I was taking myself out for a sensible grown up run the other day, when I spied a rope swing in my local park that I had never noticed before.
Rather than continuing to chug along doing the thing that was “good for my health” but not particularly inspiring, I decided to go off track, tuck my legs through the rather narrow gap in the rope and gingerly sit myself down on the flimsy contraption. I started to rock back and forth through the air, my eyes going up to my feet in the beautiful blue sky, then down into the parched late summer grass, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness and gravity on my body.
While swinging away, I looked to my right and noticed two women in a grove of trees that were well off the main park route swinging their arms up and down, thumping their backs on the thick conifer trunks and having a very animated conversation. It was all rather delightful and surreal and none of this would have come into my awareness had I not been contemplating the concept of ‘play’ the past few months.
Part of this contemplation was brought on by my partner enquiring as to whether I experienced joy in my life… which really made me stop and think, do I??!
As adults we can too often become goal and outcome oriented and when we are sandwiched between children/ parents/ employers/ societies needs, it’s hard to find any space in our lives for play, experimentation, creativity or fun.
I know personally for me that the past few years have been a grind - getting through a difficult sudden menopause experience, COVID related business challenges, mental health flare ups and a feeling of impending climate change doom. It’s hard to be all sunshine and lollipops when this heavy load is bearing down on one, but the more I have researched play, the more essential it seems to be to escape the drudgery of the present, think creatively, find more meaning in life and learn how to work more effectively with others. Certain politicians of this era could do with a bit more play in their lives and a lot less anger, hatred and violence.
DEFINING PLAY
Play as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “to wield lightly and freely; to keep in motion.”
Stuart Brown (MD) who wrote the book on play, hates to define it because the expressions of it can be so varied, but he outlines the ‘properties’ of play as:
Activity for its own sake - there’s a purposelessness quality to it
Voluntary - there’s no duty of obligation
Inherent attraction - we want to do it and it makes us feel good
Freedom from time - when we get into flow
Dismissed consciousness of self - we stop thinking and worrying about ourselves
Improvisational potential - we are open to change and chance
Continuation desire - we want to keep doing it
I love things that are hard to define, because it means they are slippery, non-homogenised, open to interpretation and don’t easily fit into a box. This feels very natural and free form, rather than machine made perfection, which is far more aligned with what humans actually are and respond to despite the Industrial Age trying desperately to make us feel otherwise!
THE BENEFITS OF PLAY
Poet, author and naturalist Diane Ackerman posits that ‘deep play’ puts us in a rapturous mood and awakens the most creative, sentient and joyful aspects of our inner selves. She states that “Play is a refuge from ordinary life” and my goodness don’t we all desperately need to step out of the ordinary every so often, if only to look back on the everyday humdrum and realise that it doesn’t always have to be that way. Play can illuminate another choice and open up new pathways, in ways that normal thinking or cognition cannot do.
Play has a huge range of benefits, including but not limited to:
Relieving stress - releases endorphins
Improving brain function - activities that challenge us to problem solve
Stimulating creativity - impromptu and improvised solutions
Improving relationships with others - sharing fun and joy
Helping us to connect with our childlike enthusiasm - getting into the flow state
Reformatting old emotional wounds - helping to heal them
Improving cooperation between others - peacemaking and collaboration
TYPES OF PLAY
The OLIW model is a structural model of playfulness and differentiates among four facets:
Other-directed (i.e., using playfulness to uplift others or relieve tension in social situations)
Lighthearted (i.e., tendency to view life as a game, to enjoy improvising, and to worry little about the consequences of one's actions)
Intellectual (i.e., enjoyment of playing with ideas, complexity, and challenges and problems that require novel approaches)
Whimsical playfulness (i.e., preferences for extraordinary or unusual things and people, appear unconventional to others).
SO WHY DON’T WE PLAY?
If play is so good for us and essential to our health and wellbeing, why the heck do we stop playing? There are so many things in the modern world that keep us from play.
Shame - The ‘cool’ old playground bullies keep torturing us in our minds for doing what we really want to do in our souls, long after we’ve left the childhood playground
Time pressures - Becoming consumed with adult responsibilities is a sure way to leave no space for play in our everyday
Fear - People might laugh at us, people might accuse us of wasting time, people might think we don’t care about the more pressing serious concerns of the world
Societal rules and expectations - There are such boring and rigid frameworks available to humans if they want to fit in, play as grown ups sits far outside what’s acceptable
Stress - This narrows our field of vision literally and figuratively, so we are are unable to see anything but the most linear option
Capitalism - everything has to be productised, optimised, scaled and sold or else what’s the point right?
HOW WE CAN INVITE MORE PLAY
So it seems that play is essential to living a good life and we would do well to step beyond our shame, fear and anxiety in order to access all the amazing benefits that play can bring. Here’s a few suggestions to help you find more play in your everyday, but I’d love to hear if you have any other tips for bringing more joy into your life… let us know in the comments, so others can learn from your playful experiences!
Schedule it as a reminder in your phone - let’s use tech for good rather than just for doom scrolling and pop a recurring calendar invite to play for 5 minutes everyday
Temptation bundle it - if you’re doing a task that you don’t particularly like (e.g. cooking dinner or vacuuming), why not also put the music up loud, listen to your favourite song AND have a kitchen or hallway boogie at the same time
Figure out which type of play suits you best - check out the list above and think of three ways you can maximise your favourite type of play in your life
Have a “playccountability” buddy - organise a weekly or monthly play date with some friends and each have a turn at choosing what activity you all do
UPCOMING WORKSHOP - MAKING SPACE FOR PLAY: MEDITATION & VISION BLOOM ARTWORK CREATION
14th February, 2024, 5.30-7.30pm
Manzana - 5I, level 5, 47 High St, Central Auckland, Auckland.
Investment: $25 for guests, free for Manzana members. CLICK HERE for tickets.
Join Sierra from The Grounded Circle and Rose from Vessel Wellbeing for a meditation and creative coaching session around "Play".
By participating in a guided sacral chakra meditation to access your energy center of creativity and passion, going through a series of journalling prompts around play, sharing your insights with a group of like minded people and creating your own paper floral "Vision Bloom", you will come away with a renewed sense of lightness, creativity and freedom that blossoms from connecting with your inner child through the magic of play.
Your attendance includes:
Guided meditation on Sacral Chakra (the energy centre of creativity & passion) & Closing gratitude meditation (by end of evening)
Guided journalling session
Mindful Vision Bloom Artwork Creation
Show & tell, sharing your insights with the community
All art supplies included
*Please remember to bring along your diaries, pens, and anything that you think would be fun to create with.