Play: Our Instinctive Therapist & Portal to the Soul w/Vince Gowmon

I’ve been following Vince Gowmon since the very first days of PlayGrounding. His work, at the time, was focused on play for children, but he was different. In addition to the more scientific, psychological arguments for the importance of play, he was also unapologetically spiritual.

And this conversation is also unapologetically spiritual, which is different from what we’ve done here on PlayGrounding so far. I’ve really struggled with how spirituality fits into the podcast. I talk about it in the introduction of this episode because I think it’s really important to acknowledge that, like religion, spirituality subcultures speak their own languages. They start with a certain set of assumptions. And if you don’t speak that language or share those assumptions, the rest of the conversation won’t feel like it applies to you.

But in the conversation in this episode, Vince talks about how 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.

I’ll let Vince take it from here. The episode is a little longer than usual, but it’s worth it!

Meet Vince Gowmon

Vince Gowmon is a healer, speaker, author, poet, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is deeply committed to the work of helping people heal, and through their healing work, positively shifting the consciousness of the world.

His work draws upon his training as a somatic (body-based) counsellor, breathwork practitioner, and life coach, as well as twenty years of intense personal healing. Beyond his one-on-one practice, he is a well-travelled presenter of keynotes and playshops to organizations, conferences and communities on subjects such as play, leadership, communication, intuition, creativity, emotional intelligence, trauma and healing. He also presents webinars on play, communication and leadership.

He is also the author of two books: Let the Fire Burn ~ Nurturing the Creative Spirit of Children. This fun and inspiring “Children’s Book for Adults,” and Wild Empty Spaces ~ Poems for the Opening Heart.

Here are some links to articles, books and ideas we discussed in this episode:

 

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Watch Healing with Starlight

“’Come out and play’ is, on an external level, like knocking on your friend’s door and saying, ‘you wanna ride a bike?’ But on an internal level, it’s inviting those hidden aspects of yourself to come out from their dark chambers to be expressed in the world. ”

-Vince Gowmon

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