8 Shades of Play 4 - The Explorer/ The Artist
The Competitor
The Story Teller
8 Shades of Play - Getting Serious About Learning
ATM ‘dress up’ lessons to ‘try on’ different play styles
Week 4 - The Explorer / Artist
Variations on the “3-Way Hip” lesson
“You can’t use up creativity; the more you use, the more you have.”
The Explorer - drawn forward by curiosity and wonder
The Artist - birthing outward to express fully
“Play is the exultation of the possible.”
The last two play preferences share the quality of being drawn outward.
The Explorer can’t resist the pull to go just a little further, a little deeper, to learn a little more about that fascination. She’s curious!
The Artist can’t resist the pull to bring something forth from within. She’s got something to express and that expression cannot be denied.
The “3-Way Hip” lesson can be about extending the self, the body, reaching from the inside out, or releasing from the inside out. It’s also a fundamental lesson to return to regularly as subtleties about the connections from tip to toe through the core continue to reveal themselves.
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct. ”
This is the lesson where we explore different ways of using the foot and pelvis to lift the hip and reach, reach, reach with the opposite hand. Or pull, pull, pull with the same side hand. For - obviously - reaching, plus extending, pointing, pulling, whacking, pedaling, paddling, dancing, turning and twisting, shifting weight etc.
In the “Shades of Play” spirit, we will alternate between the curious Explorer, who is pulled out of herself to externalities, and the Artist, who draws from within herself ever-refreshed forms of expression. In other words, we will play with similar-yet-different initiations and motivations.
The other play types might also make appearances. Make it light like the Joker, smooth like the Kinesthete, clearly intended like the Director, conscious variations like the Collector, focused as the Competitor and imaginative as the Story Teller.
This series took a dive into ‘play personalities’ as a reframe for approaching classic ATM lessons. Of course, any of these could have been combined, or we could have gone 8 weeks of more dedicated attention. I had fun making connections, coming up with an uber narrative, choosing among a zillion possible lessons and sequences, leading you through the lessons, practicing the lessons, writing about the whole thing and laughing at my goofs. Hope you had fun too.
Gotta let it out!
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:
Kidney - CHOOO - lower body, releasing damp cold and fear
Lungs - SSSSSSS - upper ribs, releasing dry cold and grief
Triple Burner - HEEEEEEE - wholeness and integration
How You Might Feel After This Lesson: Deep state of near-trance relaxation; L O N G; connected from toe to tip, including everything in between; Open ribs; Flexible hips; Grounded feet; Deep breath; Fully extended reach for that thing on the top self, the just out of reach branch; Curiouser(?); Ready to let your inner voice GO!
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