Somewhere along the way, many of us stopped playing, or limited our sense of play as our responsibilities rose. Life has a way of filling in around the gaps that play leaves when busyness, complexity, and stress arise.
And yet if we give it a moment, something in us still remembers the absorption of following something interesting, the ease and resilience of a body that's moving just for the pleasure of moving, the particular delight that comes from slowing down.
Embodied play and creativity give us a way through the complexity we find ourselves in as adults. This workshop offers us the chance to reconnect with the playful, present one within us. We'll use movement, reflection, and a variety of approaches to reconnect with the joy, creativity and presence that play can offer. We'll tinker a bit with the one in us that might restrict or limit play, and give permission to the one who is seeking the resilience and capacity that play can bring. We'll slow down to discover what play might really feel like to us, now.
Research tells us that play is not frivolous — it is biological. It builds capacity, supports resilience, and activates the very chemicals in our bodies that help us feel more alive, connected, and present. This workshop draws on that science lightly, weaving awareness of our own inner experience into the play itself.
Play returns us to a source of energy and resource we can draw on in parenting, in the workplace, and in the face of challenge. You'll leave with new insights on what play means now, and practices for fueling a sense of play that can support you, even in the midst of complexity.
We hope you'll laugh as you try (no need to get play right), and leave feeling the essentialness of play in your bones. No experience necessary. No particular fitness level required; there will be options for folks with varied access to movement and to connect with play in a variety of ways. Just a willingness to show up, slow down, and remember something your body already knows.
What you can expect to leave with:
The opportunity to reconnect with play as an adult, and an honest exploration of what gets in the way.
A richer awareness of what play feels and looks like in the body — and what signals tell us we're open to it or closed off from it.
A practice to carry forward: a way of returning to play, curiosity, and presence when the world speeds back up.
A clearer sense of the value and role of play in a complex world — and what it makes possible in our daily lives.
About our Instructor:
Shani Feyen is an educator, facilitator and coach who is committed to remembering what it's like to play in order to be in full service to the world. She remembers flooding the sandbox and digging holes in her parents' backyard to create her own mini golf course (which they did not love), and has gotten shushed in the workplace for laughing too loudly.
She believes that play, curiosity and creativity are no longer "nice to have"; they are essential commitments for anyone who wants to show up more fully for themselves and others at home, in community and in the workplace. She facilitates professional development around emotional and physical intelligence in the workplace.
Cost: $35/person