Play as healing- thoughts?
This issue has come up in a recent training, and in some of my recent social networking, so I thought in might be a nice first blog post.
Look at this video of polar bears playing with dogs, natural predators, but when they are playing they seem to have intimacy, fun, and are “rough housing” seemingly, with out a threat of violence.
We know, and so do the animals, that the bears could do the dogs some harm. Why don’t they? Somatic Transformation innovator and master, Sharon Stanley, reminded us in a recent training that the beauty of play is it allows us to venture into vulnerable territory while maintaining a mutual understood relatedness.
The “joker” in school (or at home) knows it. Think of the comedians who have helped the country deal with issues of race and so many other issues that otherwise seemed intractable were it not for an opening provided by humor. When the element of play is introduced we often can tolerate emotional states that usually would seem too dangerous. Play builds a safety that might not other wise exist by allowing the players to stay in relationship.
So the play we do is often our way of staying emotionally involved with one another in spite of anxiety or nerves, it’s a way we care for ourselves and others and have fun. There is a fine line though, because jokes can often be veiled cruelty but that feels very different. What happens when you remember feeling the different kinds of play,when you felt play got you through something, or a time when a joke was cruel? Notice how both of those thoughts might feel different.
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