PLAY!

I am not really one who thinks of myself as playful. I’d rather sit in the quiet than find some ectstatic experience to blow my mind. I have heard in my life that I am no fun. But play to me is very different than it may be for you. For last month’s class on rest and play, I returned to the work of Brené Brown. Unfortunately, her chapter on rest and play was only five pages long! So I followed her breadcrumbs to the work of researcher Stuart Brown. All of the information below comes from his sites (specifically playcare.com and nifplay.org).

First, why play? The benefits of play are fairly exhuastive. Here is a brief list that I curated after reading several articles:

• trust

• mutual attunement

• empathy

• resilience

• adaptability

• innovation

• creativity

• optimism

• communal belonging (my favorite)

• boosts immunity

• instrinsic motivation

• desire to achieve mastery

• better quality of life

• decreases stress

• lifelong neuroplasticity

My favorite finding is that play allows us to get along better with others. We become non-violent, cooperative, and can innovate more easily. Play creates non-violent, prosocial behavior in communities. As a former school teacher who watched schools take away play in exchange for test scores; this was an interesting takeaway. Our kids in school were not allowed to rough house, to swing from monkey bars, and if they didn’t behave they often had their recess taken away! (Not in my class though.) It makes me wonder if this is part of what has created this tipping point in our culture that is so divided, filled with violent speech that is far from pro-social behavior. Maybe it’s time we return to play no matter what stage of life we are in?

It has been found that when we play, we create play reservoirs. These are play-based resources that can persist through famine, disease, disaster, upheaval and even war. If we play before these life events occur, this allows us to be more positive and resilient. It’s like keeping some play in the bank reminding you that you will smile or play again.

Now to the meat and potatoes for me… What exactly is play? Here are the three qualities that define play:

• spontaneous engagement

• glee / joy producing

• instrinsic motivation

  in other words

• purposeless, fun, outside of time (in the flow)

• less self-concious, more improvisational

• continuational desire

Play is a STATE OF BEING! Play doesn’t require anything more than a playful state of mind.

There are eight play personalities, or areas of play you may gravitate toward. This is what got me really excited in my research as it ties in with what I know from coaching. Think about the thing you would do as a child where you could get lost for hours. What was that for you? Think about where you could get lost when no one was looking. This is often where our play personalities lie.

• storyteller

• collector

• kineste (mover)

• director (organizer)

• competitor

• artist (creator)

• joker

• explorer

If you want to read more about these, check out the National Institute for Play (nifplay.org) it has some tests you can take and gives lots of examples.

I discovered I have a few ways that I enjoy playing… I love organizing, creating and bringing things to life. Just look at Greenville Yoga! I find it fun and engaging to come up with new themes, new teacher gatherings to keep us inspired, new ways to share wisdom traditions with you. The quiet times where I get to sit and listen in open me up to organize and create. And I always feel most in the flow when new ideas are coming in or when teaching a class. This is play for me! Coaching is even more so. I can get lost for an hour just listening as someone else organizes and creates their ideal life. I always leave sessions feeling buzzy and like time went by in the blink of an eye. Another way to play!

You may not find me being the wild, out there person seeking thrills and heightened experiences. Those are the explorers and kinestes. But you will find me playing in the stillness and in the quiet, lost in the flow of wide open awareness. It turns out, I am fun… just not in the way you might expect.

This month, remember the way you got lost as a child. Where could you spend hours when no one was looking? What can you do to rekindle that little spark and bring some play back into your world? You never know where it may lead.