Free Play Improvisation in Life and Art [Paperback]

Free Playis 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 Playis 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 finally it can 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.

Free PlayPrologue: A New Flute
Introduction

The Sources
Inspiration and Time's Flow
The Vehicle
The Stream
The Muse
Mind at Play
Disappearing

The Work
Sex and ViolinsPractice
The Power of Limits
The Power of Mistakes
Playing Together
Form Unfolding

Obstacles and Openings
Childhood's End
Vicious Circles
The Judging Spectre
Surrender
Patience
Ripening

The Fruits
Eros and Creation
Quality
Art for Life's Sake
Heartbreakthrough

Notes
Bibliography
Illustrations

Stephen Nachmanovitch has produced a celebration of human uniqueness. What it amounts to is a guide for gettingthe most out of whatever is possible
—Norman Cousins, author ofThe Anl£z