Sitting still on a meditation cushion isn't the only way to cultivate awareness!
Bringing together mindfulness and playfulness
(They’re the SAME THING!)
Mindfulness experts encourage people to practice being in the moment while walking, exercising, eating, talking and even washing the dishes. But it turns out that it’s not that simple……to be truly “mindful,” we have to approach these experiences in a very specific way: with curiosity and openness, engaging our whole self, yet with a certain lightness of spirit to let go of prejudices, mental habits, and attachment to outcomes.
But wait just one moment!
Doesn’t all of this complicated adult gobbledygook boil down, in the end, to something quite obvious to any five-year-old? Isn’t it just another expression of the crazy shenanigans we used to get up for hours at a time as kids? To the simple act of PLAY, which all children regard as the best possible way to spend each waking minute of their lives?
This workshop, inspired by imaginary spiritual traditions such as the Tao of Pooh, the Poppins School of Perfect Presence and the Ministry of Mindful Silly Walks, will provide a resounding answer to these urgent questions.
Over the course of five hours, Alex Menhams will guide us not towards a distant “enlightenment”, but to a lightness of being available to everyone at all times. This session will encourage us to stop treating meditation as mental “training”, a difficult “discipline”, or even something to be “achieved” or “attained”, and to finally give ourselves the permission enjoy the present moment as a place of wonder, ease, freedom and play. Just like we did at age five.
Silent meditation will give way to bodily movement, inner work to creative interaction and play. We will recapture the spirit of school recess, believe in impossible things, laugh at our inevitable mistakes, fears, and imperfections. All of it within in a safe space of mutual care, where the simple wisdom and spontaneity we once knew can be liberated, free at long last to skip, hop, whistle and dance.
Thanks to these mindful games, designed to help us dive headfirst into the roiling uncertainty of the present moment, and to the rediscovery of the endless creativity within each and every human being – we’ll have astonishing amounts of pure unadulterated fun while learning a number of super serious lessons. Or at least that’s what we’ll try!
Details:
– 10:30am to 3:30pm
– Sunday 17 August
– New Street Market – Woodbridge
– £40 per person
The venue is wheelchair accessible and we offer free access companion tickets. We also offer payment plans and bursary places for anyone in need of financial assistance.
This workshop is about play, not improvisation! We’ll be doing lots of fun & spontaneous things together in the moment, but we won’t be performing or making up any scenes. So relax, you’ve got this – it’s suitable for everyone!
About the facilitator
Alex Menhams is the founder of improv school Here & Now People in Woodbridge, Suffolk where he teaches classes that bring people together in ways that are playful, joyful mindful and hopeful.
Alex teaches and performs improv across Europe and loves exploring the connections between presence, play, mindfulness and humour, and has taught The Way of Play in London and many sessions on presence and play at festivals, retreats and conferences.
Alex works as a trainer and facilitator (www.alexmenhams.com) and is passionate about the power and possibilities of creative group work to help people fulfil their potential. He has had many adventures with creative learning and team development and in creating thinking spaces for forward-thinking organisations. His clients include Channel 4, AstraZeneca, Shell, Norwich Theatre, Britten Pears Arts and many other charities, universities and NGOs.
Over the years Alex has dived deep into mindfulness, qi gong, taoism, Buddhism, advaita, mystical Christianity and radical nondualism. Along the way he’s found that being too serious on the spiritual path becomes it’s own barrier, and that there’s a balance between seeking and finding, being and doing. Three years ago he had an awakening to his true essential nature while walking along the Suffolk coast.
The Way of Play
The Way of Play has been developed by Alex and Eduardo Jauregui through a group of coaches and facilitators that formed at the Applied Improvisation Network Conference in 2022. Since then they have been exploring the surprising connections between play and spirituality together with other members such as Vanessa Wilde, Benjamin Lloyd, Taj Baker and Angelina Castellini. This session was developed in collaboration with Eduardo and delivered in London on 13th July.
Eduardo Jáuregui is the director of the Spanish mindfulness school Modo Ser (www.modoser.com). A social psychologist with a doctoral thesis on the topic of humour and laugher, mindfulness and other areas of positive psychology and wellbeing.
Testimonials
“An extraordinary experience – finding yourself playing with strangers, giving life to your imagination, laughing without worrying about goals. A truly healing experience.”
“You arrive without having the slightest idea of what will happen and after a few minutes you find yourself playing with others, rediscovering the child within you that had been dormant for years.”
“Playful mindfulness is a fantastic combination – the best of both worlds! This day was fun, relaxing, insightful, fascinating and brilliant – the combination of gentle guidance and limitless exploration made for a delightful experience.”
“I liked the relaxed pace of the day and the quality of conversations generated amongst people who are essentially strangers. The careful explanations without any hurry really landed with me and expanded my experience.”
“The session brought together 15 strangers in an exploration of play, presence, mindfulness, silliness and sometimes profound emotion. I was left feeling completely present by the end of it: that state that you can get into after a long meditation or yoga session, except that we spent lots of it exploring games and generally behaving like 6 year olds.”
“I enrolled because I know I take myself too seriously at times and I wanted to explore a lighter side of me – it definitely filled that objective.”
“It really flew by and I appreciated how interactive it all was. I wasn’t bored for a minute. I thought I was REALLY comfortable playing, but I realised that I do have hang-ups about getting things right and that interferes with my ability to play. So, I left with a renewed sense of wanting to give myself permission to make mistakes so I can play more!
“I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much with a group of strangers and also nearly got moved to tears and somehow also felt lighter. I highly recommend this unique workshop and its wonderful facilitators.”
“Alex and Ed were great facilitators, creating fun, safety, tenderness, silliness, and a sense of inclusiveness, acceptance, friendliness and connection among a group of people that had never been together before, and doing it with ease, grace and humour. There was an edge of excitement at the unexpected – and I was left with joy and a deep sense of wholeness, having connected with inner playfulness. Really life affirming.”
Also check out other Workshops in Woodbridge, Health & Wellness events in Woodbridge, Arts events in Woodbridge.
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