Neuro-Somatic Benefits of Play For Adults
and why I'm blowing up my life...again!
Thank you for being here, reader. Without you, does this tree falling in the forest even make a sound? <333
I am committed to the exercise of writing this without AI (even if I occassionally use AI images).
Today my head is spinning, thoughts are scattered, barely finishing a sentence…
”Mom, you need to paint”, she says.
So we do.
I thought about writing about many things today. I considered an essay on the benefits of writing itself, specifically to a deadline, and how dedicating to this monthly piece - even if it’s often written on the very last day of the month - empowers my self talk about commitment. (Self comms is the 2nd pillar of the Whole Body Communicator program!)
I toyed around with waxing poetic about moving into THE BUS…decided you’ll hear enough about that soon. (Bout to add Skoolie livin’ to the themes for this ‘stack!)
This moment of painting with my daughter stands out today. So, story here I weave.
I’m in a fascinating continuing ed program studying Neuro Somatic Intelligence, because - finger and thumb in the shape of an L on my forehead is for LIFE LONG LEARNER babayyyy!! :D
And it’s got me thinking about the neuroscience of errrthang in life, and how complex and yet totally fine-tune-able our systems are.
My friend was also recently telling me about the book Your Brain On Art which breaks down how art heals us, strengthens our cognitive abilities, even possibly ads ten years to our lives with just one monthly artistic experience! WHoooaaAa?!! (like, am I evading death by writing these sagas to you all?! heheheee).
My daughter was right, though. I REALLY needed to paint today. And not in a competitive, get this right kinda way. I needed to PLAY artistically. This type of art as play is both expansive and healing, we’ll get to the why.
Life has been so exciting lately. The opportunity to say YES to buying and moving into a bus has been thrilling and also a HUGE upheaval to my system. It’s brought up money trauma, loss of home triggers, identity stuff, the whole 9 yards. And yet, it’s a chance to practice what I preach.
I spoke in a podcast recording yesterday (and an email to my Weeping Willow List) about how our nervous systems need us to support them in order to grow the capacity to handle the lives we say we want. Our brains are always scanning for new and different and cuing danger, so we need to learn somatic tools that teach our bodies and brains a different story and sensory experience about change, expansion, growth.
Back to me, today. With the constant whiplash of things coming at me to process in preparing for our new lifestyle (while running a business, single parenting and performing in a big show! AH!), I was GLITCHING today, like missing a meeting, stuttering words, eating bites of food standing up and pacing, eyes on my phone, what am I looking for again…
yikes.
Kiddo reminded me, that’s when to pivot.
And within just 20 minutes of painting our little ceramic animal planters, I felt the chaos settle, my still jam-packed day started to fall into order (hi executive functioning nice to see you back!) And most of all, I felt pleasure, and joy, like life is sweet and good and yummy.
Kinda the whole point of being here, right?
And the somatic experience of pleasure and creativity softened my stress response to the things coming up from the expansion I am in. Wooohoo!
Healing Yourself Somatically is Inherently Creative
Read that again out loud, love. Say “myself”.
So often, our culture creates the experience of, “go to the professional, do what they say, think/feel/experience/become what they said you will.” But I’m gonna remind you, nobody knows you like you know you. And if you wanna discover, or really remember what heals you, you gotta take time to play.
You can learn 237 somatic exercises and what the experts say they do but unless you actually go into fully experiencing them and find out how they land in your body, today, and find the creativity in exploring them, that cognitive learning isn’t helping you. (I’m saying this for myself, too!)
There’s a whole lotta neuroscience behind somatics and it is so so so soooo fricken cool. But at the end of the day, you gotta do the thing. You have to move your beautiful body, explore, test things out, make mistakes, get ideas, and playyy.
As a somatic coach, of course I want you to learn in relationship, join the cohorts, book the 1:1 program, but above all, it’s up to YOU to play! AND PLAY IS FREE!!!!
If I haven’t convinced you yet, here’s some appeals to authority, i.e., other people say this too.
This article focuses on the ways that play re-creates an experience of uncertainty and improvisation, but pairs that with fun and reward, thereby programming uncertainty as a good thing for our brains. Can you see why somatically, play helps you build capacity for change, growth, and the unknown of what you say you want in your life?
We’re trying to rewire our brain’s patterned response to the unknown, and the quickest way is with a dose of FUN!
.
Ugh, just felt my throat constricting, hands sweating. So took a quick play break to simultaneously twerk, play with my dog, and chant “don’t just talk about it, talk about it, be about it!” on repeat for a minute. Good times. I’m back.
I’ve been sifting through other articles to share and getting kinda activated NGL. They all seem to need to reference that play has benefits, it’s good for managing our stress, boosting our creativity, which increases our focus and productivity at work… bleh.
My inner child is screaming WHAT THE FA**CKK!!! (bleep, ok maybe that’s my inner teenager). But fer real, some part of me is raging mad that the whole point of the studies in play is to show how they support WORK, like we need a defense of why it’s worth it because it really will make us more productive in the end.
BARF.
What about play because it feels good?? Let’s play because that’s the point. Full stop.
I was going to offer you more neuro articles and analysis but my point is made and this little mini tantrum brings me back to…Le Bus.
I’m blowing up my life a little bit here because I just won’t stop f*cking the system.
No worries if the system is serving you. I have definitely benefited from it. Birthing my child and beating cancer on sweet sweet MediCal certainly brings me to humbled gratitude that it exists, even with its flaws.
And that said, the system isn’t designed for us play nearly enough! So we’re going bus life for a while to see just how much play we can pack into our lives while still having our needs met. Because it’s hard to keep the play priority high enough when I’ve been hustling so hard, convinced I need a lotta things I don’t really need.
Cali and I have talked about bus life for years. It always felt way outside anything that I could hold - as did homeschool, as did my coaching practice, as did the type of performance I gave at ConFusion on Saturday. But I just kept diving in right before I felt ready and then somatically soothing myself the rest of the way there.
And for me, that’s the zest of life. We gotta dream outside our comfort zone, and play right at the edge of it until the zone grows to hold our big-ass dreams.
.
Creator Corner Collective
Someone I have seen do the above over and over again is my friend Ginger. I’d like to close out today’s writing by nudging you towards her Substack!
Ginger is someone who, in my experience, consistently threads the needle of mixing play with that shoot-for-the-moon, never stop challenging yourself hutzpah to do the big things, all while caring for herself and others and being real freaking honest about the highs and lows of living in the present, radically alive!
I’d love for you to take in her article on love. If you’re a romantic and also a realist it’ll hit. There’s a quiet pride that reverberates through the piece about all the ways she’s expanded her capacity to make a new pattern in her behavior, choose a different thing, build a new way. It’s beautiful and hope-filled. Enjoy!
.
Want to be highlighted in my letter? Reach out and tell me more about your work.
More creative stuff
You can check out more healing offerings at www.weepingwillowwellness.com
Book a FREE strategy session here to meet with me and discuss joining my 12 week somatic healing program, Whole Body Communicator
Find my music anywhere you stream. Just search Fermata Blaize!
Check out my children’s book The Possum And The Bunny
Listen to my podcast episode of the I Heart My Life show
Join the Whole Body Communicator’s Hub on Skool! Group coaching, course content and more
Get the $7 Whole Body Communicator Integration Journal
And more to come!
As always, the next card draw from the Naked Truth Oracle Deck is below this pay wall. Please subscribe to help me bring this labor of love to life!
