FEBRUARY 9, 2026 - “Life is Play + A Game of Dice”
During our fourth class, we did a bit of weaving things together across all we’ve explored so far - movement, breathing, and contemplation. We started with investigating the idea that yoga can be a process motivated by a desire to improve the self, but it can also be motivated by creating powerful bonds of mutual nourishment and inspiration between ourselves, others, and the larger world. All of it is a creative process. What’s interesting, and sometimes feel more scary, about choosing a path of connection is that it’s not a process entirely under your control. Choosing to cross the distance between yourself and another being (a lover, a friend, a forest, a career) is inherently risky because you can never know how the other will respond, if it will be able to nourish you as you intend to nourish it. This risk is known as lila, or “play” in yogic philosophy. It’s a gamble, a throw of the dice, and like a good bet it sucks to lose but if you pull it off, you get a taste of bliss. As such, we’d brought all the work we’d done together in a playful class.
We began with:
Ujjayi breathing preparation and practice in a seated position with a strap tied around the ribs to provide tactile feedback of the bones moving in response to the breath.
Warm-up consisting of seated side bends, cat + cow, mini cobras, down dog, and forward folds
We used our warm-ups to explore the idea of hasta bandha and pada bandha, the hand and foot “seals.” This is a way of placing and activating the small muscles of the hands and feet for better support and access to the opposing force to gravity (ground reaction force), which helps us to move with more ease and economy.
We then moved into a standing lunge sequence, starting with:
A kneeling lunge with arm circles forward and backward
A single leg balance transitioning into a kneeling twisted lunge with arm and spinal rotations
From there, things got a little more playful at the wall.
We took a kneeling lunge away from the wall with a blanket under our knees. We scooted back until our knee was at the corner of the wall and the floor and our shin was up the wall. From there, integrating our pelvis and spine with abdominal engagement, we started to raise ourselves up to vertical for a big ol’ thigh stretch. It was felt.
We did the balancing, twisted lunge at the wall, using both arms to push ourselves a little off balance.
Our final exploration was a partner bridge (setu bandhasana/setu bandha sarvangasana).
We did this in groups of three and four. The first person laid on the ground and lifted their hips up into an easy bridge pose.
The second person knelt at their feet with their knees on their partner’s outer feet. Taking hold of the back of the partner’s upper calves/knees, they gently leaned back to lengthen out the hips and low back.
After placing a strap underneath the bridger’s upper back and pulling it up through their armpits, the third person knelt behind the bridger’s head gently leaned back to traction the upper back away from the knees.
The fourth person place their palm, finger facing up the spine, on the bridger’s sacrum (the bony triangle at the base of the spine). They gave a tiny press upwards and then “scooped,” lightly dragged the sacrum downwards and slightly upwards to lengthen the lower spine.
The consensus was this felt amazing. Afterwards, we cooled down with partner ujjayi breathing and a long savasana. Thank you everyone for coming, and see you for the next round!
Saprema :)