How to Play

“The days ahead require mastery and clarity
AND strength in numbers. Pay attention to your group bodies.
InterPlayers are subversive, sexy,
wild, bewilderers, catchers of light and dark.
We’re alchemical mystery workers and wannabe’s. We’re life artists
who really make shifts not just in ourselves but in the world.”

By Cynthia Winton Henry  Founder of Interplay

Cynthia writes about the days ahead, and suggests that they may be difficult and challenging.   Sometimes the whole world challenges me; sometimes its only my own small piece of it. Either way,  playing helps.  Playing gives me access to my body’s wisdom.  Which turns out to be a powerful resource for coping, figuring things out, and most importantly changing the world. 

Here is what you need to know.  Everybody who has a body can play.  Do you have an urge to stomp your feet, clap your hands or swing your body when you hear music?  Or maybe your body wants to hold perfectly still and take in the music of the country or the city, or the silence of the quietest night.   That’s playing.   Anyone can do it, anywhere, any time. 

1)  Playing Alone.  (Sometimes it is helpful to listen to some music, but that is entirely optional)  Take a breath.  Take another breath and this time let it out with some sound.  Shake out your body.  Take another breath.  Pay attention to your body,  with a particular focus on what feels good.  Now pay attention again.  Notice the desire to move, and the desire to be still.  Follow that desire, notice what happens next.  What catches your attention now?  The sound of the traffic?  An ant on the sidewalk?  The lines in the palm of your hand?  Pay attention to that.  Now pay attention again.   Continue with this process until it becomes a total way of life. 

2)  Playing with Others.  Again, music is optional.  It also helps if you are playing with others who are paying attention and have decided to play together.  

However, it is possible to play with others even when they aren’t necessarily thinking about playing with you.  Start with taking a breath and shaking out your own body again.  A very small shake is sufficient.  Pay attention again and again.  Now notice the group body.  Pay special attention to the place in yourself where love and good will reside.  Notice the connection between you and others.  Be aware that the connection exists even if you aren’t thinking about it.  Be curious about it.  Are you happy to be in the company of others, nervous, irritated?  Be very curious.  Notice the connection in the coffee shop or bus stop or in line in the grocery store.  Notice your body moving through space without crashing in to another body.   Notice your internal responses to the other people in the space.  Continue to be curious.  Be mostly curious about yourself.  It isn’t necessary to acknowledge the connection out loud, but you might with a nod or a smile.  Your bodies already know all about it.  Breath.  Move.  Pay Attention.  Pay Attention again.

Wanna know more?  Click on the photo above and it will take you to the InterPlay home page www.interplay.org.   There you can find lots and lots of other subversive, sexy, wild bewilderers to play and learn with.  We are out to save the world!

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Friends

Friends  –  Need I say More??

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Hanging Out

I Wrote this back in March but didn’t post it.  So here it is now.  Better late than never.

Spring in Minnesota!!!  Crocuses, Tulips, Robins and Laundry.  Yep – laundry.  Here in the north country where I live there are many months of the year where hanging the laundry out on the line is just too difficult.  Well, there might be a few die hard hanger-outers who can tolerate the cold temperatures long enough to haul their baskets of wet laundry out in the back yard over the snow and freeze their fingers hanging it on the line.  But I know from sad experience that taking down frozen blue jeans is tricky business, and they don’t even really dry very well anyway.
       But Spring.  Here is my chance to venture out into the back yard, carefully stepping around the last remaining patches of snow and ice, and expose the world to my underwear. 

        Here are some of the other benefits of hanging out your laundry:

1) Saving Energy 
OK, I know, it isn’t a lot of money saved by not running the dryer.  Maybe really only a few cents.  But it adds up when you combine it with other money saving, energy conserving measures and every little bit counts right?

2) No Static Cling 
Think about it.  Static cling is caused by the action of the heat and friction of the clothes rubbing together.  No dryer, no static cling.  Which brings me to —

3) No Dryer Sheets 
That’s right, no toxic chemicals to make you and your family sick.  No worry about offending your neighbors by pumping those toxic chemicals out into the air and no worry about offending your friends with clothes that may look nice, but smell like, well, dryer sheets.  But what about that nice fresh scent that dryer sheets provide you might ask.  This brings us to —–

4) Fresh Smelling Clothes 
The nice fresh scent of fresh air.  Yes indeed.  If you hang your clothes outdoors they come back in with a real rather than fake fresh scent. 

5) Less Wear and Tear on Your Clothes
Not putting your clothes in the dryer will prolong their life.  This is why many manufacturers of nice clothes say “Do Not Tumble Dry”, on the tag. 

6) The Bleaching and Disinfecting Power of the Sun
Your whites will actually be whiter and any nasty germs will be killed by the Sun.  In fact, here is a hidden tip,  if you put a little lemon juice on a stain and leave it exposed to the sun, almost any stain will fade and usually disappear.  I have used this on some pretty nasty old stains on white linen table cloths and it really worked.

7) Hanging out in the Back Yard
You can hang out while you hang out.  You get the benefit of being outdoors which is good for your body and your spirit, and sometimes get the chance to visit with your neighbors over the fence, build relationships and probably strengthen your community.  Everybody wins.

 

I know there are a few down sides to hanging out.  Yes, the clothes can come out wrinkled and the towels aren’t as fluffy.  You can, if you want to, throw everything in the dryer for 5 minutes after you bring it in to smooth out the wrinkles and fluff things up a bit.  Also, sometimes it is raining and you can’t wait for a sunny day.  Once again an automatic clothes dryer can come in handy. I suppose it also does take a little more time to hang things out than it does to throw them in the dryer, but I’ve not timed it so I can’t be sure of that.   

So there you have it.  Lots more pros than cons in my opinion.  Try it – you’ll like it.  And here is the final tip

Hang your underwear on the center lines and the towels and sheets on the outside.  Less embarassing for everyone

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