About Us
Playful is a podcast of deep curiosity and authentic storytelling. We’re interested in the power of play to help people and communities endure, connect, and transform. Our content also has an emphasis on the function of curiosity, the deep, personal education that play rouses in us all, and the pursuit to live better, more connected, happier lives.
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct.”
-Carl Jung, Swiss psychoanalyst, 1875-1961
This desire to EXPLORE, DISCOVER, and SHARE just how, where, and why the world plays continues to extend our boundaries of understanding, and inspires us, and hopefully you, with each new episode.
Our host, Crystal Place, learned first hand about the transformative power of PLAY, after a life-threatening illness in 2005, and soon started researching the science behind our biological drive to play - and then spent the next decade or so immersed in this curious topic.
Our podcast aspires to build on that research and, together, learn about this fascinating biological drive that we all share. Through intimate interviews with experts in: science and innovation, creativity, human relationships, neuroscience, diplomacy and world affairs, mindfulness and connection, gamification, compelling storytellers, and other cultures’ perspectives, Playful endeavors to share and ignite our passion for this captivating topic. With this deeper understanding, we aspire to connect more fully with ourselves, each other, and our worldwide community.
“To the art of working well a civilized race would add the art of playing well.”
-George Santayana, Philosopher, 1863-1952
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
-Plato, Greek philosopher, 427-347 BCE
“Play allows us to develop alternatives to violence and despair; it helps us learn perseverance and gain optimism.”
-Stuart Brown M.D., Contemporary American psychiatrist
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
-Albert Einstein
“The truly great advances of this generation will be made by those who can make outrageous connections, and only a mind which knows how to play can do that.”
-Nagle Jackson
"Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play."
–Heraclitus
"Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold."
–Joseph Chilton Pearce, American scholar
"Play energizes us and enlivens us. It eases our burdens. It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities."
–Stuart Brown, MD Contemporary American psychiatrist