PODCAST · health
PlayGrounding
by Kara Fortier
What happens when the way you play becomes the way you live and work? Each week, you'll hear interviews with courageous people who've let play inspire their daily lives - their relationships, hobbies, spirituality and even their career paths. Adulting doesn't have to be boring, but you have to be ready to step off of the beaten path.
Episodes
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Exercise to Heal, Not Hurt, with Nia Instructor Jenn Hicks
Exercise is an important part of a healthy life, but how we do it is important. Jenn Hicks has been teaching Nia through a body/fat positivity and Health At Every Size lens ever since recovering from her eating disorder and exercise addiction. The practice draws from martial arts, dance arts, and...
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Screen-Free Week! A Conversation with Jean Rogers, Director of the Children's Screen Time Action Network
Screen Free Week, May 3-9, 2021, is the Children's Screen Time Action Network's annual celebration of unplugging, reconnection, and joy. They're celebrating differently this year because screens have become the only means of connection for so many of us. But maybe that's all the more reason to...
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Psychologically Safe Workplaces
How can we play like children, but as adults? And how could it transform the workplace if we learn to develop deeper, adult ways of playing as we got older instead of putting it away? And most importantly, how can play principles be incorporated into our workplace relationships and career goals?...
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Playful Humans: Rethinking Social Media
Mike Montague, founder of Playful Humans Clubhouse and host of the Playful Humans Podcast, discusses one of the most difficult issues facing us humans these days – what to do about social media. We talk about our response to The Social Dilemma, which leads us to a deeper discussion about how we…
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So, Tell Me How You Really Feel - Unraveling Spiritual Jargon
Alessandra Calderin has a very no-nonsense approach to health and spirituality that I really appreciate. Conversations about spirituality can take on characteristics similar to a religion with its own jargon and its own sets of assumptions. If you don't agree with those assumptions or understand...
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The Joy of Dementia (You've Got To Be Kidding!)
Dementia is seen as one of the most horrible things that can happen to a person – a "loss of self" or "living death." Susan Massad and Mary Fridley are part of a coalition working to challenge that way of looking at dementia, known as "the tragedy narrative." They created a workshop called The…
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Religious Trauma Syndrome, Healing Spiritual Wounds
Spirituality and religion are linked to positive physical and mental health outcomes, but at times, unhealthy teachings can cause more problems than they solve. On this episode, Gary Ware interviews Kara, the host of PlayGrounding. Through her work toward interfaith ordination, she's begun the...
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Work and Play Should Coexist: Transform Your Workplace
Rona Lewis, Founder and CEO of Playful Minds Project, explains her work with businesses to improve mental health in the workplace. Rona doesn't believe in work/life balance. Work is part of life! So how do you balance it all? It's about taking time to make time work for you. And above all, having...
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Play to Live: A Mental Health Story of Panic to Playfulness
If you've ever believed you couldn't share your own story or let your voice be heard until you "fix" yourself, then you need to hear what Jessica has to say. Jessica Brustad, Co-Founder of Playful Mind Project, has worked with individuals struggling with mental health issues like anxiety, OCD and...
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Playful Minds Project: Welcome to Play-Care
Meet the co-founders of the recently launched Playful Mind Project, play experts Jessica Brustad and Rona Lewis. The focus of their launch is on one of the hardest hit demographics during the Covid-19 pandemic – working moms. Jessica and Rona are not therapists, but their work is informed by...
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Say Yes To Yourself w/International Improv Innovator, Charly Ford
This week you're going to meet Charlette (Charly) Ford, a seasoned entertainer, executive producer and curator of the You's A Fool Improv and Variety Show in Atlanta, GA. Charly is an Improv Acting Coach and bold event host, she brings charisma, comedy, and culture to her students and audiences...
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Play: Our Instinctive Therapist and Portal to the Soul w/Vince Gowmon
Play can be an empowering spiritual experience, regardless of what you practice, or what religious or spiritual subculture you belong to. And no one has been better, over the years, at helping us understand that play has an important role in healing from trauma and helping us deal with shame than...
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Discover the Playground of Possibilities w/Kay Ross
Kay Ross believes that life is an improvisation game and a playground of possibilities. She is an improv performer and an Applied Improvisation trainer; a bodyworker/healer; the Head Tour Guide in The Playground of Possibilities (that's her project about guiding people to choose more joyful,...
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Foster Creativity and Play for a Brighter Future
Have you ever heard the quote, "Be the person you needed when you were younger." This quote by Ayesha Siddiqi is embodied in the work of Rita Ezenwa-Okoro. Rita lives in Lagos, Nigeria and is the Founder and Lead Visionary of Street Project Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that uses...
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You're Not Broken: Overcoming Play Deprivation w/Gary Ware
Gary Ware is concerned about your plan to work an all-nighter to finish that project. You might want to listen to his advice, because he's been where you are. Gary is the founder of Breakthrough Play, where he helps teams be more creative, confident, and collaborative using play. He has over half…
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Being + Becoming: It's Time to Ditch the Script
None of the problems our world is facing right now can be solved if we can't find new ways to talk to each other. Right now, consensus seems like a far off dream and we find ourselves asking, are we doomed to fail? Or is it possible to create a new way to talk to each other so that we can reach...
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Someone is Waiting for YOU to Show Up, w/Jeff Harry
Was 2020 supposed to be "your year"? Of course, sometimes things don't go the way we want them to, but Jeff Harry has a message for you. Play is a superpower that helps you become more resilient not only in the face of our personal struggles, but the struggles facing our country and the world. So...
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How to Plan a Play Day in Your Community
Pat Rumbaugh, founder of Let's Play America, returns for another conversation on PlayGrouding! Let's Play America has a new e-book called The Play Day Handbook, which is an amazing, step-by-step guide for how to create play days for your community. Their play days, and all the advice in the Play...
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Who Gives You Permission to Play?
According to Andrew Walsh's daughter, he is "A librarian who teaches grown-ups how to play", which is far more important than any "real" job description. He is founding editor of the Journal of Play in Adulthood and is a core member of the Playful Learning Association. Hear about his research…
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Dream the Culture Forward w/Artist Scott Froschauer
Scott Froschauer is an artist known by many for his public art installations of street signs. They look just like the street signs you pass by every day, but the messages they convey are not what you'd ever expect to see. In this episode about play and activism, he discusses how how experiential...
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The Global Play Brigade
Meet Cathy Salit and Fernanda Liberali, founders of The Global Play Brigade, a volunteer community of play and performance activists, improvisers, clowns, musicians, educators and therapists who have come together in response to the global pandemic and the distressing, inequitable state of our...
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A Difficult Ritual - "Heavenly Brown Body"
"Heavenly Brown Body" is Leslie's most recent installation, based on a haunting poem by the late Mark Aguhar called "Litanies to My Heavenly Brown Body." His work is challenging and for some of us, myself included, it's really hard to take in. But we've all been learning that the most important...
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Game On...line!
Mary Catanzaro, Founder of POGO Events in New York City, left her career in the corporate world to bring people together for scavenger hunts and game nights throughout the city. Hear how she built her business like a family and is dedicated to keeping it running through this tough time so that...
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Living With Death
Death has been heavy on our minds during the Coronavirus pandemic. Most of us don't like to think about it, but this conversation with interfaith Death Midwife Rev. Maggie Burbank Yunoki is a great way to open up to new ways of thinking about death and seeking deeper meaning for our lives.
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Where Can Courage Take Us?
The whole world is going through a trauma right now. And your part is no smaller than anyone else's. It's vital right now to find the courage to face our emotions and find ways to enjoy life. Even if it takes baby steps to get there.
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Play Therapy: Rediscover Yourself
Therapists often tell us how important it is to play and enjoy life. But what about playing IN therapy? Apparently, that's actually a thing. Jamie Lynne McCoppin is a Drama Therapist who can help you discover your play personality and rediscover parts of yourself you probably haven't encountered…
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Slack or Snap? It's Up to You
The very idea that play is important is a hard sell - especially for stressed-out grownups with responsibilities and long to-do lists. But if we don't cut ourselves some slack, we're setting ourselves up for a fall.
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Everyday Adventures: Learning to Love the Unknown
When I'm burned out, the last word I want to hear is adventure. But thanks to Stacey Newman Weldon of Adventure Wednesdays, I learned that adventures don't have to be over-complicated vacations. Adventures can start small, stimulate our creativity, keep our minds sharp and our hearts full.
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Surprised By Joy
In a mental health crisis, play is a vitally important part of our healing process. So why can it be so hard to give ourselves permission actually do it? Join Kara for an exploration of the things that get in the way of play and our pursuit of joy.
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Six Steps Toward Building Your Play Practice
In this episode, I (Kara Fortier, you know, the host) will talk about how I finally became an adult who plays. A playful mindset came so easily to us as children, but we adults build up lots of roadblocks keeping us from it. Incorporating play has been a process. It wasn't as easy as just…
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Can I Play? The State of PE and Play in America's Schools
With all of this talk about kids and play, it's about time we hear from an educator here on the PlayGrounding Podcast. Doug Smith has been a physical education teacher for nineteen years. In this episode, we discuss the state of physical education in schools today such as the focus on testing and...
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No Excuses: Choosing Health & Playing for Your Life
This is a deeply personal episode for me, Kara, the host of PlayGrounding. This is the second part of my conversation with Sabrina Must. Last week, we explored the role of playfulness in facing and handling grief. Sabrina and I kept talking on the day of our interview and we went in a completely...
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Play in the Depths: A Playful Heart Meets Grief
It might seem counterintuitive to have a conversation about play and grief. We often associate play with frivolity, silliness and escape. But what we learn from this conversation with Sabrina Must is that a playful approach to life can take us deeper and more in touch with who we really are, even...
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Playful Problem Solving - The Power of Puzzles
Puzzles are powerful. Have you ever had a hard time putting worries aside - blocking out your to-do list and experiencing a moment of real focus in a no-stakes, playful situation? Try a puzzle. I'm not just talking about sitting with a puzzle on paper or your smart phone. I'm talking about escape...
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The Trickster Consciousness in a Polarized World with Shepherd Siegel
Dada, the Beats and the Hippies - what do they all have in common? The way they played was a problem for the authorities, for the people in power trying to instill black and white order on the world. This week on Playgrounding we'll be talking to Shepherd Siegel, an educator and author whose work...
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Playing to Win at Any Age
Some people train for a sport from the time they're very young and become elite. Some people don't even begin to get active until much later in life but become high level competitors. This week's guest is here to remind us to never underestimate what we can accomplish regardless of age, even…
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Is the Lack of Free Play Endangering our Democracy?
Free play, also known as child-directed play, is becoming more and more restricted for American kids. We've talked on PlayGrounding many times about the importance of free play, how it's where many children first encounter risk and freedom. It's where they first begin to encounter "otherness,"...
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Dealing with Shame on the Road Back to Exercise & Play with JJ Kovacevich
Do you remember what it was like to be a child at the playground? When you first arrive and see the equipment, the sand, the grass? I remember that feeling well – the desire to jump, crawl, run, do summer saults and cartwheels. But somewhere along the line, that feeling began to fade. For many of...
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Can Fitness Really be Fun?
Fitness fun? For most of my life, I would have answered NO WAY to that question. It's the one challenge I've had to my belief that whatever is true about play for children is also true for adults. Children play very differently from adults. They play with their whole selves, their imaginations,...
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Innovation Requires Play w/Tricia Edwards of the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center
Did you ever stop to think that you have what it takes to be an inventor? If you're a human being, you are by your very nature an innate problem solver and creative thinker. The question is, are you tapping into that potential? Tricia Edwards wants to change the stereotype of WHO invents and…
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Bringing Back Free Play - Trusting Kids to Choose & Create Their Own Fun
For some of us adults, the kind of play we remember as kids doesn't exist anymore in many communities across America. It's a specific kind of play called "free play." When I was a kid, I remember running out into the neighborhood after school. I organically discovered and teamed up with the kids...
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The Rat Park Study: Addiction, Isolation & Humanity's Urgent Need to Connect & Play
Lack of play is a serious problem for us humans. Play geeks like me call it "play suppression." In the worst cases, studies have shown that children who are kept from playing by their parents tend to have a hard time learning to relate to others and deal with their violent tendencies, leading to...
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Play or Work? Rediscovering Joy in our Passion Projects
Have you ever started a passion project only to find it suddenly feels like work? And not the fulfilling kind of work either – just plain, to-do list work. It's not easy to rediscover the spark that led you to start your project, but one way to achieve that is to revisit the reasons we got…
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Unsupervised Shop Class for the Rest of Your Life w/Artist Bruce Gray
He hasn't been on vacation in years, but if he did, he'd miss what he does every day too much. There's still so much to create. Bruce Gray is a prolific artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide, has appeared in over 45 books and countless times on television, in movies, and in the press.…
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Performing Your World – How Imaginative Play Helps Us Grownups Get Unstuck
Kids love to play make-believe. When we talk about bringing back play as adults, this one seems like a stretch. Adults don't play make believe, do we? Grownups don't get together and announce that today we're going to play Star Wars and you get to be Luke. Or do they? This week's guest reminds us...
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The Robot Petting Zoo & Other Playful Innovations in Disaster Recovery
We know that a playful approach to life can lead to better innovations, cooperation and even transform lives. But what about when disaster strikes? Does play still have a role? Desiree Matel-Anderson has proof that play is vitally important even when facing harrowing situations like floods,...
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The US Play Coalition – Giving Play a Voice
The US Play Coalition believes that everyone in the world should have equal access to all forms of play. Play is a basic need that provides the foundation for all areas of development. It's an essential part of being human that helps us reach our full potential. But that's still not a very...
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Finding Your Calling In Life's Little Detours
The fun of a Rube Goldberg machine is watching a task, one that should be simple, being performed through a drawn-out series of seemingly meaningless detours. But we hate detours, right? Not always. This interview with Brett Doar, I hope, will challenge how you look at finding your "path" to...
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Adults Learn Empathy, Innovation & Creativity with a Toy
Ilana Ben-Ari's startup, Twenty One Toys, is part of a revolution. A toy revolution. On their website they ask: "Our revolution demands answers: Where are creativity, play, teamwork and empathy in our classrooms, our boardrooms or the public square? More importantly, how do we teach these…
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Reclaim Play Unapologetically with Play Coach Ben Ross
Science tells us how important play is for kids – for the development of their minds and ability to adapt. But what about adults? Once we reach the age of adulthood, and often even in the midst of adolescence, play is left behind. Ben Ross (a.k.a. The Flying Raccoon) passionately believes that…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
What happens when the way you play becomes the way you live and work? Each week, you'll hear interviews with courageous people who've let play inspire their daily lives - their relationships, hobbies, spirituality and even their career paths. Adulting doesn't have to be boring, but you have to be ready to step off of the beaten path.
HOSTED BY
Kara Fortier
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does PlayGrounding have?
PlayGrounding currently has 70 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is PlayGrounding about?
What happens when the way you play becomes the way you live and work? Each week, you'll hear interviews with courageous people who've let play inspire their daily lives - their relationships, hobbies, spirituality and even their career paths. Adulting doesn't have to be boring, but you have to be...
How often does PlayGrounding release new episodes?
PlayGrounding has 70 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to PlayGrounding?
You can listen to PlayGrounding on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts PlayGrounding?
PlayGrounding is created and hosted by Kara Fortier.
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