SUMMER: PLAYFUL RESILEINCE

Our eco-somatic summer immersion is inspired by the expansive abundance of the season. The piedmont landscape is oozing with multi-layered, vibrant expressions: aromatic flavors, joyful song and chatter, rich tones and hues, rhythmic pulsations and glimmering reflections. The creative playmaking of Summer reveals itself in every moment.

Summer’s abundant flourishing is only ever the result of collaborative playmaking rooted in ecosystem entanglement. The process of communal play produces  resilient relationships rooted in care that are responsive to change. We are really only able to receive the gifts of the season to the extent that we are able to participate and give of ourselves in joyful reciprocity. Abundance arises from the play of giving and receiving.

​

Resilience, or the ability to manage stress and adversity, and the capacity to meet life challenges with courage, is a quality we all aspire to possess, because it is inevitable that life will produce stress-inducing demands and always an element of the unknown. Rarely is play considered a prerequisite or even a necessary ingredient of resilience, nor is it generally appreciated in its contributions for how we manage stress, or how we face and master adversity.

​

According to research psychologist Steve Siviy who has written in Vol. #2 of the American Journal of Play:

​

"Various species have survived through countless episodes of adversity, and they did so partly because they developed arsenals of coping mechanisms. We presume that play as a phenotype has been through the rigors of natural selection and has afforded some advantage... to species that play. Indeed, play may have emerged as a stable behavior pattern across a variety of species over the course of evolution, but one that truly took hold in the mammalian brain."

​

Play, in its many manifestations, serves a wide variety of survival-promotion functions pertaining to stress management, overall competency, learning, emotional regulation, innovation, and social cooperation. This understanding of the nature and importance of play is especially vital in today’s world.

BENEFITS OF PLAY

• present moment experiencing
• cognitive function & adaptability
• activates imagination
• helps you to get to know your body
• increases proprioceptive awareness
• stimulates & energizes
• hones intuitive & instinct
• awakens creativity & aliveness
• strengthens social bonds
• develops trust & safety
• counters capitalism

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT

OVERVIEW:

• ​​Arriving & Orienting
• Evoking Curiosity
• Earth Connection
• Lunch *please pack your own lunch
• Nature FUN & play!
• Harvest & Rest 

WHAT TO WEAR:

• Wear whatever you will feel most comfortable in though keep in mind that ticks are prominent.
• Suggested: long pants with socks over pants. Ideally close toed shoes. Optional: hat

WHAT TO BRING:

• Drinking water
• Packable lunch with snacks
• Blanket or chair to sit on
• Sun screen 
• Bug repellant

LOCATION NOTES / ACCESSIBILITY:

• Gravel roads and mowed grassy area for parking
• Meeting in the grass under the Grandmother Oak Tree
• Trails: natural surface trails include mowed grass trails along the fields and narrow foot paths through the forests
• Rest rooms: outdoor privy / not wheelchair accessible

A NOTE ON COVID:

Out of respect for one another, we ask that all participants refrain from attending the event if you are showing any signs or symptoms of sickness. We ask that all attendees come prepared with masks as optional and/or if we determine as a group to wear them. 

​

​

We strive to be diverse, intergenerational and accessible to people of all walks of life. Please contact us when you'll be attending with children or when accessibility is a concern so that we can be as accommodating as possible.