Play Time is an essential nutrient

Play Time Special. By Fiona Robertson

Just because we’re adults, that doesn’t mean we have to take ourselves so seriously and make life all about work and achieving goals. We all need to play.

Play isn’t some trivial, dumb thing that’s just for kids. Play should be as important to you as eating greens or drinking water.

Not only does enjoying pleasure and play grow new brain connections for happier moods and better memory, play also sets off a cascade of body-positive effects that will help you to keep you slim and vital. You will literally radiate with more joy and as you do things chemically change within your body and the link between the mind and the body starts to work again.

This is what I have come to experience and learn and why I had to put this page together to specifically show you and remind you the value of changing our perception. To be kind with yourself and remember what it feels like to be in a body that wants the best for you.

What I am proposing is a more of an out of the box solution, to today’s socially accepted norms. But it is a great and successful solution none the less that has a massive effect on our cellular structure, and it can only be experienced to be believed.

Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we’ve stopped playing. Now a-days when we do carve out some down or leisure time for ourselves, we’re more likely to zone out in front of the TV or computer than engage in any type of fun, rejuvenating play like we did as children. But Adult play is a time to forget about work and commitments, and to be social in an unstructured, creative way.

So often we concentrate on things we’ve learnt about to try and feel better from what and how to eat, and what exercise to do to keep in shape feel better, forcing ourselves to follow a path that actually just does not feel good for us.

However we totally ignore any form or attitude of playfulness as an option to boost our oxygen levels, reduce stress and re set our hormones, which would actually have a massive effect on our bodies ability to function at its optimum levels.

If you run around like crazy, catering for everyone else’s needs, seeing and talking about how much we have to do, how hectic our timetables are with, work deadlines, family, children, partners all wanting something different from you, and you feel like you are being pulled in every direction. And on top of that if you feel sport is a necessary struggle, just as much as how you perceive and judge what you eat and don’t eat, this is a level of stress that is consuming you and will have very detrimental effects on our ability to let go of any weight, aches pains and health concerns that are haunting you.

By giving yourself permission to play with the joyful abandon of childhood, you can reap the myriad of health benefits throughout life.

Play can:

Relieve stress. Play is fun and can trigger the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain.
Improve brain function. Playing chess, completing puzzles, or pursuing other fun activities that challenge the brain can help prevent memory problems and improve brain function. The social interaction of playing with family and friends can also help ward off stress and depression.
Stimulate the mind and boost creativity. Young children often learn best when they are playing—and that principle applies to adults, as well. You’ll learn a new task better when it’s fun and you’re in a relaxed and playful mood. Play can also stimulate your imagination, helping you to adapt, be creative and problem solve.
Improve relationships and your connection to others. Sharing laughter and fun can foster empathy, compassion, trust, and intimacy with others. Play doesn’t have to be a specific activity; it can also be a state of mind.
Keep you feeling young and energetic. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” Playing can boost your energy and vitality and even improve your resistance to disease, helping you feel your best.
Improve your looks. A happy joyful face and posture is attractive to everyone, your face is beaming a smile and it will naturally attract more smiles and positive gestures and help from others.
Play releases hormones that activate your happy drugs to flow around the body, which in turn trigger the cells to operate in a completely different way than if your forcing yourself to do sport and exercise, or stick to a hard and fast diet or regime.
The science is not totally there yet but the evidence is very clear. A new attitude to your self, your body and your thoughts through adopting more play time can vastly enhance weight loss, relieve pain and tension, be more creative, get great and novel ideas,

I don’t just encourage you to get out and play more (or get in the bedroom and fool around) just because it’s a lot more fun than dragging your butt to the gym in another self-punishment workout (though it totally is).

Physical play and physical pleasure help our brains stay healthier as we age, and balances our hormones. Play keeps our neural pathways open and running smoothly, and keeps the brain “young.”

What’s crazy is how adults, especially women, have been convinced that denying, restricting, and punishing ourselves is the way to get what we want.

Science has shown that restricting, depriving, counting calories and being hyper-vigilant about food and eating has put us into a constant state of stress called “fight or flight” mode.

And when you’re in this state, your body makes more cortisol and releases more insulin. And that insulin “tells”your body not to use fat as a source of energy. Instead it says, “Hold onto that fat. We may need it later.”

So the more your body is in a stressed-out state rather than a fun, playful one, the more you encourage a biochemical state inside yourself that makes you pack on the pounds. Which is why the old way most of us were taught to lose weight is totally false.

But you know what puts an end your body’s stress state?
Enjoying Yourself.
Play.

Here’s a list of 4 Neurochemicals of Play & Pleasure that also lead to joyful weight loss:

Dopamine: Everything you do or eat for pleasure produces dopamine surges in your brain. From setting and achieving goals to mind-blowing sex to holding hands or hugging, this key player in the reward system of your brain is where we get that feeling of pleasure.

Endocannabinoids: Possibly the cause for “runner’s high,”these self-produced cannabis chemicals are created by your brain and are called the “bliss molecules,” which make movement fun, keeping us coming back for more.

Oxytocin: “The bonding molecule”is produced from skin-to-skin contact, making love, affection, and intimacy. Playing and commiserating with a friend also releases oxytocin and bonds us with friends and lovers. It also, funnily enough, bonds us to our dogs, so cuddling and playing with your dog makes them into a loved, lifelong partner. But you dog lovers knew that already.

Endorphins: These tiny molecules are basically self-produced morphine or opiates that have pain-killing properties. They’re generally released during strenuous physical play, sex and orgasm.

You can make positive steps towards your happy state to come into your own natural high—and natural weight loss—without punishing yourself. What I specifically teach you and help you to experience, is how to feel that state and maintain it. Thinking it is not enough to actually make it work for you. The magic is in the genuine feeling of joy and happiness, which I am so excited to talk to you about.

Do you know what makes you light up? Have you asked yourself what’s fun for you lately? Have you seriously thought about what makes you laugh and shine in your body?

Most of us weren’t trained by our parents to look for the fun, or taught the importance of play, or made to believe that our joys and pleasures were valuable. Did any teacher or parent ask you: What makes you feel whole and alive?

Most of us are trained to see play and pleasure as a treat that you can have after you’ve perfected your work or done all your chores. I invite you to view play and fun as a biological necessity. I ask you to ponder that play and fun are the only paths to real health. And I’ll meet you on the playground!

TESTIMONIAL.

Fiona,

Quite an emotional wrap up to our sessions today for me. I went straight to the pool and swam my heart out and felt alive! (which would have been unheard of less that 4 months ago).

I want to say (and share with others if you like) that it’s been a great trip since February. I know inside of me I wanted change but your initial mail and first call with those questions really sparked a reflection for me, and now I realise how much I was not listening to my body…almost blaming it for not feeling good.

I find your way of coaching is so encouraging and linked to your life experience so is totally plausible. The step by step program was indeed like building bricks / jigsaw pieces slotting into place..

I only regret not doing this earlier…my advice to anyone not feeling good about themselves…contact Fiona.

Your ear and listening capabilities are great and you are not tangled in our day to day stuff so as to see and feel clearly what’s happening for me…..while staying very personal, and giving a real feeling of made to measure coaching.

I realise the issues with my situation have been weighing on me for ages and have resulted in a spiral of not well being. I kept surfacing for air then plunging down again. I really desire balance from now on with all the joy & lightness that I have discovered these past weeks…

My gratitude is that I have had the opportunity for travel during this time but my brag is that I seized it…..(I never ever thought I would or could have done that, its you who opened that up as a desire in me).

Each night and morning I relive that night under the desert shooting stars when I felt like I was floating on Earth, in ultimate LIGHT NESS !

But I know I cannot stay in the desert so a desire is to achieve another lightness…in my every day life which I am beginning to really experience with your help and tools. hmmmm

Thoughts from cloudy, muggy Paris

Wishing you all the very best,

Love Patricia

Paris 2015 (Best year ever)

Fiona Robertson: My Services

I am a coach and mentor dedicated to help you to feel at your very best? Discover your missing nutrients and have FUN all the way to feeling great.

You’ll receive the best of the best from my time and discover easy ways to get an injection of positive and revolutionary fun ways to experience an in-depth insight into what is sabotaging and restricting you.

I have so much valuable information to give and share with you, this will be an experience like no other.

In my full program I guide you along an easy step-by-step process that teaches you how your mind and body work together to create and tune into your vibrant body. I help you to create a solid foundation between the mind and body that helps the-m to support each other like a marriage made from love a rock solid partnership that works every time.

I combine the principles and practices of the Law of Attraction along with leading edge mind-body wisdom in order to show you how your thoughts, feelings and beliefs affect ALL the processes of your body.

However, none of this information means anything unless you are prepared to experience the processes and put it to work in your own life to create the results you want.

This is what this system offers you. Both the information and the practical tools to, create a whole new reality of joy, appreciation and celebration when it comes to your body.