Life As A Playground
When I was growing up, there was this amazing place called “Discovery Zone.” It was a massive indoor facility for kids to have the time of their lives. It was full of huge multi-colored Ball Pits, giant foam slides, zip lines, tubes to crawl in and more! It was so freakin awesome! I have great memories of running wild with my friends in Discovery Zone for hours on end. As I swung on the ropes and dove into ball pits, I felt like Tarzan swinging through the jungle on vines.
I had the privilege of going to Discovery Zone several times a year before the entire chain of stores suddenly shut down in 1999. They were mostly replaced with Chuck-E-Cheese’s, which was much more focused on arcade games than giant ball pits and zip lines. I can remember feeling quite disappointed that one of my favorite places on Earth just disappeared out of the blue.
Now that I’m an adult, I have dreams of Discovery Zone coming back on a global scale. I’d love to see one version dedicated for kids, one for teens, and one for adults. This way, each age bracket could feel free to play as intensely as they wanted, and not disrupt the adults / children.
I’d also like to invite another perspective, which is to sometimes imagine that the entire planet is already Discovery Zone. There are 2 primary ways to do this :
1. You can use everyday objects in your home and neighborhood to play, stretch, and climb on. For example, you can stretch your arms, shoulders and back by extending your arm against the side of a wall in your house. If you put on your creative, childlike lens, then you will see countless opportunities for play.
2. You can also intentionally buy or set up toys to hang and move on. For example you can hang a yoga swing from your ceiling, put monkey bars in your backyard, or utilize a yoga ball in your living room. By constructing / viewing the world this way, it encourages you to utilize your entire BodyMind System in new, exciting ways.
This is similar to the sport of Parkour (where you run, jump / climb all around public areas). I highly recommend checking out the YouTube video above to see it in action!
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