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An ideological Interweave of Play, Yoga and Western Philosophy…

"Gracious one, play. the universe is an empty shell wherein your mind frolics infinitely" – Meditation technique No.110 of the Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra.

Plato

In his book of Laws (643 bce), Plato was one of the first to talk about 'play' as a subject of theoretical interest in terms of educating children to create a desired culture. He believed that children's play (paidia) is the medium where learning is most effective. Play reveals to us our natural underlying dispositions, and engaging in play that allows us to develop these, promotes the growth of our abilities and strengthens our character (paideia), resulting in adults who are able to use their abilities effectively.

Plato's opinions on play were directed towards children, he views adult play an unworthy activity unless of an intellectual nature, as demonstrated in the dialectical banter of Socrates. Here is where I find myself at odds with Plato. From personal experience and research, I believe adult play to be just as effective for learning, creativity and creating change on a number of levels.

Since Plato, many other theorists, philosophers, educators and psychologists etc have continued to study and comment on the dynamics of play and focused on different elements of its nature. Although, to this day, Play is a very difficult phenomenon to pin down, I mean, What exactly is play?

Play

Playfulness, in its various forms, is a pervasive phenomenon seen in animal species, a common behaviour of human children and an observable behaviour in the lives of human adults. Play is regarded as a universal and essential aspect of human behaviour. Yet understandings of play and beliefs about play vary enormously. Like yoga, there is no one way to define its meaning, but there are many similarities in the ways that play has been perceived throughout history.

The common characteristics of Play agreed on by researchers that describe and distinguish it from other behaviours are:

  • Active - physically, mentally or both
  • Meaningful - makes sense to the player
  • Symbolic - involves elements of make-believe, where things and ideas may be treated as if they were something else.
  • Voluntary or self-chosen - is a freely chosen, personally directed behaviour.
  • Pleasurable - in and of itself.
  • Process oriented - an exploration without a care towards the end result.
  • Intrinsically motivated - We play because we want to. It is its own reward.
  • Adventurous and risky - helps us to explore the unknown.
  • Self-directed - self organised and structured

We intuitively know what Play is when we see it, no matter the age of the player, and we can certainly feel it when caught in its midst. A playful energy is contagious and we often respond to it whether consciously or unconsciously.

"The beauty of ‘Just Playing’ is that it makes room to recruit the energies of the sympathetic nervous system without leaving the ventral vagal state of safety in connection" – David A. Crenshaw & Anne L. Stewart - Play Therapy

How Does Play Show Up in Your Life?

Play, in adults, as long as it is not perceived as childish and within societal norms, usually comes across as a positive and admired trait. Indeed, many philosophers have bestowen the nature of ‘Play’ as one of the secrets of living a happy life.

"This is the real secret of life - to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now - and instead of calling it work, realise it is play" – Work as Play - The Essence of Alan Watts

The characteristics I feel when i'm being playful are; a creative and curious exploration of situations, movements, emotions, boundaries, dynamics etc. A lightness and gentleness in my manner and intention. Being guided by something inside of me, esoteric in nature, not of conscious thought. An element of my unconscious coming through. And it always feels good.

Yoga

Yoga is many things, including; therapy, self realisation, a state of being, a process and practice, meditation, physical manipulation, chanting (mantra), sitting still and being active.

My approach to yoga practice which I also try to incorporate into my attitude towards life is one of playful curiosity. For me, if yoga is anything it is a process of self-enquiry (Svadhyaya), which shouldn’t be taken to seriously as we just get entangled in the attachments (Raga) and aversions (Dvesha) of our conditioned ego (Asmita) and striving for whatever the desired outcome may be. Living in a capitalist world where competition is ingrained into us from a young age in a multitude of ways and institutions, the letting go bit (Aparigraha) and surrendering to what arises (Isvara Pranidhana) is often the most difficult part to get to grips with and fully embody in our practice. In my experience, practicing yoga as an enquiry, approached with a playful curiosity, melts the attachments and striving away, allowing us to be more gentle with ourselves (Ahimsa). I often use the term "Be more scientist!" which basically means the same thing. Like yoga, science is a process and an outcome. Scientists are in the process purely for the means of discovery (Satya). Just like Yogi's, seeking to realise the depths of our true nature.

Nietzsche and Jung

Friedrich Nietzsche was a big fan of play and like Carl Jung, regarded it as one of the greatest pursuits of an individual. Nietzsche's ‘Three Metamorphoses’ from his book, 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra', describes the process of spiritual transformation that characterises his vision of the flourishing life. The stages of transformation are symbolically represented as: from Man to Camel to Lion to Child, with the goal of becoming an Übermensch (Superman). Someone who transcends the established morals and prejudices of human society to define their own purpose and values in life.

"The struggle of maturity is to recover the seriousness of a child at play" – Friedrich Nietzsche

To approach one’s life as a child at play, is to relinquish the uniformity and unidimensional thinking of modern society, letting go of our Apollonian conditioning towards our Dionysian spirit. To return to our second innocence, investigating our environment as if a child exploring a forest for the first time. Goalless. except for the joy of the experience. The child-like spirit knows the joy of life and the innocence of perpetual creation - an enlightened state indeed.

I liken Jung's theory of Individuation to Nietzsche's metamorphoses. Jung regards Individuation as one of our greatest challenges, the journey to ones truest Self, of which there once were glimpses. The process by which one becomes a “whole” person, self-realises and flourishes within their unique individualism. To some extent, this process draws the individual away from society, but Jung believed that individuation leads to more intense and broader collective relationships, rather than leading to isolation. This Journey depends upon the interplay and synthesis of opposites; conscious and unconscious, personal and collective, psyche and soma, divine and human, life and death.

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves." – C.G. Jung, from Psychological Types

The Interweave

I see these theories in relationship and interwoven with the process and states of Yoga. The process of realising our egoic attachments and aversions, picking these apart and shedding our veils of perception (Samskaras) to witness a truer reality. “The journey of the self, through the self, to the Self” (The Bhagavad Gita). A regular and continued Yoga practice inevitably allows us to perceive, in a new, more unbiased manner with a fresh pair of eyes. Like a child, we see things for the first time again, with less of our conditioning at play (pardon the pun). New beginnings arise, we create new values and a new life may lie ahead. These things are often felt and spoken about for those who embark on a spiritual journey. This is the creating of Nietzsche’s Übermensch (Our Superhuman) or Jung’s True Individual Self, or Yoga’s path to it’s various enlightened states. Like Plato, Nietzsche, Jung and Shiva, I believe the surest path through this process of re-learning is with Play as it's medium.

Conducting yoga practice as a playful, embodied self-enquiry is definitely my style. There's quite a lot of work to be done to get here. For me this starts with a good old body scan (yoga nidra) - developing Pratyahara (withdrawal from the senses), where we can begin our investigation of ourself, with a few less attachments and a little more freedom to find something new. Play acts as a container for Yoga to unfold.

My role as a yoga teacher is to create an atmosphere of acceptance, safety and comfort (Tremos) whilst providing the appropriate structure for my students to experience a playful self-enquiry arise within them. A self-enquiry that is totally individual to you, as, of course, you are a truly unique individual, and this is the journey to re-discovering yourself. If you are interested in experiencing something like this? I guess you might want to get in touch.

Further Reading

Plato and Play

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1016076.pdf

Socratic Paideia: How It Works and Why It So Often Fails

https://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Teac/TeacSchm.htm#:~:text=The%20Socratic%20dialectic%20challenges%20the,develop%20his%20own%20moral%20rationality

What is Play - Oxford University Press

https://www.oup.com.au/media/documents/higher-education/he-samples-pages/he-teacher-ed-landing-page-sample-chapters/ROBINSON_9780190304829_SC.pdf

Sugata Mitra - ‘Hole in the Wall’ experiments

https://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education

Play and Brain States

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3574776/#:~:text=The%20conditions%20of%20play%E2%80%94the,provide%20practice%20for%20real%20life

How to Become an Übermensch - Nietzsche’s Three Metamorphoses

https://www.thelivingphilosophy.com/the-three-metamorphoses-nietzsche/#:~:text=This%20developmental%20pattern%20has%20three,as%20our%20own%20%E2%80%94%20relatively%20common

A Jungian Archetypal Literary Analysis of the Protagonist in Arthur Miller’s Play Death of a Salesman Compared to the Classical Hero of Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey

https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1371793/FULLTEXT01.pdf