The Power of Play
Image via @Cocorrina
Summer is the perfect time to connect with the power of play. When we allow ourselves to forget everyday chores for a moment and explore the world through curiosity and joy, we discover new ways to approach old problems or break free from seemingly stuck situations.
The Power of Play
Play is part of how we have grown and evolved as human beings. Elements of play can be found in many of our major efforts to make sense of the human experience — from Ancient Greek philosophy to Freud’s notion of oceanic feeling, from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow to Einstein’s term combinatory play, his own description of how his mind worked — and the secret to his genius.
When we look even further back into the origin of the word, we find that play’s original meaning was quite different — something more urgent and abstract. In Indo-European, plegan meant to risk, to chance, to expose oneself to hazard. A pledge was integral to the act of play — as was danger.
Deep Play
Deep Play is a term coined by poet, essayist, and naturalist Diane Ackerman, who describes how every element of the human story is touched by play. According to her, our passion for deep play has made us the puzzling, resplendent beings we are. We evolved through play. Our culture thrives on play. Our rituals and ceremonies include play. Ideas are playful reverberations of the mind. Language itself is a form of play — a way of shaping words until they can impersonate both physical objects and abstract ideas.
Play is so familiar, so deeply rooted in childhood, that we sometimes forget its deeper significance: it is our original language for engaging with the world — and for surviving in it. Nearly all species play, and in most cases, play is a crucial part of their survival strategy. The more an animal needs to learn to thrive, the more it must play. Play is widespread in nature because it encourages problem-solving, allowing creatures to test boundaries, develop strategies, and grow more agile in a world full of change. In a dangerous and ever-shifting landscape, survival belongs to the agile, not the idle.
We may think of play as optional — a luxury, a break from the “real” stuff of life. But play is fundamental to evolution. Without it, humans and many other animals might disappear.
Play is also how we invent ourselves — and evolve into our best version. Ackerman argues that we become ideal versions of ourselves when we play. The many moods and forms of play shape our identities and stretch our imagination of what we can become.
“We want to drink from the source. In rare moments of deep play, we can lay aside our sense of self, shed time’s continuum, ignore pain, and sit quietly in the absolute present, watching the world’s ordinary miracles… When it happens we experience a sense of revelation and gratitude. Nothing need be thought or said. There is a way of beholding that is a form of prayer.”
—Diane Ackerman
Champion of Play
The Danish athlete and six-time SUP World Champion Casper Steinfath was raised with the philosophy of Diane Ackerman’s Deep Play. Through his achievements on the water, he has brought international attention to the Danish town of Klitmøller — now known as ‘Cold Hawaii’ — as a Nordic capital attracting surfers from around the world.
Steinfath sees spontaneity, creativity, and the unpredictable forces of nature not just as aspects of life, but as a strategy — and his winning formula. He attributes much of his success to this approach. According to him, we must keep playing throughout our lives. Practising spontaneity and creativity keeps the mind anchored in the present.
For Steinfath, the ocean is both his element and his playmate — a dynamic force that cultivates exactly these qualities in him. When he's with the waves, he must be fully present, forget time and place, and rely solely on instinct and reaction. The ocean is the unpredictable player in the game — a constant invitation to balance and navigate in new and different ways.
Steinfath believes that presence is one of life’s most essential abilities — and one that modern life often causes us to lose touch with. He continually pushes, or rather plays, himself into deeper waters, where exploration and failure are not only welcome but essential. For him, failure is not a setback — it’s the path to growth. “We all make mistakes. It’s the way we get back up that shows who we are,” Steinfath says.
Failure may not be a goal for most people today, but for Steinfath, it’s a core ingredient in the formula for success. The truth is, we all fail every day. The difference lies in how we respond. When we welcome failure as a playmate, we tap into the power of getting back up — in ways that are more creative, more resilient, and more resourceful than if we had simply ‘played it safe’.
COLD HAWAII is a stretch of coastline boasting no fewer than 31 incredible surf spots. It earned its name thanks to wind conditions that mirror those of Hawaii. Brought into the global spotlight by six-time world champion Casper Steinfath, this is a place where you can explore the power of play — where spontaneity, creativity, and nature’s unpredictable forces can be harnessed as part of your life strategy.Find more places to play in the SEMINE Motherland Guide here.
Sacred Play
According to Diane Ackerman, ecstasy — from the Greek word for an overwhelming feeling of joy or rapture — is the precondition for Deep Play. Just as essential is the ability to surrender and respond instinctively, without calculation or control.
By definition, Deep Play is less about the specific activity and more about the ecstatic feeling, the intensity, and the mood it evokes. Games don’t necessarily lead to deep play, but certain experiences are more likely to open that door: art, religion, risk-taking, and some sports — especially those that unfold in quiet, remote, and weightless environments such as scuba diving, parachuting, hang gliding, or mountain climbing.
Deep Play always touches on the sacred, often hidden in the most humble or unexpected places — in the moment of catching a wave, reaching a mountaintop, sharing a story by the fire, or lying beneath a star-filled sky with someone we love. We spend our lives in pursuit of moments that will allow these altered states to happen. Moments that take us beyond ourselves.
To enter the realm of Deep Play is to step into a sacred playground where only the present moment exists. In this state, your past and future dissolve. There are no needs, no expectations, no worries — only presence.
Welcome play into your life — not just for the thrill, but to become more agile, more present, and simply more fully alive.
How do you practise play in your own life? Leave a comment below, or share this article with a future Play Mate.
Playful summer blessings,
Sidsel Solmer Eriksen, Founding Editor
Playful Summer Practices
SEMINE Motherland
‘Motherland’ is a digital slow-travel tour guide to amazing nature reserves, secret oases, wellness hotspots, and playful places in SEMINE’s own Motherland: Denmark.
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