Lila, the Sanskrit word for playfulness, is an incredibly important quality to develop. It injects our practices with a shot of exploration and adventurousness. It reminds us that every day is new, that each moment contains infinite potential. When we add a dose of playfulness to our practices we take ourselves less seriously, we can forgive ourselves more and, hopefully, feel even more joy for being alive. As the great Sally Kempton writes in her brilliant book, The Heart of Mediation: pathways to a deeper experience,  "I had been meditating for many years before I fully realized that meditation yielded its greatest riches to me when I gave myself permission to play."

Theme: Lila!

Highlights:

*Focused on shoulder loop which helps us open our hearts and embody the shape of joy.

*"Playfully jump forward from down dog into uttanasana."

*Told the students in Warrior 1 to lift their arms in any way that they wished (up, in cactus pose, beside them) while keeping the shoulder alignment. 

*Did poses I rarely teach (Warrior 3, for instance) as a way of shaking me out of my teaching rut.

*Did "drop backs" at the wall!

*Did a reverse vinyasa (down dog-to cobra-to chaturanga-to plank-back to down dog) to shake things up! Got that from Ross Rayburn years ago. Thanks Ross!

*Gave a few minutes of "playtime" where the students could do whatever poses they wanted. Such fun.

*Reminded the students of how John Friend describes himself as a "seriously playful student of yoga."

*In uttanasana, asked the students to hug their shins with steadfastness and meet that with their joy inside, by simultaneously widening their inner knees and thighs out.

I knew we were going to go into "drop backs" later in class so I held the class with a good intensity, and I notice I don't often bring that to classes. I think a little "Helga" does Maria good.

One more thing:

Speaking of exploration, I was able to take several teacher's classes this week and felt so grateful to be a student and to be led by such accomplished hands. I took my good friend Joy Stone's class at Still. Joy is incredibly gifted in the way she articulates yoga philosophy, while keeping it accessible and personal. I love how she changes her sequencing so completely each class. She has a lovely, healing energy.

I also took Keric Morinaga's class at Black Dog and thought he did a masterful job with weaving the theme. And even though it was a Basics class, I felt challenged and yet taken care of. Very confident teacher and surprisingly funny. 

And lastly, I took Hagar Harpak's workshop at Black Dog yoga two weeks ago but wanted to mention it. She is love wrapped up in a fierce little body. She has one of the most advanced yoga practices I've ever seen. She is Kali-Ma. Hagar has been doing Gods and Goddesses workshops at Black Dog Yoga (what a brilliant idea!) where she shares the particular mythology of a certain deity and then teaches a two hour class inspired by them. The last one is coming up: Hanuman, on Saturday, September 26th, from 5:30-8:00PM. I cannot make it cause I will be in Hawaii studying with John Friend and Ram Dass (wow!), otherwise I would be there. 

I love my fellow teachers and although there are so many of us here in the Los Angeles Kula (Sanskrit for "community of the heart") we are all, I think, very supportive of each other.