Yoga classes have become a popular forms of exercise, meditation, and personal growth in the US and abroad. Furthermore, while yoga is not a religion, it is becoming an increasingly acceptable spirituality. The physical aspect of yoga is only one of eight different aspects of yoga, and a yogic life might be one that seeks to incorporate the limbs of yogic philosophy in every circumstance.
Like many forms or expressions of both spirituality and sport (or physical activity), yoga creates its own play sphere, a place of freedom where participants can “get into the zone.” This “zone,” or “flow,” may be most easily accessed in the physical yoga class, where the body and mind can merge in a beautifully hypnotic vinyasa from one pose to the next. And, like play, the connections we can make in a yoga practice are ephemeral, “secretive,” and often defy explanation.
Taking as a starting place a podcast conversation about play, flow, and yoga on the J. Brown YogaTalks podcast, as well as recent experiences at the Lovelight Yoga Festival, this paper will continue an exploration of the overlaps between yoga and play in both theoretical, practical, and play-ful terms. Drawing from Huizinga, Csikszentmihalyi, different physical yoga practices, and personal experience, the paper makes a case for play as a powerful force in yoga, one that facilitates personal and physical growth, and one that, perhaps most importantly, keeps it fun.
About the presenterErin Heisel
Soprano Erin Heisel’s performances have been described as “brave, vivid” (The New York Times). She has performed in venues throughout NYC and abroad. She also performs and writes experimental physical theatre pieces. Her Ph.D. is from NYU with research in Johan Huizinga’s theory of play; she also has an MM from the University of Massachusetts, a BM from Butler University, with additional graduate studies in psychology and the arts at Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University. She has taught at the University of Massachusetts, Bay Path College, NYU, and Adelphi University. She also works as a freelance voice teacher, performer, and is a certified teacher of yoga and meditation.