8 Shades of Play - 3 - The Competitor / The Storyteller
The Competitor
The Story Teller
8 Shades of Play - Getting Serious About Learning
ATM ‘dress up’ lessons to ‘try on’ different play styles
Week 3 - The Competitor / The Story Teller
Variations on the “Bell Hand” lessons
“Play is hard to maintain as you get older. You get less playful. You shouldn’t, of course.”
The Competitor - concentrated focus, clear intention
The Story Teller - imagination, open receptivity, wandering
“Play is the mediator of the invisible and visible. ”
The Competitor and the Story Teller may appear to be opposites. The Competitor meets her goals through concentration, focus, and laser-sharp intention. The Story Teller finds her way through an open mind, a wandering path, and receptivity. Together, however, these two approaches create a powerful structure for creativity. The Competitor’s clarity creates the container for the Story Teller to let her imagination run free. (See post about Mind Wandering.)
The ‘meta’ structure for this exploration is the “Bell Hand” lesson, a favorite of musicians, craftspeople: anyone who uses hands, really. It’s a quiet, meditative lesson conducive to dropping into a semi-hypnotic, meditative space.
“Imagination is the only key to the future. Without it, none exists—with it all things are possible.”
First explore one hand’s subtle movements
One way to prepare for this lesson is to think about a favorite tactile activity: molding clay; knitting or sewing; playing an instrument; holding a kitchen, building or gardening tool; wielding a “sports stick” such as oar, club, bat or racquet.
The lesson begins in the mind of The Competitor. Lying quietly supine, the focus is on the subtle movements of one hand. Explore lifting one hand from the wrist, palm, knuckles, fingertips, even elbow and shoulder. Do some movements correspond strongly with your habits? Can you remember different ways to use the amazing instruments that are hands.
Having studied one hand in detail, the Story Teller takes over as the first hand “teaches” the yet-unused hand with a narrative of it’s experiences. From focus to openness, structure to experience.
Dr. Stuart Brown described 8 “play personalities” based on animal and human natural behaviors: The Joker - laughs; The Kinesthete - joy in movement; The Explorer - go deep; The Competitor - games or goals; The Director - organize; The Storyteller - imagine; The Collector - make connections; The Artist - express. This series takes a dive into ‘play personalities’ as a reframe for approaching classic ATM lessons.
Then one hand teaches the other, and together they move.
Set Up:
Lying supine on a mat.
Seated on a flat-bottom, armless chair with knees and hips level
The Voice-O-Meter Healing Sounds choices this week:
Heart - HAAAAA - laughter, relief, love, joy - hands are associate with the heart
Triple Burner - HEEEEEEE - wholeness and integration
Thanks to classmate and brilliant musical theater bookwriter/lyricist Patricia Zehentmayr for her help in developing this lesson. Her new production, The Path to Catherine, is a retelling of true back-story of the young woman who would eventually become Catherine the Great, Russia’s most powerful female monarch.
How You Might Feel After This Lesson: Deep state of near-trance relaxation; Exquisite sensitivity to the hands’ subtle movements; Tuned into the connection between hand and heart; Attuned to the relationships between the hands; Sensitive to the connections between breath and hands; Excited to use your hands in creation, sport, expression, relaxation.
New Student Registration for the series. Continuing students use ongoing login. $40/month or $15/individual class. PayPal or Venmo: jackisue@aol.com. Or Jacki Katzman, PO Box 116, Bethlehem, NH 03574