Tag: play

The Beauty of Play

Have you ever wondered what happens when children play to their hearts’ content?

Now imagine what happens when adults get to play to their hearts’ content…

Wonder no longer! This is what we look like and what we sound like when a bunch of likehearted and openminded adults get together… we bring to life our full potential by tapping into our greatest individual and collective super power what Dr. Stuart Brown and I like to call True Play.

Playful Leadership: CREATION THROUGH PLAY ALCHEMY is a groundbreaking introductory course to the concept, practice and magic of Play Alchemy – a term coined by Portia Tung, the founder of The School of Play. Play Alchemy describes the process, tools and techniques for transmuting the seemingly insurmountable challenges we face into positive outcomes so that we can thrive and have fun making a living in a VUCA world.

JOIN US IN PLAYFUL LEADERSHIP ~ 7-9 May 2025

If you long to imagine at least six impossible things before breakfast and have realised a bunch of them by dinner time, this is the course for you. You’ll get to explore your relationship with play and creativity in community and experience deep joy as you regain your superpower of manifesting more of what you wish for like you used to as a child.

And we didn’t just co-write one song, we co-composed two! Special thanks to Stuart Cocks our music meister for putting music and video to our words of calm delight and sheer joy!

Song #1: Keep Calm Be Patient & Song #2: It’s Love Obviously #madewithlove #playfulleadership #playalchemy

by Categories: Play Alchemy, Play Now, Play Your Life, Playful LeadershipTags: , , , , ,

I Capture the Castle

Did you know that at the heart of creativity – the kind that enables us to flourish and feel joy – is play without which we would lack the resourcefulness to get started in the first place?

Play is the skeleton key that unlocks our creativity, our infinite potential. When it comes to creativity, we are the creator and the creation as well as the creative process as we transmute and manifest our soul’s expression and deepest desires.

According to the creator of Systemic Constellations Bert Hellinger, “Love equals seeing plus distance minus judgment.” And because we are relational beings, this observation isn’t only poignant in terms of our relationship with others but more vitally when it comes to being in relationship with ourselves. What’s more, love for ourselves is essential when it comes to being in healthy relationship with our creations and our creative process.

Play Alchemy: Exploring Our Roots of Creativity a 3-day course in the art and science of creativity takes place this autumn 11-13 September at the beautiful Ashridge House (aka home-of-magic Hogwarts) in Berkhamsted, UK within a stone’s throw from London (if you’re Hagrid).

REGISTER NOW

If you’re a grownup who longs to remember how to play and have fun – just like children do – be it at work, at home or anywhere you go, you’re invited to join Play Alchemist Portia Tung this September, along with a constellation of other grownups who love life, to rediscover and harness our greatest superpower – play of course!

Among this bright constellation of likehearted and lighthearted playmakers you will experience what being the best version of yourself feels like as we dance in profound partnership and embark on the play adventure of a lifetime.

Isn’t it high time you explored your roots of creativity?

Book a FREE discovery call with Portia to see what magic we can weave together through this Play Alchemy course!

BOOK YOUR CALL
by Categories: Courses, Play Alchemy, Play Your Life, Playful Leadership, Systemic ConstellationsTags: , , , , ,

Explore the Healing Power of Play

Playful You and Me

Do you love the moments when you experience spontaneous bubbles of exploration and joy? And are these moments too few and far between?

Are you often holding your breath waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the goodness in your life to disappear? 

Delight is one of the most joyful experiences humans can have. From bursts of spontaneous laughter, to genuine smiles shared, to shared exploration of ideas, to goofy and rambunctious expression. 

Are you curious to learn how to cultivate the safety and self-care that will allow your nervous system to turn towards playfulness and joy with ease? 

Do you long to be surprised, enlivened, and nourished by your healing journey?

Did you know that each of us has a neural circuit and body system dedicated just to play?

Play is our birthright. 

The experience of playing lets us and our brains become who we are meant to be.

Playing brings balance into the body’s and the brain’s endocannabinoid system, which is the system that is responsible for our homeostasis. When we play, we balance every tissue in our body. 

And it feels so good.

Play–not the shallow, competitive kind, but the deep play that comes with both emotional discovery and surprise, and with truth-telling in safe environments– is spontaneous, emergent, and unexpected. 

This form of deepest play can only arise when our nervous systems are fully supported and in the company of people with whom we feel known and understood.  Without supported and safe nervous systems, our bodies are unable to experience the absolutely spontaneous and unexpected expressions that come with our PLAY circuit. 

Play in its purest form requires the interaction of two or more beings (people, pets, anyone that can be responsive). It also requires safety. 

But what do we do if people have not been safe? 

How can we support ourselves to have nourishing playful social connections and a sense of belonging even when we have lived through difficult things? 

Resonance is the experience of another human understanding what is happening for you, and you being able to say yes to their expression of understanding. It has the transformative capacity to connect and heal us by offering new experiences of safety and acceptance to our nervous systems, which opens the door to play.

With the help of a neuroscience-based understanding of what makes us safe, Resonant Language works directly with the nervous system to restore our birthright of safety so that true delight becomes possible and even frequent. 

Resonance enables us to have the experience of making sense to ourselves and others, sometimes for the first time. Often social safety is the missing piece that allows our bodies to find relaxation and open to joy. 

As our nervous systems become fully supported, the movement towards spontaneous emergent play is actually unstoppable: like a bubbling brook cascading down a mountainside after the snows melt. 

The Resonance Summit 5-9 April 2024

The fourth annual Resonance Summit, hosted by Sarah Peyton, offers a deep exploration of the latest neuroscience research on play plus wonderful interactive sessions, and an opportunity to immersively experience and learn resonance in community.  

Each morning of the Summit features a keynote address by five exciting voices in the field of relational neuroscience, play, and trauma healing. Following keynotes, the days unfold through workshops and practice spaces led by some of the most creative and rigorous resonance practitioners working today. 

My session “Play’s Hidden Symmetry: Constellations Through Play Alchemy” will take place on Tuesday, 9 April 10.30 am – 11.55 am PDT. I hope you’ll come to play!

Register here this free five-day experiential learning immersion to begin to change your brain into a kinder and more playful place, discover your own relational self, and catch a glimpse of the rich world of emergence that resonance and play can make possible for you.

What if you can’t make it to the LIVE summit?

In that case, you’re welcome to support this wonderful event by purchasing the summit recordings package available now with a pre-summit discount!

by Categories: Conferences, Play Alchemy, Systemic ConstellationsTags: , , , , , ,

The Wheel of Time

“Can I read you a poem?” my new friend Di asks me just now as our video chat draws to an end. “It’s called Today by Billy Collins. I heard it on the radio earlier this morning and I thought you might like it.”

My heart giggles quietly with joy at being offered a poetry reading by an adult. I can’t, for the life of me, remember the last time this happened.

Meet Dianne Gammage, author of Playful Awakening – Releasing the Gift of Play in Your Life. I first came across Di’s soul-lifting book on play in the summer of 2023. The book resonated with me the moment it crossed my path and I’d been daydreaming about the kind of conversations we’d have over a cup of tea. So I wrote Di an email (I would have written her a letter if that were still fashionable) introducing her to my baby oak tree Querkie and telling her about my PLAY book.

As I move ever closer to completing the manuscript of my next book (next Thursday!), I cherish the many new and profound friendships I’ve made on my personal play adventure. It reminds me of what making true friends was like as a child. A time when I truly played and now that the wheel has turned – I am being invited to play again. And I extend that invitation to you.

You can find Di’s talk about Playful Awakening and play therapy here.

If you’d like to explore ways of experiencing more joy through play in your life – be it at work and/or at home, for you or with your team or with your family – let’s have a chat over a virtual cuppa.

by Categories: Play Now, Play Your LifeTags: , , , ,

A Beautiful Day

Willen Lake, a playspace of beauty

It’s a beautiful day today where I live.

As I walk around the lake this morning, I’m in awe of the city I have been fortunate enough to settle in with my family – a place of beauty, hope and peace.

One of the places I love to wander and wonder is Willen Lake run by The Parks Trust, a charity dedicated to protecting the parklands and landscapes of Milton Keynes forever.

My path to this place hasn’t been simple or easy. For the longest time, I wasn’t aware this was the place my heart longing for – until I began to occupy myself fully.

What does home mean to you? Where does your heart live?

by Categories: ContemplationTags: , , , Leave a comment

Meet You Second Star to the Right

Dear Playmakers,

As this year draws to an end and we stand together on the cusp of a new year, I’d like to thank you for your warm interest, enthusiasm and commitment in leading more playful lives and enabling transformational change for greater good – be it at work, at home or wherever life finds you.

A Wise Owl Looks Back…

This year has been a rollercoaster ride of fun and growth as the Playful Leadership programme launched two brand new courses in the beautiful play space of Ashridge House, inspiration for Hogwarts, in Berkhamsted, UK.

In spring 2023, we cultivated greater emotional awareness and intelligence on Playful Leadership: Rejuvenation which re-connected us with some of our most powerful  inner resources to overcome the challenges we face.

In summer 2023, I splish-splashed with delight with Robert Digings on the subject of play and leadership in his podcast series Highly Relational – that play could not only be an approach to work but a credible and effective leadership approach I call Playful Leadership.

This autumn brought together the highest number of The School of Play’s alumni at a single event, along with new playmakers, as we accompanied one another on our individual journey back to our collective point of origin on Playful Leadership: Origination to increase our creativity by harnessing our passions, skills, wishes and dreams.

This winter we gathered in my home city of Milton Keynes for a 1-day workshop Glow in Prosperity to explore our relationship with giving and taking through techniques for manifesting abundance so it can percolate in different aspects of our lives.

Meet You Second Star to the Right in 2024

To celebrate the new year, we at The School of Play are merrily preparing a whole host of heart-warming and new ways for you to say “Yay!” to more play in 2024.

Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming events by signing up for The School of Play newsletter-blog here.

The Play in Me bows to the Play in You and Those You Are Important To,

Portia

by Categories: Play Now, Play Your Life, Playful Leadership, Systemic ConstellationsTags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Laugh in the Face of Fear

Happy Beginnings Start with Proper Endings

Do you sometimes feel stuck in groundhog day in spite of your best intentions? Or perhaps you dream of escaping messy endings and long for better beginnings? According to one school of systemic thinking, the secret to happy beginnings are happy endings. Join us in a laughterful session on the secret to enabling happier beginnings and endings grounded in play science because transformative change happens when we laugh in the face of fear.

Upcoming Workshop: From Halloween to Festive Cheer – Towards Better Beginnings on 15 October 2021

Better prepare for new beginnings by joining us in a playful exploration of the vital themes of beginning, belonging and ending. In this highly interactive workshop you’ll have several chances to play at your edge on professional and personal topics of your choice in order to glean the necessary resources and learnings that make up the foundation of your new beginnings. You’ll be invited to explore core play memories that make up your play history and, in doing so, get the chance to reflect on, restore and resource your playful self. You’ll have the option to work on your own, in small groups as well as the whole group in order to identify and connect with what’s truly vital for you to flourish in your next beginning.

This workshop is part of the Four Seasons of Play 2021 programme. Each workshop can be enjoyed independently or as a combination of modules in a year-long programme where you’ll learn about true play, how to cultivate your play intelligence and shift towards a play mindset as the seasons change. Play your cards right and you’ll grow as a person as well as a leader by becoming more resourceful, resilient and real in these unprecedented and transformative times.

Workshop Takeaways:

  • Play Theory: Play Personalities from Dr. Stuart Brown, Play Learning Cycle by Scott Eberle and the latest play change theory Bobul Mechanics by Portia Tung
  • Systemic principles for enabling healthy relationships from start to finish
  • Increased self-awareness of your relationship with beginnings, belonging and endings
  • A powerful set of additional or renewed resources to create happier endings and beginnings
  • Increased resilience when dealing with professional and personal change.

This workshop is limited to a maximum of 8 participants.

Who would benefit from taking part in this workshop?

The Four Seasons of Play workshops focus on enabling individuals to develop the systemic mindset and skills necessary for an individual to lead effectively – be it yourself, your team, your family or your life. At each workshop, you’ll experience a range of eclectic tools and techniques you are unlikely to have come across before which you could then apply at work and at home.

Where do you sign up?

Join us for a taste of summer and delight your colleagues, family and friends with playful leadership by the seaside. Sign up for the workshop here!

by Categories: Four Seasons of Play, Play Now, Play Your LifeTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Growing Children Through Creativity and Yoga

THE START OF SOMETHING MAGICAL

Welcome. All children are born creative. At Studio Tara we believe in growing happy children through creativity and yoga. Children’s yoga enables you to nurture your creativity through a whole mind-body-mindset workout that’s healthy, fun and useful for life.

WHY CHILDREN’S YOGA?

At Studio Tara, we combine yoga poses, breathing techniques and mindfulness to promote physical and mental well-being. Each yoga class is grounded in our knowledge and practice of play science to enable children to become who they want to be.

Benefits include:

  • Gets you fitter and more flexible in a fun and gentle way
  • Increases your ability to focus by expanding your attentional space
  • Develops your curiosity as a superpower by opening your heart and mind
  • Enhances your self-confidence to overcome challenges through gentle movement
  • Gives you the chance to discover who you are in a friendly, supportive and non-competitive environment

COME AND PLAY!

Children can bring along their adults for our online classes or invite us to your school if you go to school in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK. Contact us if you’d like to find out more. Here’s a sneak peek of what looks and feels like.

You can find out more here about why children’s yoga and why now on my personal journey of transformation.

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