We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

Sources/Resources

Here is a list of sources where you can find more information about the work and ideas of Stephen Levine, Paolo Knill, Stephen K. Levine, Pat Allen, Cathy Malchiodi, and Daria Halprin:

Stephen Levine

• "Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying" by Stephen Levine. This book explores the themes of conscious living and dying, and the role of compassion in facing pain and grief.
• "Healing into Life and Death" by Stephen Levine. Discusses how to approach pain, suffering, and the end of life with mindfulness and openheartedness.

Paolo Knill

• "Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward a Therapeutic Aesthetics" by Paolo Knill, Ellen Levine, and Stephen Levine. This book outlines the foundations of expressive arts therapy and its use in healing.
• "Minstrels of Soul: Intermodal Expressive Therapy" by Paolo Knill, Helen J. Barba, and Margo Fuchs Knill. This book provides an indepth exploration of the philosophy and methods of intermodal expressive therapy.

Stephen K. Levine

• "Poiesis: The Language of Psychology and the Speech of the Soul" This book explores the concept of poiesis, or the act of creating, as central to expressive arts therapy. Levine argues that creativity is vital for psychological healing.
• "Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy: Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives" Co-edited with Paolo J. Knill and Ellen Levine, this book lays the theoretical groundwork for expressive arts therapy, blending psychological, artistic, and philosophical perspectives.
• "Trauma, Tragedy, Therapy: The Arts and Human Suffering" This book discusses how expressive arts therapy can address trauma and tragedy, offering healing and transformation through creative expression.

Pat Allen

• "Art Is a Way of Knowing: A Guide to SelfKnowledge and Spiritual Fulfillment through Creativity" This book explores the spiritual and transpersonal dimensions of artmaking.
• "Art Is a Spiritual Path: Engaging the Sacred through the Practice of Art and Writing" Focuses on the ways that art can serve as a path to personal and spiritual growth.

Cathy Malchiodi

• "The Art Therapy Sourcebook" An introductory guide to the principles and practices of art therapy.
• "Trauma and Expressive Arts Therapy: Brain, Body, and Imagination in the Healing Process" Focuses on how the arts can help in trauma recovery and the healing process.

Daria Halprin

• "The Expressive Body in Life, Art, and Therapy: Working with Movement, Metaphor, and Meaning" This book explores the use of movement and expressive arts for personal and collective healing.

In today's episode, we talk about a recent personal experience and the many benefits of communal play, including satisfying a deep human need for social bonding, trust, and communal joy which has contributed significantly to our evolution. 

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In today’s episode, we talk about being original, using courage, vulnerability, and playfulness. These all help us be our authentic selves so that we can create original work. Being playful and courageous and vulnerable move us forward through any doubt or fear that we may have about what we want to put out of the world. It also helps us to be true to our vision, regardless of what others might think, allowing us to put our unique stamp on whatever we do. 

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In today's episode, we have story time so that you can practice creating an aesthetic response. Listen to the story, notice your aesthetic response (bodily sensations, emotions, immediate thoughts, spiritual connection), and create some thing (drawing, movement, melody, etc.) that represents your response. Do three takes of this creation, making adjustments with each take to do more of what works and less of what does not until you are satisfied with it.  

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In today's episode, we talk about how to begin to use aesthetic response when we are either witness to or engaged in creative play. We look at the four domains of aesthetic response and the various levels of meaning they can provide. A brief exercise is provided to help you begin to apply aesthetic response to your own experiences.  

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In today's episode, we discuss ways to lower the stakes of creativity and performance through the use of play so that we can get out of own way in developing mastery. We look at why creating can feel like a high stakes game and how focusing on the iterative nature of the process and staying in the moment can actually create a low stakes experience. 

We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

Today's episode examines the concept of cognitive appraisal and how it influences the response we have to any given situation. We discuss how we have the ability to decide whether we feel excited or anxious when faced with a challenging situation. The physiological responses of both feeling excited and feeling anxious have hormonal drivers that affect not only our body but our emotions and outlook as well. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode, we explore how to begin again to take action on our creative dreams and joy, after having mostly put others first. We discuss the barriers to making ourselves a priority in our lives, with ideas about how to start prioritizing our own creative well-being. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In today's episode, we discuss how to easily add play to your day no matter how busy you are. We briefly review why it is important for adults to engage in play. We discuss what activities you can choose with the benefits of each and we talk about how to easily fit episodes of play into your busy schedule. At the end of the episode, you will be guided through an object installation play activity. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In today's episode, we explore identities past and present and how these identities are shaped over time. We look at desired future and whether the identity we choose is capable of making the decisions that can lead us into our future. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode, we take a look at fear when faced with the new, what barriers it creates, and how to begin to address the fear so that we can step outside of our comfort zone in order to continue to grow and develop. Using courage, confidence, stillness or calmness of mind, and love helps us to move through fear so that we can continue to grow and develop into our best selves. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode, we discuss letting go of expectation and learning to move forward. We talk about how laughter and playfulness with those who are close to us can help us to heal. It is a reminder to remain grateful for those connections. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode, we discuss the notion of serious play and how engaging in this type of play holds benefits for enhanced creativity as well as how we problem solve in our daily lives. We talk about how the disparate ideas of seriousness and playfulness can be synthesized to provide unique solutions and other opportunities. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In today's episode we look at the concept of beginner's mind and the elements that create this mindset when learning. We discuss seven elements of beginner's mind and the many ways to practice each in order to cultivate a process oriented, open-minded approach to trying something new or returning to the fundamentals of something we have already begun to master. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In today's episode, we discuss the concept of resiliency including ways to build resources so that we can better move through difficulty. We will look at six ways to enhance our ability to manage adversity in our lives, including emotional regulation, problem-solving, adaptability and flexibility, self-care and self-compassion, a sense of purpose and meaning, and developing social supports for engagement and fun. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode, Trevor Dodge shares his insights into an expressive arts group experience that he participated in. He talks about his expectations, surprises, and various benefits of the experience. He also talks about ways he was able to incorporate the experience into his daily life and how it has helped him with his own creative pursuits. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In today's episode, we explore steps to better align with the authentic self which include self-awareness, honesty, self-acceptance, courage, integrity, boundaries, authentic connections, all of which lead us to growth. We also discuss ways to use the expressive arts and playfulness to help us move through these steps to discover, embrace, and share our true selves with the world. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode, Allison talks about awareness and its importance for adults who want to re-engage with play. She provides five keys for cultivating awareness: mindfulness, attention, curiosity, acceptance, and practice. She also suggests a variety of activities for building these skills so that you can heighten your awareness to better engage in play. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode, Stacey Shearing shares her insights into an expressive arts group experience that she participated in. She talks about her expectations, surprises, and the most enjoyable aspects of the experience. She also provides insights into the influence the experience has had and continues to have in her day to day life. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode Allison introduces the expressive arts both in the context of therapy and in non-therapeutic contexts such as facilitated groups or personal practice. A brief outline of a typical session is given as well as an explanation of what is meant by intermodal expressive arts. Allison also discusses what initially drew her to the expressive arts and the direction in which it has led her over the past 12 years. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

Resources mentioned:

Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy: Toward a Therapeutic Aesthetics by Paolo J. Knill, Ellen G. Levine and Stephen K. Levine 

(Available on Amazon.ca and INDIGO.ca)

In this episode, we discuss the broad benefits of using play to explore decision-making, personal identity, values, etc. in order to create a better understanding of ourselves and promote personal growth. We touch on how play and being in the moment is a form of mindfulness. There are multiple benefits to play whether we choose to engage in it on our own or within a group. Playfulness can help to create balance in our daily lives. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

This is Episode 1 of the Being at Play podcast with your host, Allison Anderson. In this episode, Allison describes the mission of the podcast, provides some info about herself, and gives an overview of what to expect in upcoming episodes. This podcast is brought to you by Anderson Arts & Well-Being. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.

In this episode, Allison discusses the definitions of play and purposeless play in particular. She goes through the different types of play activities as well as the physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits of playing on our own or in a group. She talks about how play stimulates the imagination, promotes curiosity, and inspires creativity. This podcast is brought to you by Anderson Arts & Well-Being. We would love to get your feedback at our website. Join our mailing list here. Find our other links here.