An extraordinary playshop for anyone wanting to come out and play

WHY PLAY?
Competition poisons relationships and is inherently harmful. In the classroom and the family, on the freeway and the field, in business and pleasure we are encouraged to pit ourselves against one another in a vast array of power struggles. Success is gained by making others fail. Anxiety, selfishness, self-doubt, poor communication and outright aggression are commonplace. Consequently, children “drop out” and adults “burn out” – just tired of hurting and being hurt.

The rendering of play into games and contests is a logical and coherent part of a particular kind of world-view which applauds the defeat of neighbours, hangs on its walls the trophies of killing, builds for its children playgrounds of asphalt, concrete and steel, and induces the fear of losing in its children. We have chosen winning, whatever its price, over sharing.

In this world of accelerating change and ever-present conflict, we’ve tended to view people and events as separate. In our headlong rush toward material progress we give up being playmates to our children, who often give up their childhood at a very early age.

Play: the drive toward exploration, fantasy, adventure, experimentation, creativity, innovation. This drive might be grouped with mastery, since play can contribute to mastery by servicing as a means of trying out new skills and strategies. While mastery is necessary to cope with the world and accommodate to authority, pure play belongs to the realm of freedom. Play implies self-expression through exploration, experimentation and invention. In its most developed forms, play merges with mastery to become creative work.

PLAY nurtures the qualities of:

• co-operation
  
  
• inner discipline
  
  
• creativity
  
  
• self-esteem
  
  
• physical awareness
  
  
• compassion
  
  
• love