Why Play Matters (In a World Obsessed with Doing)

May 25
2 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuNvJAE4jq8

Why Play Matters (In a World Obsessed with Doing)

Description:

Tune into the newest episode of our Energy Works Podcast, where science meets spirit to help you heal, energize, and thrive.

In this follow-up episode on play, Lauren and Blaine dive into why "play" is so surprisingly hard to define. Drawing on research, they explore a definition of play as voluntary, time-freeing, improvisational, and apparently purposeless. They then contrast it with activities we often mislabel as play, like cooking, exercise, and goal-driven creativity.

Blaine shares a story from her triathlon days that reveals how deeply she struggled to shift from structured training into genuine playfulness, and what finally inspired her to pick up watercolor painting purely for joy. Lauren describes turning landscaping chores and snow clearing into spontaneous games, and why that shift matters more than it sounds.

Together, they connect authentic play to energy coherence, stress recovery, better sleep, creativity, and even animal survival behavior. Lauren and Blaine make the case that small, purposeless "play breaks" aren't a luxury, but a biological and energetic need.

Now available wherever you get your podcasts!

Chapters:00:00 Introduction

01:14 Billionaires And Backlash

03:01 Integrity And Nuance

05:08 Blaine Reacts To Play

05:53 Consternation Defined

07:16 Triathlon Joy Story

11:55 Defining Play Together

15:08 Blaine Finds Her Play

20:13 Purpose Versus Play

23:34 Is Cooking Really Play

24:38 Purposeless Play Debate

25:04 Cooking as Social Play

25:51 Gendered Views on Purpose

26:45 Landscaping Turned Game

29:14 Snowballing the Deck

30:43 Play as Energy Coherence

33:52 Intel Fires Itself

36:33 Stress Data Meets Play

41:49 Animals Play for Survival

45:07 Fire Element and Healing

46:49 Tiny Play Break Ideas

47:52 Conclusion

Episode Resources:

EMYoga Online Courses: emyoga.thinkific.com/collections/emyoga-courses

Shop our EMYoga Store: emyogastore.com/

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Listen on Apple Podcasts: Energy Works

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