22 Jul All The Reasons You Should Never Forget Your Inner Child

Remember the carefree days when you were a child? Playing all day and just having fun. Those were the days. Wasn’t that the best times! Thinking back on your childhood running around barefoot and playing all day put a smile on the dial.

When did you get so serious? When did you lose your sense of play? Most likely, when you outgrew your sneakers that flashed every time you took a step and swapped them for your serious grown-up pants. It’s about time to bring back the playfulness into your life. And on your yoga mat!

It’s essential that you keep your child’s play attitude alive, it’s not only a really powerful way of expressing ourselves but also give us a more joyful outlook on life. We take life and our yoga practice way too seriously. We are afraid of looking foolish, stumbling along the way and face planting doing a handstand.

Instead, we over plan and overthink everything while ditching spontaneity for rigid schedules, to-do lists and email checking. We share with some simple tips to incorporate more child’s play into your life and most importantly more fun in your every day.

 

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff

And as the late Richard Carlson famously said, “It’s all small stuff!” With that said, being playful can be difficult when faced with all of the very real responsibilities we deal with every day. We get it and don’t want to minimise the weight of these issues; nevertheless, we can begin relating to them differently.

We spend so much of our sacred time worrying and stressing about what happened or what might happen, and we become so tightly wound that even in quiet moments it can feel nearly impossible to settle and relax into them. See if you can keep coming back to your present moment experience – returning to what you know is real and true right now. Practising yoga is the perfect opportunity to focus on the present moment.

 

Laugh More

When was the last time you properly belly laughed so much you cried? We as grown-ups are so serious all the time. Let’s all laugh more. Really LOL – laughing out loud. Not only does it feel good, but it also releases the feel-good vibes of cortisol.

Some say it even helps strengthen your abdominal muscles. Watch a comedy, find a laughter yoga class near you, tell some jokes, and if you can’t seem to find anything funny then think of something that made you laugh in the past and let yourself relive it. Or you can smile – but be careful… smiling has been known to lead to laughter.

 

Find Small Ways to Love Yourself

Sometimes it’s not so easy to play, especially when we’re out of practice. We have to learn to take it easy on ourselves and find small ways to love ourselves. Many of us put ourselves last on our priority list, and setting aside time to do things you enjoy can feel indulgent. Self-care is so important. When things get tough, try a self-compassion break: take a deep breath, place your hand on your stomach or heart, take a walk, or soak for a while in the tub while listening to your favourite playlist.

Roll out your mat and practice some yoga, just move into whatever shape your body and heart crave right this moment. Or if you fancy, sit on a swing and see how high you can swing. Taking time each week to do something you genuinely enjoy — that is living a happy, mindful life.

 

Releasing your inner child is crucial for not taking everything so seriously and enjoying our lives to the fullest. This also means getting playful like a child on your yoga mat. We are often very focused and serious during our yoga practice, afraid of looking silly or falling over, despite the fact that yoga encourages us to play.

When was the last time you just hopped up into a handstand without the fear of falling over? Children don’t think about what could happen; they often just go for it.

We, at Yogaholics, have put together a free-flowing sequence to bring all the goodness of playfulness back into your life. Roll out your mat and play along with Marty’s fast vinyasa Child’s Play flow.

Getting silly sometimes will also have a ripple effect, and you will be surprised how many “playmates” you will attract along the way. Trust us; you won’t be sorry!

Roll out your mat and play, yogis!

 

 

Original content appeared The Power of Play