Free Play
Improvisation in Life and Art
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Narrated by:
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Robertson Dean
About this listen
Free Play is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about where art in the widest sense comes from. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms.
Free Play is directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity. Filled with unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors, it reveals how inspiration arises within us; how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed, or obscured by certain unavoidable facts of life; and how it can finally be liberated - how we can be liberated - to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice.
The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. It brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.
©2019 Stephen Nachmanovitch (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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What if imagination and art are not, as many of us might think, the frosting on life but the fountainhead of human experience? What if our logic and science derive from art forms rather than the other way around? In this trenchant volume, Rollo May helps all of us find those creative impulses that, once liberated, offer new possibilities for achievement. A renowned therapist and inspiring guide, Dr. May draws on his experience to show how we can break out of old patterns in our lives.
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May takes on the Creative Act
- By Lowball on 01-16-19
By: Rollo May
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The Inside-Out Revolution
- By: Michael Neill
- Narrated by: Michael Neill
- Length: 2 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Would you like to experience amazing clarity, peace and freedom, even in the midst of challenging circumstances? In this ground-breaking audiobook, bestselling author Michael Neill shares an extraordinary new understanding of how life works that turns traditional psychology on its head. This revolutionary approach is built around three simple principles that explain where our feelings come from and how our experience of life can transform for the better in a matter of moments.
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Real
- By Tad Davis on 05-03-16
By: Michael Neill
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A New Earth
- Awakening Your Life's Purpose
- By: Eckhart Tolle
- Narrated by: Eckhart Tolle
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one. In illuminating the nature of this shift in consciousness, Tolle describes in detail how our current ego-based state of consciousness operates. Then gently, and in very practical terms, he leads us into this new consciousness. We will come to experience who we truly are and learn to live and breathe freely.
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A Realized Being Shares In Person...a rare find.
- By Mr. Word Sponge on 12-05-09
By: Eckhart Tolle
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The Intuitive Way
- The Definitive Guide to Increasing Your Awareness
- By: Penney Peirce
- Narrated by: Randye Kaye
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
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When intuition is in full bloom, life takes on a magical, effortless quality; your world is suddenly full of synchronicities, creative insights, and abundant knowledge. Through an easy-to-understand 10-step course, The Intuitive Way shows you how to enter that state of perceptual aliveness and integrate it into daily life to achieve greater natural flow. Author Penney Peirce synthesizes teachings from psychology, Eastern and Western philosophy, religion, metaphysics, and business.
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Fantastic book that I would recommend A+
- By Secret Motion on 05-10-16
By: Penney Peirce
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Unlocked
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A world-renowned psychologist and mindfulness performance expert who has helped superstars such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant transform their careers, offers proven strategies for unleashing our innate strengths, avoiding burnout, and discovering enduring success.
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A man of character
- By Anita Chavez on 11-11-23
By: George Mumford
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Urban Shaman
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- Unabridged
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The first practical guide to applying the ancient healing art of Hawaiian shamanism to our modern lives. Uniquely suited for use in today's world, Hawaiian shamanism follows the way of the adventurer, which produces change through love and cooperation - in contrast to the widely known way of the warrior, which emphasizes solitary quests and conquest by power. Now, even if you can't get out into the wilderness or undertake a long apprenticeship with a shaman, you can learn to practice the art of shamanism.
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One of his better books
- By l.schlough on 01-24-24
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Dreams of Light
- The Profound Daytime Practice of Lucid Dreaming
- By: Andrew Holecek
- Narrated by: Arthur Rowan
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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With Dream Yoga, Andrew Holecek guided us into Tibetan Buddhism’s nocturnal path to lucid dreaming. Here, he offers in-depth instruction in the tradition’s daytime practices. “Waking experience is also a type of dream”, teaches Holecek, “and things are not as solid and real as we think. This insight is what transforms a non-lucid life into a lucid one.” For those drawn to Tibet’s profound teachings for awakening to the true nature of reality - in the day or night - this guide shows us the way.
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Highly enjoyable, but how useful is it actually to spiritual practice?
- By Sunyata on 11-11-21
By: Andrew Holecek
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The Seeker's Guide
- By: Elizabeth Lesser
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Lesser
- Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins
- Original Recording
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America has given birth to a wisdom tradition entirely its own, a spirituality that is as diverse as its people, and that respects the freedom and uniqueness of each individual. Judeo-Christian traditions and the meditation practices of Asia and India...modern science and Native American teachings...Sufism and transpersonal psychology - The New American Spirituality explores what happens when these and other traditions cohabitate our unique cultural landscape.
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Very thorough and enlightening
- By Pony on 08-30-14
By: Elizabeth Lesser
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Boundless Awareness
- A Loving Path to Spiritual Awakening and Freedom from Suffering
- By: Michael A. Rodriguez, Joan Tollifson
- Narrated by: Leslie Howard
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Written in clear, accessible language, this book seeks to free listeners from their suffering by drawing attention to the direct experience of self as abiding, loving, boundless awareness. Using practical exercises and meditations, the author guides listeners through a process of spiritual awakening, deconstructing self-delusions and integrating a new concept of existence that is free from the suffering of individual selfhood, but which acknowledges the attachments, traumatic experiences, and emotional pain of being human.
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Good content but OY, the narration!
- By "lparks0111" on 12-16-20
By: Michael A. Rodriguez, and others
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What listeners say about Free Play
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rob
- 11-04-21
Could be life changing!
Loved this book! So many keys to life in here! I'll be purchasing a hard copy as well!
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- Yas
- 10-20-20
Free Knowledge
A Bible of understanding the knowledge of creativity. It carries the secret of easy & readily available ingenuity, we're naturally endowed with & only need to identify & harness.
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- Raymie
- 03-10-21
good listen
I was looking for a book on comedic improv this was not it. good though
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-16-20
Playing with Other Musicians
He gave words to that thing that is created between musicians, which is like a thing in and of itself. It's a special language, listening and interacting, a knowing, and a type of love, another place, and time...... I will be listening to this book AGAIN soon so I can write down some things. THIS is my new Big Magic.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Scott
- 09-26-20
Great! Inspiring and insightful :)
I heard about this book through listening to the Sonic State (music production) podcast in Sept-2020 - I believe the artist that mentioned this book is named “MATTHS” and is a musician that seems to mostly use modular synthesizers.
Anyway, this book was unexpectedly exactly what I was looking for. Interesting, insightful and at times, motivating & inspiring.
I’m now planning on listening to this book again and using some of the creative exercises and concepts for my own work & life.
I’m a professional artist that never went to art school, so I love learning more about some of the classic artist in history - and what they have to say (especially because I feel under-schooled in this area) ....many of the references and concepts in this book come from areas in art that I’m very unfamiliar with (such as theater), so this peek into other creative worlds feels like a gift (to be dramatic and a little cheesy about describing it)....
Also, even the author’s insights about artists I’ve read and studied were great! For example, I’ve read books by Henry Miller before, but when the author briefly wrote about H. Miller, I still learned something new about him and his process & creative perspective & life.
The book is theoretical, practical and personal (stories from the author’s own experience are intertwined with concepts and historic examples) and these flow together nicely.
To me, the narrator’s voice was perfect for this!
Yeah, an unexpected gem for my creative world.
Enjoy :)
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kersteen Anderson
- 06-18-20
inspiring read
This book allowed me to breathe. My art making soared. Thank You for this experience!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Scott Perry
- 07-21-21
Insightful and Actionable
Nachmanovitch’s work taps into ancient wisdom and timeless practices. A powerful reminder to re-engage with our childhood sense of wonder and to play our way into our creative potential. Highly recommended.
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- Cliente Amazon
- 08-06-22
revolutionary and a must read
We can depend on the world being a perpetual surprise in perpetual motion. Enjoy free playing guys <3
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- KennyD
- 10-15-22
Incredible mind expanding truth
It’s a book I will read again and again. I bought the physical book too and going back and forth has been good. It’s a book I think everyone can benefit from. As a jazz musician who has all my life participated in improvisation, this has been a revelation.
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- Happy customer
- 11-14-22
Very insightful
I love how insightful and mind freeing this book was. This book seems to free up internal struggles of the heart and mind, by showing different angles to look at life and how we often times complicate it by being to serious, over intellectualize or try to perfect it. Overall it seems that the beautiful rawness of life is in the uncontrol, uninstructed, non deliberate essence of playing. So that’s what I’m going to do, is Play.
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