We all need play to keep our heart vivacious and our spirits light. Yet all too often as we age, we get consumed by the drudgery of work, duty, and responsibility and abandon the spirit of play. While we don’t typically think of yoga practice as play, in the cosmology of yoga, play is essential to being where play is seen as the creative expression of the gods. In fact all manifestation is a kind of play, in Sanskrit called lila, an infinitely productive expression of the great source.
Daily, we all need play for it is through play that we connect to the unconfined, endlessly creative spirit behind everything. Play elicits a boundless flowing sentiment of light-heartedness and joy. Through play, we realize that we are part of a larger creative act where everyone and everything is happening freely and spontaneously. When we see the trajectory of our life as a kind of play-acting, then we are less burdened by the pressures of having to perform and succeed. It is through play that we unburden our self-centered, duty ridden mind and open ourselves up to new possibilities.
In this new year give yourself permission to be more playful, frivolous, and free. For it is through play that grace flows through you, animating your soul, and bringing a spirit of fun loving delight into your life.
