Why Play is Missing from Modern Yoga- And How Joy Helps You Reclaim Your Whole Self
The Serious Side of Yoga- and What’s Missing
Imagine this for a moment. You walk in to a “studio” and see lululemon and other athletic wear outfits hanging in the front. The smell of incense and lavender is all around you. There are people with no shoes walking in with yoga mats to large room. It’s quiet and everyone is talking in whispers. The lights are dim and in the background is instrumental chanting music. You look at other people’s faces and everyone looks serious. The class says “relaxation class” yet everyone around you looks stressed and very SERIOUS.
If you’ve entered most yoga studios in the West, you may know exactly what I am talking about. Serious looking people, ready to do serious yoga. When you signed up, the class sounded fun and exciting, yet when you showed up everyone looked like relaxing was a serious sports game, ready to be conquered and won.
Somewhere along the way, yoga in the West became serious business. Studio schedules pack up classes titled with things like “flow”, “power”, “alignment”, “vinyasa”…classes that focus on precision, discipline, working out, etc. While these disciplines are valuable, something essential has been left behind: play.
It’s as though we’ve made mindfulness into a game to be won. Meditation efforts become like making you into a tiger ready to pounce on its meal in front of it. We’ve left behind the sense of being like a puppy in our curious mindfulness, learning to create ease instead of more stress.
In it’s roots, yoga was about connection- to self, to others, and to the pulse of life itself. But when we strip away curiosity, laughter, and freedom of movement, our practice can start to feel like another box to check. We lose agency and power in our practice. We becomes people who perform yoga. And by that we lose pieces of ourselves.
Why Play Matters for Healing and Wholeness
In our inner worlds, play is often so connected to our inner children. These are the parts inside of us that are child-like in their spirit and essence. It’s the pieces of our soul that are spontaneous, free, and playful. That are carry a wonder-like sense of the world and are curious beings. These parts of us carry freedom and joy in their beings and highly emotional creatures. Yet as adults, many of us are disconnected or have exiled these parts of ourselves away. Because these parts are so vulnerable and free, they are also vulnerable to hurt and pain. So I get it, for many of us, play can almost feel threatening as adults because it can be still so connected to hurt and pain of our past.
And yet from a nervous system perspective, play is not frivolous- it’s medicine.
How, you ask?
It regulates the nervous system: Play invites safety and social engagement, helping the body move out of survival mode. (Look at animals and how the engage with one another through playing/wrestling).
It unlocks creativity: Play sparks new pathways in the brain, allowing fresh insights and emotional release.
It restores authenticity. As children, play was how we expressed our true selves without fear of judgement. Re-learning that skill helps us to meet ourselves again. To know who we are without fear of being judged.
Honestly, I did not find play in yoga. I found it in hip hop dance. I had a teacher who was fun, did not take himself too serious, and allowed us to trust our bodies to feel the inner beat. I realized after my hip hop class, when I then went to the yoga mat, I was able to be much more embodied. I allowed that spirit to continue on the mat. And I showed up with greater presence and ease.
How Yoga Lost Its Playfulness
Several factors have contributed to yoga losing its playful essence:
Commercialization & social media: The pressure to “look good” in poses can outweigh the feeling of joy.
Western fitness culture: Yoga is often packaged as a workout, not a space for self-expression.
Perfectionism & comparison: We’ve been taught to measure success by form, not by how the practice feels inside.
When we over-focus on the external, we disconnect from the internal- and that is where play and curiosity thrive.
Reclaiming Play in Your Yoga Practice
For me, there is nothing like jamming out to some good feelin’ music that gets me into my body and soul. I feel free to move with the words of the song and the beat of the music. Try some of these ways to infuse joy back into your mat time:
Put on unexpected music- try fun, hip hop, or any of your favorite songs as a teen
Experiment with movement- sway, shake, skip crawl, twerk, jab….there is NO WRONG WAY to move your body
Laugh- find moments to laugh and smile
Invite props and textures- pillows, scarves, clothes that feel good in your body
The Bigger Picture- Wholeness Through Joy
Reclaiming play in yoga isn’t about being silly for the sake of it. It’s about reclaiming parts of yourself you may have left behind- the part that felt safe to explore, imagine, create with out self-judgement. When you give yourself permission to play, you remind your body and mind that joy is not something you have to earn. It’s part of your full, authentic self- and it belongs in your healing.
If you’ve been craving more freedom and fun in your yoga practice, join me for classes that blend movement, music, and mindful play. Your mat can be playground- and you deserve to feel alive there. We also have Hip Hop + Yoga Fusion classes and Emo Punk Rock Power Yoga to help connect you to these parts of yourself.
