Have you made time to play today?
Yoga is such a powerful tool, offering so many benefits beyond the physical and mental. For example, stress and anxiety relief. I love to center myself through focussed yogic breathing, slowing down my heartbeat, especially in situations where anxiousness does not serve me (such as when climbing to altitude in a jump plane, about to catapult out into the big blue unknown ~ aka skydiving). 
When I teach yoga, I love to see the reactions of those both new to the practise and those who flourished through time and dedication. Especially in teaching yogaFLIGHT workshops or even offering demos for the first time, the experience for most is unlike anything they’ve ever had, literally turning their world upside down. The rewards for offering play and light into our daily life can be joy-enhancing and life-changing. It can evoke imagination, generate curiosity, foster empathy, and of significant importance to us, it can build community. Often when we approach older adults about the benefits of yoga and the joys of yogaFLIGHT, we’ll hear such reactions as: “I’m too old for that”, “I’m not flexible enough.”, “I’m too heavy”, “I don’t think I can trust my partner (base) that much.”. Our challenge lies in teaching those with resistance to play that the joys of yoga and yogaFLIGHT is for all people, at all ages, at all times, regardless of body type, condition or age. For everybody and EVERY body (lovingly dubbed by our yoga mentor and quadriplegic friend Mary-Jo).
Dr. Stuart Brown, the founder and president of the National Institute for Play states that “When one really doesn’t play at all or very little in adulthood, there are consequences: rigidities, depression, no irony — things that are pretty important, that enable us to cope in a world of many demands.” He suggests that play helps us learn empathy, trust, and problem solving, and also enables us to develop our talents and character over our entire lifespan.
As play is woven into the fabric of social practices, we will dramatically transform our personal health, our relationships, the education we provide our children and the capacity of our corporations to innovate.
Here’s to playing more in our daily lives, creating an attitude of self-expression and pleasure that permeates everything we do, breathing joy and bliss in to an enhanced existence, living and playing with 100% of our being and essence.
** For those interested in learning more about yogaFLIGHT and our yoga classes, please feel free to . slaDE and I are more than willing to offer our passion for play and skilled instruction to those willing to take the leap in to the unknown, flying beyond the boundaries of keeping ones feet on the ground.
