PlayGrounding

Exercise is an important part of a healthy life, but how we do it is important. Jenn Hicks has been teaching Nia through a body/fat positivity and Health At Every Size lens ever since recovering from her eating disorder and exercise addiction. The practice draws from martial arts, dance arts, and healing arts, empowering people of all shapes and sizes by connecting the body, mind, emotions and spirit. 

Screen Free Week, May 3-9, 2021, is the Children's Screen Time Action Network’s annual celebration of unplugging, reconnection, and joy. They’re celebrating differently this year because screens have become the only means of connection for so many of us. But maybe that’s all the more reason to focus on this area of our lives?

In our interview with the Action Network's Director, Jean Rogers, she makes sure we understand they’re not suggesting we all become luddites. They’re not trying to unplug us and our kids altogether. The idea is to increase our awareness of screen time so that we can build our discernment muscles and make sure the kids in our lives are building theirs as well.

How can we play like children, but as adults? And how could it transform the workplace if we learn to develop deeper, adult ways of playing as we got older instead of putting it away? And most importantly, how can play principles be incorporated into our workplace relationships and career goals? This conversation tackles all of these questions and more with Lauren Yee, Cultivator of Curiosity.

Mike Montague, founder of Playful Humans Clubhouse and host of the Playful Humans Podcast, discusses one of the most difficult issues facing us humans these days – what to do about social media. We talk about our response to The Social Dilemma, which leads us to a deeper discussion about how we can rethink what it means to curate, not our feeds, but what we choose to focus our minds on to live a more healthy, playful life.

Alessandra Calderin has a very no-nonsense approach to health and spirituality that I really appreciate. Conversations about spirituality can take on characteristics similar to a religion with its own jargon and its own sets of assumptions. If you don’t agree with those assumptions or understand the jargon, it can seem as if you’re on the outside looking in. In this episode, Alessandra and I talk about spiritual jargon and examine the ideas behind the words. We’ll be using a blog post she wrote as our guide called Decoding Spiritual Jargon. 

Dementia is seen as one of the most horrible things that can happen to a person – a “loss of self” or “living death.” Susan Massad and Mary Fridley are part of a coalition working to challenge that way of looking at dementia, known as “the tragedy narrative.” They created a workshop called The Joy of Dementia Workshop (You’ve Got To Be Kidding!). Using improvisation and social therapeutics, they teach how we can reframe what memories are and who we are as human beings, even if we can’t access them.

Spirituality and religion are linked to positive physical and mental health outcomes, but at times, unhealthy teachings can cause more problems than they solve. On this episode, Gary Ware interviews Kara, the host of PlayGrounding. Through her work toward interfaith ordination, she’s begun the process of uncovering her own story of religious trauma, sexual assault, and finding her way back to a healthy spiritual life. None of it would have been possible without rediscovering the power of play as an adult.

Rona Lewis, Founder and CEO of Playful Minds Project, explains her work with businesses to improve mental health in the workplace. Rona doesn’t believe in work/life balance. Work is part of life! So how do you balance it all? It’s about taking time to make time work for you. And above all, having an attitude of play that makes life an adventure, not a responsibility.

If you’ve ever believed you couldn’t share your own story or let your voice be heard until you “fix” yourself, then you need to hear what Jessica has to say. Jessica Brustad, Co-Founder of Playful Mind Project, has worked with individuals struggling with mental health issues like anxiety, OCD and Postpartum Mood Disorders and has helped companies like Google and Microsoft improve their cultures through her original style and mindfulness programs.

Meet the co-founders of the recently launched Playful Mind Project, play experts Jessica Brustad and Rona Lewis. The focus of their launch is on one of the hardest hit demographics during the Covid-19 pandemic – working moms. Jessica and Rona are not therapists, but their work is informed by therapeutic exercises like cognitive behavioral therapy. They specialize in stress relief through Purposeful and Attuned Play using fun and interactive games and exercises to help alleviate stress and overwhelm. Their customized sessions include anything from improv, breathwork, Laughter Yoga, wordplay, exercise and meditation—all depending on the client’s needs at that moment.

This week you’re going to meet Charlette (Charly) Ford, a seasoned entertainer, executive producer and curator of the You’s A Fool Improv and Variety Show in Atlanta, GA. Charly is an Improv Acting Coach and bold event host, she brings charisma, comedy, and culture to her students and audiences alike. She’s one of the most playful people you'll ever met! When Charly’s around, it’s nearly impossible not to smile. She’s not the type to tiptoe around, and she teaches people of all ages to step into their confidence and learn to trust themselves.

Play can be an empowering spiritual experience, regardless of what you practice, or what religious or spiritual subculture you belong to. And no one has been better, over the years, at helping us understand that play has an important role in healing from trauma and helping us deal with shame than healer, speaker, author, and poet, Vince Gowmon.

Kay Ross believes that life is an improvisation game and a playground of possibilities. She is an improv performer and an Applied Improvisation trainer; a bodyworker/healer; the Head Tour Guide in The Playground of Possibilities (that’s her project about guiding people to choose more joyful, resourceful thoughts, beliefs and stories about themselves and the world, and take inspired action). She’s also an editor, a copywriter and a trainer about marketing. The common thread in all of that is storytelling. Kay is Australian and has been living adventurously in Hong Kong for 27 years.

When she’s not inspiring people by just being herself, she’s created a deck of cards that we can use to discover what’s possible called The Playground of Possibilities. Her cards don’t tell the future, they encourage us to dream and dare to create a better future for ourselves.

Have you ever heard the quote, “Be the person you needed when you were younger.” This quote by Ayesha Siddiqi is embodied in the work of Rita Ezenwa-Okoro. Rita lives in Lagos, Nigeria and is the Founder and Lead Visionary of Street Project Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that uses creative arts and performing arts tools to facilitate opportunities for youth employment, social mobilization and cross-cultural dialogue in Nigeria.

Gary Ware is concerned about your plan to work an all-nighter to finish that project. You might want to listen to his advice, because he's been where you are. Gary is the founder of Breakthrough Play, where he helps teams be more creative, confident, and collaborative using play. He has over half a decade of experience with improvisation, and over 14 years in the field of Digital Marketing.

I first encountered Gary as the featured speaker for the Creative Mornings newsletter. His talk hit home, and I think it'll hit home for you as well if you've ever said to yourself, "I'll play when I get all of my work done." That may have worked when we were kids, but for us adults, the work is never done. And if we never play, we suffer. That suffering is called play deprivation - and Gary Ware is a great guide to help us understand it as well as overcome it.

None of the problems our world is facing right now can be solved if we can’t find new ways to talk to each other. Right now, consensus seems like a far off dream and we find ourselves asking, are we doomed to fail? Or is it possible to create a new way to talk to each other so that we can reach consensus and move forward? Maybe we’re following a script that isn’t working? Maybe it’s time to improvise.

And that’s what we’re going to learn about today in our conversation with Marian Rich and Carrie Lobman from the East Side Institute, co-authors of “Playing Around with Changing the World,” a chapter about the East Side Institute’s International Class called The Applied Improvisation Mindset, to be published by Bloomsbury Press early 2021. 

Was 2020 supposed to be “your year”? Of course, sometimes things don’t go the way we want them to, but Jeff Harry has a message for you. Play is a superpower that helps you become more resilient not only in the face of our personal struggles, but the struggles facing our country and the world. So get ready to put away your expectations and start seeing the opportunities. All you have to do is rediscover your play.

Pat Rumbaugh, founder of Let’s Play America, returns for another conversation on PlayGrouding! Let’s Play America has a new e-book called The Play Day Handbook, which is an amazing, step-by-step guide for how to create play days for your community. Their play days, and all the advice in the Play Day Handbook, are relevant for kids-only play days, play days at nursing homes, and more importantly, play days for all ages to play together.

According to Andrew Walsh’s daughter, he is “A librarian who teaches grown-ups how to play”, which is far more important than any “real” job description. He is founding editor of the Journal of Play in Adulthood and is a core member of the Playful Learning Association. Hear about his research into how adults play and about his newest book, a compilation called Forgotten Lancashire Folk and Fairy Tales, coming out in September of 2020. You'll also hear from Stacey Newman Weldon of Adventure Wednesdays about how we can ease into adventure by starting small.

Scott Froschauer is an artist known by many for his public art installations of street signs. They look just like the street signs you pass by every day, but the messages they convey are not what you’d ever expect to see. In this episode about play and activism, he discusses how how experiential art has a lot in common with improv. It grounds us in the moment and helps us, as he describes it, “do a check on who’s in charge of your inner voice.”