"Recess for the Soul" introduces playful approach to expanding consciousness

“Recess for the Soul,” a new, spoken-word CD offers listeners a unique approach to meditation, self-healing and conciousness-expansion. Based on the metaphor of children’s games, the CD invites people to explore their “inner playgrounds” and engage their different selves in playful dialogue. Listeners can hear DeKoven’s own voice dramatizing some of the core concepts used in his week-long “Restoring Fun” seminars held at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.

Dr. Adam Blatner, author of The Art of Play: Helping Adults Reclaim Imagination and Spontaneity, comments: “Putting different parts in the setting of children’s games is a fresh, original way of considering the workings of the mind.” Noted designer and playground equipment innovator, and student at one of DeKoven’s seminars Jay Beckwith (see http://boldr.com) says: “Original ideas are very rare. Ideas that have this level of power and effectiveness rarer still. I commend Recess for the Soul to anyone who is searching for a new way of being, or of salving old injury, or is facing one of life’s great hurdles. It is a tool of incomparable effectiveness whether for personal growth or in process with others.”

About the Author:

Bernie DeKoven's lifelong belief that things can be made more fun led him to develop and implement new ways of playing, new games groups of all ages and sizes, from singles, couples and families to schools, communities and cities. With the publication of Junkyard Sports, (Human Kinetics, 2004) Bernie framed a recreational program that addresses all of these groups. His 1971 Interplay Curriculum, a comprehensive program in self-esteem and social skills based on over 1000 children's games, was used in classrooms and playgrounds throughout the city of Philadelphia. For the 1976 Bicentennial celebration in Philadelphia, he designed and orchestrated “Playday on the Parkway,” a community games event involving hundreds of thousands of celebrants. He established The Games Preserve in 1971, a retreat center in Eastern Pennsylvania where teachers, therapists and recreation professionals could conduct in-depth investigations of games and play. In his 1978 book, The Well Played Game, he voiced a philosophy of "healthy competition" that formed the core teachings of the New Games Foundation. He became co-director of the foundation, and has developed internationally successful programs in facilitating collaborative games, community events and business meetings.

Bernie has designed award-winning games for Ideal Toy Company, Children's Television Workshop, CBS Software and Mattel Toys.

He earned his Master's degree in theater from Villanova University in 1968, where he received a Rockefeller Fellowship in playwriting.

For reviews, script and sample mp3s, see: http://www.deepfun.com/recess