A victorious Leonard Peltier, surrounded by family and friends, was released on Tuesday, February 18th from his 49 year term in a US maximum-security prison. He was in high spirits saying he will carry on the fight for justice and autonomy for Indigenous Peoples. Leonard, you are a faithful teacher of real resilience and deep wisdom.
“The Polyvagal Theory posits that co-regulation through social behavior is a biological imperative – a need as hard-wired into us as that for food or sleep….safe social behavior and playing with others makes us more resilient to trauma.” ” Stephen Porges, author of Our Polyvagal World
My grandson said to me recently: “You have always told me there is a difference between fun and play. I think I now understand; watching a movie can be fun but it clearly is not play.” And I replied: “Hip hip hippie hooray.” In these times of global trauma, upheaval and insecurity, we can reflect on the words of Joan Baez who said that action is the antidote to despair. Along with political and social action, I think we also need Wise Play. This is a name I am using to describe a wide spectrum of actions that children and other young mammals already understand and that contribute to interpersonal resilience, emotional healing and skillful self-care.
Wise Play is motivated by the innate instinctual need to express joy, happiness, curiosity, intimacy and awe. According to Stephen Porges, a professor of psychiatry who developed the Polyvagal Theory, the nervous systems of animals at play, flows between the parasympathetic aka Green state and the sympathetic aka the Yellow state. Green signifies a sense of safety. When we feel safe from inner and outer harm, we are able to relax, rest and digest. When we are in the Green state the brain produces oxytocin and we are able to engage in cooperative social engagement, creative thinking/art making and the nurturing of others using empathy and compassion. Notice that I’m not saying when you think you are safe but rather, when you FEEL safe. In order to play, the body and mind take turns dancing. The Yellow state occurs in between the Green and Red states (freezing due to life-threatening situations). The Yellow state mobilizes physical behaviors, pain tolerance, adrenaline production and defensive systems. In the Yellow state the fight and/or flight systems are activated. In the Red state, the brain and body are immobilized and there is a complete inability to engage in empathy, compassion and effective communication. Politicians, dictators and institutions actually want us to feel unsafe so that we will comply and conform. “For an authoritarian, convincing a large number of people that they are under threat is required to maintain power.” Porges writes extensively on manufactured dread in his book.
A close friend of mine has two grandsons whose lovely but busy working parents let them play video games from a very young age. At ages 20 and 23, neither one can hold down a job, live on their own, or maintain friendships. In other words, they do not have the emotional intelligence required to engage with the world. Trigger Warning: “no form of digital technology is a true substitute for face to face interaction. Video games superficially trigger the social nervous system without ever truly giving us the specific components of social interaction that our nervous systems are searching for.” Porges. Digital “social” media use must be balanced out with time with people and animals and nature.
Wise play exercises our nervous systems and rewires reactivity into seeing challenge as opportunity. “….while any form of art might be effective, theater may be a particular powerful pathway.” I will write about theatre next week.
