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PHOTO © TIFFANY BROWN
Time to play!
Aspecial shout out to Ruth Stricker at The Marsh who introduced ISPA to Dr. Stuart Brown, author of Play— I loved reading the interview with him on page 18. The cover of the book reads,“ Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul.” There really isn’ t much else in life that can accomplish all of those things. We all recognize the importance of play for kids, so why is it that our playtime gets diminished as we get older?
My cute husband( as I always refer to him) recently mowed a running trail( three laps is a mile) in our backyard that we’ ve been“ playing” on— we take our two long-hair miniature dachshunds out to run with us every evening. The great part about this is that we accomplish a multitude of things— time together, time with our doggies, time to exercise and ultimately— time to play.
We have also been cycling together. We both have new bikes and I was reminded of the dangers of play last Sunday morning during a long ride— I got distracted and fell off my bike. OUCH! I have quite the scraped up knee— honestly, it bothers my colleagues more than it does me because it looks gross!
PLAY, we all define it differently in our lives and we all do it for different reasons. As Dr. Stuart says,“ we all have our own personal play quirks and personalities,” but what is most important is that we take the time to do it. We define the spa experience as“ your time to relax, reflect, revitalize and rejoice.” Now, the spa world can help define the play experience as“ your time to shape the brain, open the imagination and invigorate the soul.”
How about you? Have you played today?
— LYNNE McNEES, ISPA PRESIDENT
72 PULSE ■ June 2012