For the last four weeks, I've been running The Mindful Play Sessions on Zoom, for a carefully selected group of wonder-beings as part of my process of writing a Handbook of Mindful Play for group leaders. This blog offers some of my reflections on the past 4 weeks and a collection of poems capturing the essence of Mindful Play written by the group during the sessions.

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My first intensive writing week was supposed to be a retreat in Arvon, a beautiful rural writers haven in Yorkshire, where writers of all disciplines are supported to steep themselves in their practice. There'd be uninterrupted time and space, delicious food to eat, other writers to talk with and Mother Nature to soothe and inspire. The plan was to use this time to explore ways of letting nature and body-based play infuse my writing.

Coronavirus had other plans.

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Ever since I received the email telling me I'd been successful for an Arts Council Developing Your Creative Practice Award to work on my Mindful Play Handbook, my Inner Critic has had me in a strangle hold: "Who the hell do you think you are, calling yourself a "writer"? How could YOU be a writer? You have no brain and nobody wants to hear what you've got to say anyway."

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Here's a lightly edited Facebook Live from 27th October.

Bring your curiosity, your body and some paper and a pen and let's play

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Here is a mini workshop for you to do at home. It's an excerpt from The Online Clown Academy's 4th Zoom Clown drop-in session, exploring the theme of connection.

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Hello! I've edited an excerpt from The Online Clown Academy's first of four drop-in Zoom Clown sessions so you can try it out at home. In this session, we'll be exploring the theme of acceptance through meditation and playful exploration:

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Inner Academic: When am I going to get time to write? When am I going to get time to write? When am I going to get time to write?

Inner Facilitator: How about now? Here's a whole, clear week I've put aside for you in the diary.

Inner Academic: Ah, but I'm really tired right now.

Inner Facilitator: OK, I see that, why don't you have a little rest and come back to i... Read more >

The final Mindful Play Session of the season saw 42 playful people gather to explore their relationship with connection. We started with a TED-style talk, exploring firstly why connection is important:

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This week, in preparation for next Tuesday's final Mindful Play Session, I've been reconnecting with my Work In Progress research from last year. My third and final show explored the theme of 'connection' which is also the theme for next week's Mindful Play.

The theme that keeps coming up is... Read more >

Session 3 of the Mindful Play Sessions. This one was about Spontaneity. We started by defining the meaning of 'spontaneity' and pondering it's purpose, with the help of various experts. 

First up was this quote from Blatner and Blatner, authors of The Art of Play:

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