Playfulness in Movement: Don't Stop Playing as You Age

So I've heard that we don't stop playing because we become old, we become old because we stop playing. And the playfulness we had when we were children came from learning and trying and experimenting with new things without any pressure. You would never look at a four or five year old and say tie your shoes in the first attempt, otherwise you're a bad child. We would never do that to someone else.

But as adults we kind of want to get in shape before we start going to the gym. We expect too much too soon of ourselves and that kills playfulness and that kills the joy which keeps us from trying new things. A very bad habit for adults, everyone is guilty of it. Let's not make this space.

We need to create space, we need to make space for playfulness and failure and having fun with it. This can be such a space. This class that we're about to do, you can fail at it without looking at it like failure. You can do mistakes without focusing on it, not notice it, not beating yourself up over it.

So please commit yourself to making this a playful, joyful space where you don't count the mistakes, you just enjoy whatever you can do. Please. Thank you very much and let's get on with the class.