Interplay came into my life a year ago this February at an event that I was hosting (on behalf of Accessible Arts, Inc.) called "Collective Stimulus," a networking event for "Non-traditional" Artist Educators. Devi Wetterer came to share the Life Changing story of Community Play found in "Interplay." I would soon come to understand the very synchronous arrival of this program in my life. After the first class... I was hooked and inspired to learn and integrate these simple playful practices into my life.
The tools that I am learning combine nicely with my current repertoire and expand my opportunities for connecting with everyone that I come into contact with.
Dec 2010: Body Spirit
Mind, Body, Heart, Spirit... the complex interwoven facets of the human life force... the wholeness of which boggles all of the cultures of humanity and fosters within us so much grace. Gestalt Theory (boiled down) says, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts"... Body Spirit implies the fullness of these notions and this wisdom grows through the practice of Interplay. So, what is body spirit? Body spirit is the fully integrated human experience. Developing your body spirit comes from consciously noticing how your entire experience of day to day life effects and connects the mind, body, heart and spirit. So as my body spirit becomes more and more integrated I become more conscious of all of the different aspects of my human experience of peace, love, attraction, depression, nervousness, trust and abundance. We have constant "body data" streaming into us from all of these receptors... and by paying attention to this data and noticing the patterns, we develop our "Body Knowledge!" And when we take our Body Knowledge and we apply it to how we choose to create our daily lives... We are cultivating "Body Wisdom!" Here are a few examples from my life...
When I am at peace...
When I am in love...
When I am attracted...
When I am depressed...
The notion of body spirit is a perfect fit... as a sculptor, overlap and multi-dimensional thinking seem more comfortable to me. While my emotions can seem incongruent (or at odds) at times, the practice of paying attention and noticing my fully embodied experience as a body spirit, helps me to better cope and transition through difficult emotions and experiences; while cultivating and manifesting the positive, life affirming ones. While our lives provide us with plenty of data for analysis of difficult and desirable experiences... we can also utilize an ethic of play to cultivate and capture this body wisdom. And that seems to be the heart and soul of Interplay... "I believe that spirituality is actually a subset of play," says Interplay co-founder, Phil Porter. It is clear to me, that beyond the benefits that are directly associated with my personal body spirit experience from the inside-out... I am compelled and duty bound to share the notion of body spirit and the practices that foster deeper consciousness and body wisdom. So, I practice Interplay for myself, my child, students, audience, community, congregation, family, friends... and the world. Because I truly believe that we are all connected in one great body spirit... the divine... the whole... we are greater than the sum of our parts.
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