Toward the end of the Yin workshop last night, Mr. Workshop Leader used the words “sacred play” in describing some of the slow, conscious movements between postures. I love this idea, on and off the mat. Playfulness is a gift that we have regimented out of us as we move into adulthood. Play is not the same as fun – often our fun is goal oriented and structured, and can leave us more exhausted than when we started. Plenty of things are fun, but fun isn’t necessary celebratory, and fun doesn’t make us forget who we are in this world so that we can remember just to be in this world, even if only for a few moments.
On the mat, the idea of sacred play reminds us (me, whoever) not to take the practice so seriously. It is easy to fall into that trap when people devote their lives – or big parts of their lives – to it. The practice is there simply for, among other things, the joy and exploration. Off the mat, bringing nobility to our natural playfulness, my oh my, what could be better? Play may not have a direction, but it does have a purpose: enjoying the heck out of the body and what it can do makes it much easier to move through the world in it, to care for it, and to care for others as well.
There was lots of other stuff to think about during the training today, but I keep coming back around to this idea. I need to… play around with it some more.
On the subject of play, today’s celebration of my birthday month was again magnolia related. I went out for a long walk this morning before training and I stuck my face in LOTS of magnolias. As many as I could find, in fact.
