THE STUDENT HEALTH CENTER NEWSLETTER PLAY’S CREATION AND THE THAW OF SERIOUSNESS You had |ust finished your first lap There you were oblivious to the world, your body screaming in pain and your mind contem plating running the next grueling nine laps around the track Your goal was to do this workout the rest of your life But lurking in the darkness of your brain was a beserk Brain Cell who discovered your plan to con tinue this constricted workout for the rest of your life This Brain Cell persuaded thou sands of cousin Brain Cells to declare a strike because they were not being heard Not to be denied of your fair share of endor phins, enkephalins and all the good things that come with exercise, you discussed the situation with your brain cells They loved being in shape but felt deprived by too much seriousness Your brain cells con tended they had so much to offer (excite ment, creativity, serenity, delight and even at times utopia) if only they were given at tention and time to be themselves Your Brain Cells needed to play! When we structure our workouts are they goal oriented, serious, competitive and Melanie Steed hard? Do we ride a number of miles on a bike without over looking up. hike to the top of the mountain without taking an excursion to explore a rock or feel the wonder and fas cination surrounding us? Many of us have made our work outs excessively goal oriented, competitive and especially serious As children, we had a part of us that wanted to be ac cepted so we obeyed and performed to our parents expec tations to be that good child We grew up with images of what we should become These images either guided us and supported us or the images became our judges that destroyed us by our own debilitating messages in our self talk Many of us also learned to be competitive because win ning is rewarded, it is being the best and the top However, losing is failing and being bettered try someone else With such extreme dichotomies, is it any wonder we've become so serious! Be perfect, be strong, hurry up, and try hard are just a few of the rigid phrases we try to live up to. If we throw away the seriousness that freezes us and allowed feelings of play (fascination, absorption, laughter, fun, ex citement and creativity) to flow through us it would be much more difficult to view our workout as mundane or se rious Play often takes a backseat to goal oriented activity be cause it is viewed as meaningless, but play refreshes our vitality inspires our spirits and makes life fascinating again Webster refers to play as recreation If you take apart recreation then you have? re * create that's play Play is not serious, competitive or working towards a spo cific goal rather it's an attitude you carry with you that can transform the mundane into delight, mud pies into choco late cake and a run around ttie track into a trek through the wild savannahs of Africa The point is to use the attitude of play to get more out of your workouts for your whole be ing. not just your body if you find yourself frozen in seriousness try the Poor, Pitiful Pearl technique or the Monkey Meditation tech nique from the Wellness Workbook The Poor, Pitiful Pearl technique magnifies your mood to a point of absurdity Really get into the sad. burdened, ailing creature you've become You can dress up and take a picture of this mem orable moment Monkey Meditation is a marvelous tech mque in which you position yourself in the weirdest posse ble ways for about 10 or 15 minutes during those grave moments Your mantra is your best laugh Or, you can try finding the humor around you For example, have you ever noticed the pained grimaces of people in the weight room9 Or the weight lifter who got stuck in one of those weight lifting contraptions, or the Inker who forgot he/she was wearing toe clips when he/she tried to stop' People really are funny Let those beserk Brain Cells experience play's creation and the thaw of seriousness! Come Play Oz and Us Campus Spots and much more OM THE HIP Hey all you winter hibernatorsf!! Do you feel like you |ust crawled out of .1 cave groggy and out of shape ' A peer health counselor is just the an swer to setting ut 1 rea sonable program of good eating and re.r.-on