Play Your Way to Health

My favorite thing about mind-body healing is that it surprises everyone. All of my clients arrive at their sessions ready to work. They have their pens out, notebooks open, best school behavior at the ready, and are generally prepped to do it right – even perfectly. They are ready to put in some effort, try hard, and make things happen. They plan to create health with sheer willpower alone.

So most of my clients are quite surprised when I assign homework that involves doing absolutely nothing. They are astonished when I tell them NOT to focus on mind-body work for hours at a time. They start to smile and relax when I suggest they do something outrageously fun.

The most surprising thing about mind-body healing is this: your most effective healing tool is your inner ten-year-old. I imagine your inner ten-year-old as a playful being who has yet to start putting immense pressure on herself, who still loves herself and enjoys being in her own skin, and does what feels best to her in any given moment.

Maybe you never felt like that at age ten, so for you it might be your inner eight-year-old or five-year-old. You might have to simply imagine what it would be like to just play, carefree, with abandon and joy, not caring one whit about what others think. However you do it, entering into that space of freedom within your own mind and body – in other words, taking the pressure off yourself, focusing on what you love about you, and really tuning in to what feels right to you – is an enormous health creator.

You might not do it perfectly today. Or tomorrow. Or ever. It doesn’t matter one bit. Even if you can tune into the slightest element of that inner joy within all of us, you are creating health. It will add up, I promise!

Today, pure, unabashed fun and joy might be resting. It might be swimming. It might be hanging out with a friend. It might be coloring with crayons. It might be breakfast for dinner or dessert for lunch. It might be your favorite new book. It might be shopping. The only requirement is that you love doing it, want to do it, and have fun doing it.

My inner ten-year-old and I have had a fun week thus far. Together we have run barefoot in the grass, played baseball, played with my dog, laughed, played music, started learning a new instrument, and taken a nap. Nothing feels more freeing, more joyful, or more alive than tapping into this part of me. Nobody has to approve. I don’t have to do one thing right. My entire focus is enjoyment and joy. I’ve been playing my violin, which is something I used to do as a ten-year-old, just for fun. Then, over time, studying to be a classical violinist and my thoughts about needing to play perfectly took away my enjoyment. Recently, I have rediscovered my passion for playing by giving myself permission to play whatever the hell I want, however I want to play it. I now play Irish fiddle music, and I only play tunes I love. It feels great to give myself this kind of freedom.

So here’s your assignment for this week: Do something that feels like fun, for no reason whatsoever. Do it however you want to, rules be damned. Now really – is there any better homework than that?