The Play Way of Life
How Does It Work?
It is very simple – it is just the world’s first online course on how to live a playful life.
Watch pre-recorded videos any time you like and work through our exercise sheets at your own pace. Expand your mindset, connect with the spirit of play and create a life you love.
The Goal
Live a high quality life – with joy, meaning & connection
Course Length
5 modules, 2-5 weeks (or take as long as you like)
Course Format
Online videos, exercise sheets & live Q&A Calls
What is it?
The Play Way of Life is a 5-week online course with pre-recorded videos, worksheets and 2 live Q&A calls. The videos are 30-60 mins long and there is one video for every module.
How does it work?
Watch the videos and engage with the exercises that spark your interest. See what happens to your life when you bring play to it. Ask any questions that come up in the 2 live Q&A calls with Dieter and Viktor.
Who is it for?
The Play Way of Life is for anyone who wants to have more authenticity, meaning and personal connection in their life and want to achieve this in a joyful way.
When does it start?
The Play Way of Life starts whenever you sign up and you can complete the course at your own pace. When you sign up, you will be notified of the dates and times of your 2 live Q&A calls.
Where does it happen?
The course happens online and you can watch it and do the exercises wherever you like.
Why does it exist?
We created the Play Way of Life because there was no course on how to develop a playful mindset and infuse your life with play. We wanted to show how play is far more than just games and share the wonders that a playful life can give.
KNOW HOW
Here’s How It Works
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
This course is not about giving you fish (games).
It is about providing a lifetime of joy and endless possibilities by (re)learning how to play.
50+ Years of Play Experience
We combined our experience of many years of play – in the context of workshops, summer camps and seminars – with the latest science about play and related topics to give you a course that teaches you how to play and how to apply it to your life.
Develop a Play Mindset
To provide you with a new way of understanding of play and how it is far more than silliness or games, we present you with our unique framework of play called The 12 Principles of Play. With this as a starting point, we look at how you can apply and practice each of these principles to open up your life to joy and endless possibilities.
Apply Play to Your Life
With this new mindset, we look at different areas of life and how you can apply play to transform the experience of your everyday life. Judgements of yourself and others, small and big responsibilities and ways of achieving goals are just some of the areas of life that we go through in detail in this course.
Expert Mentorship
In order to tailor the course to your unique person, we do 2 live Q&A calls where course participants can ask questions that arise from the course material or general questions about the application of play in their lives.
Be Part of a Mission
By joining this course you will be a part of the mission of the Human Play Academy, which is to spread play in the world. You taking this course will have a play impact on the people in your life, and this is no small thing. Just think about how much one person who’s in a good mood can change the atmosphere of a group. Bringing play brings more than good mood – it brings life – and we are incredibly excited for everyone who joins us in our mission.
INSIDE
Course Content
What is in the Course
The 6 topics below are combined into 5 modules, one of which is a double-module!
The 12 Principles Of Play
Our unique framework of play will show you how play is far more than silliness or games. By discovering and practicing our 12 principles of play, you will open up your life to joy and endless possibilities.
- Play ≠ Games!
You cannot judge from an activity alone if it is play or not. And you can play outside of typical games! - Normal Life as Play
Learn how to bring the spirit of play to necessary things (house cleaning!) in your life - 12 Principles of Play
Get a deeper understanding of play by trying our exercises designed to give you a practical experience of our play framework.
How Play Helps To Live Responsibly
Some people think play and responsibility are enemies. We think they are friends. Discover how play can help you live more responsibly for yourself, other people and even the entire planet!
- Growing up means handling more responsibility but does it also have to mean less play?
Learn how fear is the real enemy of play, not responsibiltiy. - Different types of responsibilities
Learn when and how to apply play depending on the type of responsibility you have - How to live responsibly in (post)modern organizations
How we can use play to create workspaces of joy, commitment and synergy. - Responsibility for Future Generations
How to create one of the most responsible life cultures for future generations.
Connecting Through Play
Connect with yourself and others in a deep and open way by developing a non-judgemental state of being. Learn practical steps to reach what Krishnamurti called the highest form of human intelligence.
- Being fully present as abstract thinkers
Understand the merits and disadvantages of our abstract thinking and how it relates to our ability to be present in the here and now. - Solo-play and judgements
Discover the power of solo-play and how it can be a joyfully powerful tool to stop judging and thereby connect with yourself and others. - Curiously precise connections
Practice curiosity and precision playfully in your use of language and use this to connect with others.
What If They Judge Me?!
Do you want to stop your inner critic from renting so much space in your mind apartment? Then learn how to become free of judgements from yourself and others by using play.
- How and why do we judge?
We present a framework for thinking about different types of judgements and how to resolve each of them. - The mother-in-law exercise
Learn how to let your mother-in-law, or someone else that you are finding it difficult to get on with, be a play inspiration. - Embrace uncertainty
Discover how play can help you handle uncertainty and how this in turn can prevent judgements.
Play Flow
Top performers access the state of flow to achieve greatness. So do the people who live the play of life. Discover the similarities between flow and play and use the science of flow theory to playfully enhance your life!
- Flow Theory
Understand the flow experience and how to get into flow - Experience Fluctuation Model
We made our own version of this flow theory model to explain how it feels not to be in flow and what we can do about it. - Comparison between flow and play
Learn how can we apply them to each other and experience more of both. - 5 PÄR PLAY Exercises which lead to flow
Exercises that you can do alone or in pairs, triplets or quartets!
Not Reaching Goals Through Play
That’s right. Certain goals should be reformulated or discarded because they risk resulting in burnout, stress and depression. But if you connect with the right goals for the right reasons, play can really help you achieve them while having a great time along the way.
- The Who and Why of every goal
Learn to understand why we reach for goals, their extrinsic and intrinsic aspects and how and when we can we apply play to reach them. - The 7 Levels Deep Exercise
How we can really know why we want something. - The Happiness Advantage
Happiness does not live on the other side of success. We use findings from the field of positive psychology and our own life experience to present a no pain plenty of gain type process for achieving goals. - Some play ways to help you achieve goals:
New You 2.0
Action-hero
Chunking Expert
Positive Tetris Effect
3 day rule
YOU ARE UNIQUE
Learn The Way That Best Suits You
Online Flexibility
Learn anytime, anywhere and at your own pace. Ask questions in the live Q&A sessions. Experiment with what you learn and find your way of playing!
Online E-Learning Platform
Learn anytime and anywhere you want
Watch Videos in HD definition
Absorb the lessons and exercises at your own pace
Work Through the Exercises in Depth
Written worksheets with the exercises in each video
Download and print exercises after each module
Access the exercises on any device
Expert Mentorship On Demand
Ask questions about the topics in the course
Dig deeper into topics that interest you
Get answer to your personal play quetions
MAGIC OF PLAY
Here’s A Summary Of Everything You Get
The Play course in brief
This course is not about learning specific games. It is about learning the art and skill of play. We provide you with everything you need to implement playfulness into your life.
