When absorbed in deep play our sensory awareness is heightened, we become immersed in the present moment and feel intensely alert and alive. Because play is fun and rewarding, we operate at the peak of our mental and physical capacity. Animals love to play. Crows will slide on their backs on a steep snowy slope, then fly to the top to slide down again; bison will repeatedly sprint onto a frozen lake, then bellow gleefully as they skid across the ice. Brown bear cubs who play the most, Alaskan scientists have found, live the longest. Why is play behavior so prevalent in the animal kingdom? Through play, animals explore their world and discover all its possibilities. In higher animals, play stimulates the brain, enhances cognitive function and adaptability, and strengthens social bonds. Beyond these biological and social explanations, scientists are starting to believe that play is a means by which animals can express their joy of life. --- Play energizes and enlivens people's experience of nature. How does deep nature play differ from regular play? Deep play incorporates greater absorption with the object of play. "Play," Albert Einstein said, "is the highest form of research." Through his "thought experiments," Einstein could visualize a concept and see the unseen. In this way he discovered the theory of relativity, which has been called the most influential theory in the history of modern science. "Imagination," Einstein once said, "is more important than knowledge," because knowledge tells us only what is known already whereas imagination tells us what can be. Play is imaginative, and play's openness, aliveness, and newness are essential to creativity. This book is for those who have forgotten how to play, or who want to incorporate more play into their lives and revive their innate curiosity and sense of wonder. Let Joseph Cornell, Founder of Sharing Nature Worldwide and one of the world's most popular nature educators, empower you with the tools to maximize play, and transform it from mere entertainment into a doorway to enhanced living, creativity, and concentration.
About the Author: Joseph Cornell is an internationally renowned author and founder of Sharing Nature Worldwide, one of the planet's most widely respected nature awareness programs. His first book, Sharing Nature with Children, "sparked a worldwide revolution in nature education" and has been published in twenty languages and sold half a million copies. He is the honorary president of Sharing Nature Association of Japan, which has 10,000 members and 35,000 trained leaders. Mr. Cornell is the author of the Sharing Nature Book Series, used by millions of parents, educators, naturalists, and youth and religious leaders all over the world. Mr. Cornell's books, Listening to Nature and The Sky and Earth Touched Me, have inspired thousands of adults to deepen their relationship with nature. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service selected Mr. Cornell's Sharing Nature with Children as one of the fifteen most influential books published since 1890 for connecting children and families to nature. His highly effective outdoor learning strategy, Flow Learning(TM), was featured by the U.S. National Park Service as one of five recommended learning theories, along with the works of Maria Montessori, Howard Gardner, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget.Mr. Cornell's books have received the following prestigious awards: Sharing Nature: Winner, Silver Nautilus Award in the Animals & Nature category Winner, Grand Prize: Indie Book Awards in the Non-Fiction category Winner, Indie Book Award in the Science/Nature/Environment category Winner, Indie Book Award in the Parenting/Family category Winner, Silver Evergreen Medal in the Nature Conservation category Winner, Green Book Festival Award in the How-To category The Sky and Earth Touched Me: Winner, Grand Prize for Non-Fiction, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner, for Science/Nature/Environment category, Indie Book Awards Gold Medal Winner for Best Environment/Ecology/Nature Book, IPPY Book Awards Winner, for Spiritual category, Green Book Festival Listening to Nature: Winner, Book of the Year Izaak Walton League Pewter- North American Publishing Co. Gold Ink Award John Muir: My Life with Nature: Winner, ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award, Non-Fiction Humane Heroes Mr. Cornell has received many international awards for his Sharing Nature books and work. He received the prestigious Countess Sonja-Bernadotte Prize in Germany for his vast influence on environmental education in Central Europe. In 2011 Cornell was selected as one of the world's "100 most influential opinion leaders committed to the Environment" by the French organization, Les Anges Gardiens de la Planète. Along with Jane Goodall and David Attenborough, Joseph Bharat Cornell is an Honorary Member of the Hungarian Society of Environmental Education. Known for his warmth and joyful enthusiasm, Cornell "has a genius for finding the essence of a subject, explaining it in clear and compelling ways, and then giving the reader creative exercises to gain an actual experience." Joseph and his wife, Anandi, are senior ministers and residents of Ananda Village in Northern California. For more information on Joseph Cornell's books and activities, please visit www.sharingnature.com.