InterPlay Essays & Writings

  • Things I Know From My Own Experience: Gathering Bo
    by Beandrea Davis
    If I were to start a revolution I would begin with TIKFMOE. Things I Know From My Own Experience. The more I have an experience of what I know, of my own inner knowledge, the more internal authority I have, the more I trust myself, the more I am able to lighten up, the more I am able to share my fullness in the world. This is what I have learned from practicing InterPlay, the bodywise system that offers “an active and creative approach to unlocking the wisdom of the body” through stories, song, and movement. more...
     
  • Intercultural Encounters
    by Reflections by Gretchen Wegner
    Gretchen just wrote this essay for her friend Prashant Olalekar, who is about to host his second Intercultural Exchange, bringing westerners to India to use InterPlay as a vehicle for intercultural dialogue. InterPlay is an improvisational arts practice that uses storytelling, movement, and vocal play to unlock the wisdom of the body. She teaches InterPlay now, and performs in the company WING IT!. more...
     
  • How Was India?
    by Reflections by Cathy Chang
    “How was India?” many asked upon my return. With each question came a flood of images, feelings, and smells encountered during my 2 weeks in India. My cells well remember the depth, texture, and the richness of my experiences; however, my words, well, they don’t come so easy. more...
     
  • InterPlay in Morocco
    by Reflections by Sara Jane Ault

    Diane Saliba Ault and Masankho Banda will be leading a group of 20 InterPlayers (American and Australian) to Morocco June 3–15, 2008 on a mission of cultural exchange. They will be attending the Festival of World Sacred Music in Fes and meeting and playing with extended family and friends of Diane’s son-in-law, Zouhair, in Rabat and Marakesh. InterPlay will provide the foundation for travelers to process their experiences as well as provide the bridge across differences in language and faith between the InterPlay travelers and Moroccan locals. This trip is organized by Diane Ault’s daughter, Sara Jane Saliba. Here are Sara’s reflections on Why Morocco and Why Now?

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  • We Make the Bridge
    by Diane Saliba Ault
    Exploring the InterPlay of Community Art, Spirit & Activism

    Diane Saliba Ault is a certified InterPlay leader, movin’ & shakin’ in Nashville, TN with over 35 events in 18 months. There are InterPlay communities in over 50 cities now, and many of those are home to activists, ministers, social workers, artists and other dreamers who have this crazy idea that we can save the world with play! more...
     
  • Embodying Study Through InterPlay
    by Anne Bailey
    Anne Bailey began practicing InterPlay in Australia over 13 years ago and was among the first group of leaders to be trained in Australia. She moved to the Bay Area in 2005 and became a member of the Board of Directors for Body Wisdom, Inc, was hired by First Congregational Church of Berkeley to work in the office, and enrolled in the San Francisco Theological Seminary to earn a Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction. Anne wrote the following essay about how InterPlay helps her with her studies. more...
     
  • Got InterPlay?
    by James Schattauer
    Minnesota InterPlayer James Schattauer writes an article for the Turtle River Press.
    One day my friend asked me if I would go with her to what sounded like a dance class. She told me that the intent of InterPlay was to bring a greater sense of ease, playfulness and community into people’s lives. More ease, playfulness and community? I needed all three, but did I have to dance to find them? more...
     
  • InterPlay in India
    by Gary Field
    Gary Field, originaly from Adelaide, Australia, has trained as an actor, a clown and an InterPlayer and has a deep affinity for play. Gary went to India with the soul intention of meditating and studying at Bodhi Zendo, a Zen Buddhist retreat center in the hills of Tamil Nadu, South India. Prashant Olalekar, a Jesuit priest, based in Vasai, India, learned InterPlay while studying Integrated Spirituality in Berkeley, CA.
    Gary and Prashant co-led some InterPlay workshops in Mumbai. They met each other on the day of the first InterPlay workshop and together they led five InterPlay workshops in four days. Gary shares his reflections about this adventure. more...
     
  • How InterPlay Can Help Your Organization
    by Tom Henderson
    Every organization, it seems today, wants to get more from its employees (without losing them to burnout). At the same time, employees are asking more from their jobs. Beyond great paychecks, vacations, health care, and stock options, people want two things - a voice in decisions that effect them, and the ability to bring all of who they are to work. more...
     
  • The Economics of Grace: Art, Money and Salvation
    by Phil Porter
    Financial security seems to be a big issue at the moment. With the current economic situation, a country in deep debt, infrastructures collapsing, savings and loans needing to be bailed out, inflation beginning to rise again, taxes being limited by law and initiative, services shrinking, is it any wonder that we experience stress around our personal economic situation? more...
     
  • Compassionate Imagination
    by Phil Porter
    Here is my rule: I can make up as many theories as I like about the reasons for other people's odd behavior as long as I am nice about it. No fair making up bad excuses for the actions of others. This the practice of »compassionate imagination.« more...
     
  • Incrementality
    by Phil Porter
    As the ancient saying goes, »the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, preferably in the direction of an airport.« Little teeny-tiny steps. It's the way we get into trouble and the way we get out of trouble. As much as we might like to bungee-jump our way out of our current, pick-of-the-day morass, chances are excellent that the most effective approach will require those annoying but absolutely necessary teeny-tiny steps. more...
     
  • An Invitation to Embodiment
    by Phil Porter
    A few hundreds years of accumulated culture and language have convinced us that the true "us" is separate from our bodies; trapped in the envelope of our skin, our beautiful spirits bouncing from edge to edge, edgy to escape. But face it--here we are, all arms and legs akimbo, full of snaky veins and fatty corpuscles. We are firmly rooted on, in, and of the earth, try as we may to rise above it and ourselves. more...