Unified Playfulness practices give adults space to play, slow down, and tap into their creativity. These practices help disrupt patterns and foster behavior change, bringing more resilience, authenticity, and joy into their lives and the systems they inhabit.
Some ideas to practise Play for Transition
The practice involves offering activities/invitations and creating spaces where it is safe and accessible for diverse groups of adults to come together and PLAY.
The practice is contemplative, reflective and rooted in systems change, which differentiates Unified Playfulness from many other forms/spaces of play.
Through cycles of action and reflection, participants engage in various forms of facilitated play, including imaginative, movement, object, word, and social play. Beloved Community is a core value, fostering a safe space for connection and welcoming diversity.
Through activities people are invited into Doing more of the things they know are good for them, Doing less of the things they know are not good for them and/or Doing things differently, to create possibilities beyond their current imaginations.
From personal experience and consistent participant feedback, I know this practice works. Workshop attendees often describe it as a powerful tool that releases tension, breaks free from overthinking, and reconnects them with a childlike sense of freedom. One participant noted it helped them "let go, yell, scream, and be weird," freeing up stuck places. Another reflected, "we need permission to not take something seriously to approach it with the seriousness it deserves." Others said the practice brought them back to when they felt like a child again, "actually seeing from those eyes."
Diving deeper
Master the art of Play for Transition
You can use the below resources to become more skilled at this. Explore them at your own leisure:
- Using Play to Re-Wire and Improve Your Brain - a podcast episode from the Huberman Lab about how play impacts your body and brain.
- Play Matters - a book by Miguel Sicart exploring why play is a productive, expressive way of being, a form of understanding, and a fundamental part of our well-being....
- The Most Creative Look to the Future: Imagination and Creative Practice in Service or Organizational Transformation - UN Global Pulse’s paper explores how embracing creative practice and imagination can catalyze innovation and transformation.
- PLAY - an excerpt from David Fleming’s masterpiece Lean Logic connecting play to post-capitalist transition
- Playing for Time: Making Art as if the World Mattered - Book by Lucy Neal that serves as a resource for artists, community activists and anyone wishing to harness their creativity to make change in the world.
- Pattern Disruption Now!, Unified Playfulness for Systems Change - an article I wrote sharing about the need for play from various perspectives and how it connects to systems change
- Play is More than Just Fun - TED Talk from Play researcher Stuart Brown.
Stay engaged
Opportunities to keep connected and learn more
Unified Playfulness: Lifestyle Labs - Online - Zoom
A series of workshops designed for people to make tangible changes in their life through the power of play, community and commitment.
- November 12th - Playing with Possibilities (Habit Change) - 3PM - 5PM UTC
- November 26th - Creatively Playing with Exercise & Wellness (Fitness) - 3PM - 5PM UTC
- December 10th - Using Play to Integrate Mindfulness into your Daily Life - 3PM - 5PM UTC
Play From Home - Online - Zoom
A 5-week online learning journey designed to support people to integrate more play into their daily lives and playfully/tangibly experiment with habits/patterns they want to change in their lives. Registration is open on a rolling basis.
Unified Playfulness: Team Wellness and Connection to bring customized workshops or series of sessions into your workplace.
1-on-1 or small group Play-Based Coaching for more intimate support to bring tangible changes into your life.
Also you are welcome to:
Join, Co-Convene or Support Fund the a Unified Playfulness: Think/Do/Play Tank
And we stay in touch through the Practising Transition space in the Transition Movement Virtual Platform.
Member discussion