Divine Play

Last night, our yoga teacher started class by talking about lila.

Lila (pronounced "layla," I believe) is the Sanskrit word for divine play. Sure, yoga has a lot to do with perfection – the perfect pose, the perfect alignment. But it should also be fun.

A practice focused on divine play is just that. It's not about comparing yourself to the person next to you, or beating yourself up because you are falling out of a pose*. It's accepting where you are now and being okay with it. And furthermore – having fun with it.

That's a nice reminder for life too, isn't it? Sure, we should be striving to be better and looking to the future... but that can be exhausting. At least, that's what I've found. Comparing ourselves to others. Worrying we're not good enough. Wondering if we're on the right track. Second guessing. Feeling inadequate.

Being present is an intention I've had for myself for quite a while. I've probably written that phrase here more than a few times. But being reminded of that last night – after a tough week at work, feelings of inadequacy personally and professionally, a birthday weekend spent with my couch and DVR and overall just meh feelings lately – was refreshing.

Stop obsessing over where you could be or should be.
Look at where you are. Be grateful. Enjoy it. Have fun.

* To be fair, I did beat myself up for not getting the headstand last night.

** The picture is from my PNW trip (which I swear I'll blog about someday...). We were in Vancouver for just one day, and I was having regrets over not doing enough research on the city and worried we weren't making the most of our time there (as well as anxiety over getting lost, as my cell phone had limited map/calling functions). But Melanie asked a server for a neighborhood and bar recommendation, and we ended up spending the afternoon in Gastown buying too many Canada souvenirs. We stopped at this swanky bar, Chill Winston, even though I'm pretty sure we were both in yoga pants. We sat outside on the patio, even though it was probably too cold for patio weather and it was empty – they weren't even playing any music out there. We turned on a jazz Pandora station, ordered wine and champagne (because, why not!) and people watched under string lights as the sun went down in the city. It was a glorious, unexpected, unplanned evening.