The Way of Play: Reclaiming Divine Fun & Celebration

by Victor Shamas, Victor Shamas, Jhan T. Kold (Editor)

“To work is human, and to play divine.”
Having heard about a Buddhist lama who makes a miraculous discovery during a 45-year meditation retreat, the author and his sweetheart set out to find him and to learn his secrets. As they travel through India, they are initiated into an ancient form of spirituality predating all of the world’s religions and based on the notion of divine play. Along the way, they encounter a bizarre cast of characters, including a cave-dwelling yogi, a hydrology professor who is also the high priest of one of India’s oldest temples, a disembodied Tibetan master, pool-playing swamis, and the ghost of a U.S. President. The pilgrimage culminates under the legendary Bodhi Tree, where the Buddhist lama appears briefly to provide a simple yet life-changing insight on the nature of spiritual life.
The Way of Play offers a practical vision for reclaiming the spirit of divine fun and celebration that underlies the religious impulse. Promoting a radical approach to spirituality that treats play as a sacred act, The Way of Play shows readers how to find their connection to something greater in themselves by playing music, drawing, dancing, telling stories, singing, laughing, and dreaming: “We embrace this moment with every bit of our heart and soul so that we are fully present, fully conscious, and fully awakened. And we share our passion freely with the world, washing away all the sorrow and negativity we encounter in a stream of delight. “

“A wonderful and quite fun look at the spirituality of play!”
—Linda Kohanov, author, The Tao of Equus

269 pages, Paperback

First published January 25, 2011

About the author

I have dedicated my life to understanding and exploring the experience of being fully alive (EBFA), as well as the sensations that give rise to it, including: passion, intuition, receptivity, playfulness, and self-transcendence. As a University of Arizona psychologist, I have studied the relationship of the EBFA with health, well-being, and creativity. For more than two decades, I have brought together and mentored free spirits who, like me, recognize the importance of the EBFA as both a source of motivation and a guiding force in their lives.

The EBFA is a central theme in everything I have written. The Chanter’s Guide details the healing properties of the EBFA and explains how the practice of chanting can facilitate this kind of transformative experience. In The Way of Play, I explain how a variety of play activities can act as vehicle for EBFAs. Repose: The Potent Pause, co-authored with health psychologist Jhan Kold, introduces an effective tool that can induce an EBFA at no cost and with minimal effort or time commitment. In Deep Creativity, I examine the central role of the EBFA in the creative act.

I head two groups that serve the needs of free spirits: PlayHaven, which offers creative play for people of all ages, and Global Chant, a network of chanting circles that embraces wisdom and sacred music from all traditions. The mission of both is to provide a venue and activities that attract free spirits and promote the EBFA.

I have spoken to groups in four continents on topics related to the EBFA and the *free-spirit sensation, including creativity, play, Repose, chanting, self-transcendence and the future of spirituality.

During my personal exploration of the creative process, I have written several hundred musical compositions; produced over 200 instructional videos; developed and taught 25 university courses in psychology; organized a global event called WAVE1 that involved approximately one million participants in 40 countries; recorded three music CDs; designed multimedia materials on the neuroscience of addiction; invented an automated solar water distiller; created an anti-inflammatory health program, called Victor’s Inflammation Mend (VIM), to lower the risk of chronic illness; and directed the Intuition in Pregnancy study, which has been featured in the national media, including USA Today, Pregnancy magazine, and NBC’s Today show.

Reviews

[Light Bringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hidden, but so obvious when you see it.

[Dee Dubin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Way of Play - by Victor Shamas. Really fun to reengage my sense of play remembering the total focus I had as a kid. Focus on play as a way to approach life and those around you. Lighten up and be serious about it (hee-hee).