“If you are a little playful with life, every moment is a celebration.” –Sadhguru
Spring brings a revival of energy to the surface both in nature, and in our own physical bodies and minds. How can we expand upon this renewal of energy and find opportunity to explore, to play, to experience something outside of our norm?
Lila is the idea of divine play — that this life in which we inhabit and move, is all a bit of play from the gods. Depending on the lineage you ascribe to, it is also seen as an element of shakti energy, being sweet and playful goodness. There are many more translations of lila, but they all come down to the basis of creativity and playful spirit. What better time to evoke this essence than the awakening of Spring? We all know that play is an essential piece to early childhood development, so why not continue that play as we become adults? There is still so much to develop! Losing this sweetness might make us rigid and hard, playfulness encourages us to be adaptive and creative. Where might you grant yourself permission to play and be silly a little more in your life?
Passive Pose: Knees to chest
Playfully roll around on the floor and be experiential in this simple pose. Come to lie down on your back. Hug your knees into your chest wrapping arms behind the thighs or in front of shins, granting yourself a big hug. Explore any movement that calls to you — this could be rocking side to side, back and forth, drawing circles with the knees — close your eyes and truly consider what might feel nice. There’s no right or wrong, so just try something and see how it feels! You might discover something you really enjoy or need.
Active Pose: Camatkarasana (Miracle/Surprise Pose/Wild Thing)
pronunciation CLICK HER
Try something exciting with this daring backbend that takes a sense of playfulness to drop into! There are many ways to come into this pose, but we will talk through the most common:
- Come to downward face dog. Lift your right leg into the air for a three-legged dog pose.
- Bend your right knee and let the hip open up. Lift and open the hip as high as you are able.
- Keeping the knee bent let the right leg get heavy, heavy, and take a little trust fall. Let the right foot drop to the floor behind you, and keep the right knee bent.
- Straight the left leg and press your hips up (think bridge pose)
- Your right hand will sweep up and over head as you push down into the left hand.
- To come out, either flip back into downward facing dog, or let your but softly drop to the ground for a seat.