Pre-Congress Workshop 2 11 October (15:00 – 18:30)
Embodied self through play: the Original Play experience
However, how much emphasis has been given on the physical spontaneous play that children naturally express?Seeing children rolling on the floor on top of each other usually stresses adults out, causing them to intervene so as to avoid an “accident”. But children do know!
Fred Donaldson has explored the way that children and animals play for over 40 years. The results of his exploration and experience point out the similarities on how all creatures play: they join play experience when they feel safe and nurtured, as one joins a natural process, full of energy, eagerness for exploration, contact, trust, love and life.
Fred Donaldson played with children and animals at their own physical level and was taught all the qualities of play that open the heart, release body intelligence, emotions, fantasy, resourcefulness and creative expression.
He named this “Original Play” and systematized it as a practice.
Original play, then, is a direct, spontaneous, non- verbal way of communication and connection. It favours emotional intelligence, connection with the self, others and the body. It helps develop deep relationships of trust, belonging, and love. Original play contributes decisively in weakening many modern patterns of connection that involve competition, aggression, and even violence, suggesting kindness, straightforwardness, safety, and belonging instead, as more effective behavioural choices. Original Play means letting go of the fear and trusting one’s embodied self.
In this workshop, we will share our experience in Original Play, making an introduction to its philosophy, its values and principles as well as the practice. Our tools will be: our bodies and our hearts.
Workshop goals
- To comprehend the importance of physical play in the development and structure of embodied self. (Touch, connection, belonging, love, natural boundaries)
- To consider play not only as leisure time activity, but as a deep relationship with self and others, as well as an effective way of action in everyday life
- To explore the values and principles of Original Play, which are kept hidden inside us, so we can connect the spontaneity of play with everyday life and therapy
- To see how natural body wisdom gives us the opportunity to make things easier, trusting our (embodied) self, as opposed to learned competitive behaviors, to reach our goals
- To point out the obstacles that keep us from letting ourselves play in adult life
- To approach the original, authentic happiness that exists in play
Angeliki Kalatzopoulou studied Sociology and Psychology at Athens University. She specialized in body psychotherapy and gestalt therapy at the Greek Institution of Vegetotherapy and Character Analysis. She started her training in original play in 2008 at the Centrum Promocji Original Play in Warsaw. She has participated in many seminars on psychology and psychotherapy for adults, adolescents, and children. She has been working as a psychotherapist since 1998, and has given many workshops and lectures in several institutions.
Her intention to enrich her experiences in Original Play has traveled her in many places all over the world, and she has played with dozens of children. In Greece, she has worked in private kindergartens and other private places for children. During the last 4 years, she plays with groups of parents and children at the Onassis Cultural Center.
Her interest regarding the role of the body in the human developmental and therapeutic process, as well as her love of movement and the body, has driven her to experiment with various movement practices, such as Gabriel’s Roth 5 Rhythms, contemporary dance, yoga and much more.