, silly prompts and eye contact. Here is what the different types are for, and how to run them alone, in pairs, in a group or online.

The exercise types Try a guided session

The shape of a session

Individual exercises vary a lot, but the structure almost never does. A session warms the body up, builds the laughter through guided drills, and then comes back down. That arc is the actual method — the specific drills are interchangeable.

Most exercises share one trick: they ask you to make the sound first. You clap, you say the syllables, you laugh on purpose — and in a group, the real laughter usually arrives within a minute or two without anyone trying harder.

You do not need to be funny, flexible or in good shape to take part, and nothing here depends on getting a joke. If you can breathe and make a noise, you can do every exercise on this page.

Types of laughter yoga exercises

Six families cover most of what you will find in a real session.

1. Breathing and warm-ups

Sessions usually open with gentle breathing rather than laughter: slow deep breaths, light stretches and easy vocal sounds. The point is not fitness — it is to loosen the jaw, the shoulders and the self-consciousness before anyone has to make a noise in front of other people.

When it fits: Good as the first minute of any session, alone or in a group. It also works as the closing minute, in reverse.

2. Clapping and rhythm drills

Clapping in a steady rhythm while saying short syllables — the classic "ho ho, ha ha ha" — gives the body something to follow. The rhythm carries the group, so people stay together without having to coordinate anything out loud.

When it fits: Good for groups of any size, and especially useful when the room is new, cold or full of skeptics.

3. Playful laughter drills

Short, guided prompts that invite you to laugh on purpose: greeting someone with laughter, laughing your phone number, ordering a coffee with a laugh, answering an imaginary telegram. No jokes and no comedy involved — the sound is the exercise, and it often turns real on its own.

When it fits: Good anywhere, at any length. Pick one drill for a two-minute break, or run through several in a longer session.

4. Movement and light stretching

Some exercises add simple movement: walking around while laughing, shaking out the hands and arms, raising the arms on a big laugh. Nothing needs space or a mat — the movement just keeps the laughter from going flat.

When it fits: Good for sedentary teams, long training days and any session that starts to feel stuck.

5. Eye contact and mirroring

In pairs or small circles, people look at each other and let the laughter pass between them. It is the single most reliable way to turn an exercise into a real laugh — and the reason laughter yoga is usually done in a group.

When it fits: Good for teams that already know each other, and for small groups. Online it works well with the camera on.

6. Free laughter and a calm finish

Many sessions build towards a few seconds of unstructured laughter — no script, no pattern — followed by slow breathing and quiet. That cool-down matters as much as the laughter itself: it is what leaves people settled instead of wired.

When it fits: Good at the end of any session longer than a few minutes. Skip it and the whole thing feels abrupt.

Examples you can try

The same ingredients, arranged for five different situations. Each one takes a couple of minutes.

On your own

  1. 1Stand up, take three slow breaths and roll your shoulders.
  2. 2Clap a steady rhythm and say "ho ho, ha ha ha" along with it for twenty seconds.
  3. 3Do one playful drill — greet yourself in a mirror with a laugh, or laugh your phone number out loud.
  4. 4Finish with a slow breath and a moment of stillness.

When it fits: Good at a desk, at home or before a call. Two minutes is enough to notice a difference.

With a partner

  1. 1Face each other and take one shared deep breath.
  2. 2Start the rhythm together: clap and say "ho ho, ha ha ha".
  3. 3Hold eye contact for ten seconds and let the laughter happen.
  4. 4Both take a slow breath to close.

When it fits: Good for colleagues who work side by side, or two people who want to try the format before doing it in a group.

In a group

  1. 1Everyone stands in a circle, or sits facing the center.
  2. 2The person leading starts the breathing and the clapping rhythm; the rest follow.
  3. 3Run two or three short drills, moving around the circle as you go.
  4. 4End with free laughter for a few seconds, then slow breathing together.

When it fits: Good for clubs, classes, community groups and any gathering of five or more people.

With your team at work

  1. 1Pick a fixed slot — the start of a Friday meeting works well — and keep it to five minutes.
  2. 2One person leads the rhythm and one or two drills; nobody is put on the spot.
  3. 3Keep it optional and genuinely light: no explanation, no team-building framing.
  4. 4Close with a slow breath before the meeting starts.

When it fits: Good for teams that already share a regular meeting and want a lighter way to open it.

Online and over video

  1. 1Everyone turns their camera on and stays visible — eye contact is what makes it work.
  2. 2The guide runs the warm-up and the rhythm; the group follows from their own screens.
  3. 3Do the drills facing the camera, as if laughing at each person in turn.
  4. 4Finish with a shared slow breath before the call ends.

When it fits: Good for remote and hybrid teams, and for anyone who cannot get to a room together.

A few practical notes: keep sessions short rather than impressive, keep them optional, and always leave room for people to watch instead of join. Nobody has to explain why they are laughing, and nobody should be filmed without asking.

A few honest notes

What these exercises are

  • Short, playful activities anyone can follow
  • A mix of sound, breathing, rhythm and eye contact
  • Something you can run yourself, alone or with others

What they are not

  • Not a medical treatment or a therapy of any kind
  • Not a substitute for a trained laughter yoga professional
  • Not something anyone should be pushed into

This page lists exercises as a practice, not as advice. If you want a trained facilitator to lead a group, a laughter yoga professional will read the room and adapt the session in ways a list cannot.

Laughter Circle

These exercises, guided in your browser.

Laughter Circle is one digital way to follow guided laughter sessions: an AI guide explains each exercise, laughs first, and invites you to follow along — the same arc of warm-up, rising laughter and a calm finish, in about three minutes. Each of the ten guides has their own voice and their own unmistakable laugh.

It is not a replacement for a trained laughter yoga professional, and it makes no medical or therapeutic claims. It is simply a light, accessible way to do the exercises without organizing anything or learning the drills by heart.

At work, the same sessions fit naturally into a short break — see laughter yoga at work for the different formats, and team building in Slack if your team already lives in Slack.

Curious how this project started? It was built while running — literally. Read our story.

About 3 minutes

Short enough to try once and decide afterwards.

Ten AI guides

Each with their own voice, aura and laugh.

Nothing to install

Open the browser, pick a guide, laugh along.

Start a guided session

Keep exploring

Start with what laughter yoga is and how it works, see how to bring it into the workplace, do it online with a group, or see how it works for teams and groups. And if you want to know where this came from, here is our story.

Try the exercises with a guide.

Pick one of ten AI guides and take a short guided laughter session — no signup, nothing to install.

Start a session