Play is Serious Work

November 1, 2022

That first image from LUMINOUS is a full circle moment. 

I was a classical voice major at NYU, and dropped out after a semester because I didn’t find opera particularly compelling ‐ or rather, my limited idea of what opera could be.

Since then, I’ve been in a punk band, a downtempo fusion band, done an opera for babies, sang in an activist choir, sang in an eclectic vocal ensemble, and now, I’ve sung in what essentially was a site-specific opera in a cave. Which is exactly what was on my 2022 bingo card.

Thank you to Circle Creative Collective for bringing this vision to life, and for bringing us all together to make this LUMINOUS magic.

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Play is a serious work.

I’ve been playing since I was a child. I was involved in theater, but I was less interested in Shakespeare and more into theater improv. I loved choir class, but I REALLY loved improvising with friends after choir class.

At every professional development training, I was less into the subject matter itself, and more into icebreakers, small group simulations, and other structures for moving the group’s energy to heighten the collective experience and deepen the individual learning of the subject matter. My friend and master teacher Zuza Gonçalves hipped me to the term “pedagogy of cooperation,” which I use in both an inter and intra-personal context. 

Play allows seemingly incongruous aspects of your being to cooperate with each other: bashful and bold, awkward and angry, the entire spectrum between grief and bliss.

Play involves embracing discomfort, having compassion for the messiest edges of your creative exploration, and discovering dimensions to yourself that surprise and sometimes even scare you.

Play integrates your mind, heart, and body. 

Play integrates your light (that which is expressed) with your shadow (the unexpressed). 

What happens when you prioritize play in your life?

You get to live from a state of emotional freedom.

You get to experience creative fulfillment. 

You get to cultivate a practice of trusting your expressive, playful, and inspirational impulses. 

You get to unlock your radiance and let it shine through all areas of your life. 

 🎉 Where there was boredom, there is now the thrill of self-discovery. 

🎉 Where you were once stuck in a seemingly endless rut, you are now seeing new possibilities where you didn’t see them before (though they may have been there all along!), and making soul-aligned moves. 

🎉 Where there was energetic clutter – confusion, despair, regret – there is now clarity, understanding, wisdom, healing. 

🎉 Where there were thought loops and behavior patterns that kept you tethered to outgrown versions of you, there are now pathways to break free from those paradigms, and invoke that which empowers your highest good at the deepest core of your identity.

Claim your spot and enroll in VOKE, a 1:1 online program I created to guide you through a transformational process that is tailored to your unique set of needs, desires, and challenges.

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