My friend Justin has a really cool blog that explores spirituality, especially from a Celtic Christian perspective. He so kindly asked me to write a post for his blog this summer. It was right around the time I was teaching my class on play, so I wrote a post on play as a contemplative practice. It’s a post for readers who both have a spiritual or religious tradition of their own or for those who are interested in contemplative practices like meditation or visualization.
Here’s the beginning of it, and you can read the post in its entirety here.
“What would you say if I told you that play can be a contemplative practice?
If you are a like a lot of people, you might be skeptical at first. After all, contemplation has the connotation of quiet, serious, and serene thought, while play is often considered to be noisy, light-hearted, and boisterous. These seem like opposite activities.
And in some ways they are. I would suggest, however, that there are certain playful activities or attitudes that can be a contemplative practice. And in fact, play might be the first contemplative practice we learn in life. To understand this better, it is helpful to explore what contemplative practices are and what play is to better understand their connection . . .”
Check out the full post here.
You are so welcome, Chrystal! Thank you for reading and commenting.