🌈 The Power of Play: Healing Through Play, Laughter, and Imagination

The Invitation to Play Again

When was the last time you truly played?Not the kind of play that follows rules or serves a purpose — but the kind where you lost track of time, where your laughter became medicine, where your imagination stretched wide and wild?

For most adults, that question brings a long pause. Somewhere between responsibilities, schedules, and survival, many of us quietly stopped playing. We learned to measure worth through productivity instead of presence, and joy became something reserved for weekends or vacations.

But the truth is, healing through play is one of the most powerful, sacred, and underestimated medicines we have.

Play is not childish — it’s lifeforce. It’s the nervous system’s way of saying, “I feel safe enough to open again.”

What Play Really Means for an Adult

Play isn’t about toys or competition. It’s not something we outgrow; it’s something we forget how to access.For adults, play is any experience that invites presence, curiosity, and delight — a state of flow where you lose track of time because your soul feels light and your body feels free.

You might find it while painting, singing in the car, writing poetry, cooking without a recipe, or walking barefoot in the grass. You might feel it when you dance in your kitchen, laugh until you cry, or tell a story that makes your whole being come alive.

In those moments, your prefrontal cortex quiets down, your body’s stress hormones drop, and your nervous system finally exhales.You’re not “doing” play — you’re being play.

It’s not about what you create, but who you become in the process: alive, spontaneous, and unguarded.

The Science of Healing Through Play

At its core, healing through play is biological.

When we play, the social engagement system of the vagus nerve comes online — the part of our nervous system that tells us we’re safe, connected, and free to explore. This is the foundation of trauma healing.

Polyvagal theory teaches us that our body is constantly scanning for safety cues. When we laugh, sing, make eye contact, or move rhythmically, we send our nervous system signals that say, “You’re safe now. You can rest.”

That’s why children naturally process overwhelming experiences through play — reenacting, building, imagining. Their bodies instinctively know that play is how integration happens. Adults are no different; we’ve just learned to silence that instinct with responsibility and routine.

When we reclaim play, we retrain our nervous system to choose curiosity over control, joy over vigilance, and connection over withdrawal.

Why Trauma Steals Our Play — and How We Take It Back

When we experience trauma, our systems adapt for survival. Our play circuits — the parts of us wired for joy, movement, and imagination — go offline because safety must come first.

Many adults living with chronic stress or trauma have protectors that whisper, “We don’t have time for fun.”Or parts that say, “If we relax, something bad will happen.”

But the paradox is this: play is often what restores safety the most.

Each giggle, each creative risk, each moment of silliness teaches the nervous system that the danger has passed.It’s like gently turning the lights back on in a house that’s been dark for too long.

In Internal Family Systems (IFS), play invites Self-energy — the part of you that is calm, curious, creative, and connected — to lead. When we play, protectors soften. Exiles peek out. The system relaxes into harmony.

Healing doesn’t always require heavy conversations; sometimes it requires lightness.Sometimes healing is coloring outside the lines.Sometimes it’s dancing with your parts.Sometimes it’s just remembering how to giggle again.

Imagination: The Bridge Between Parts and Self

Play is imagination in motion.

When you imagine, your brain doesn’t fully distinguish it from reality. The same neural circuits light up. That’s why visualization, storytelling, and art can be so profoundly healing — they give form to what’s been hidden, voice to what’s been silent.

In IFS therapy, we often use imagination to meet parts — a frightened child part, a creative dreamer, a fierce protector. When you allow your inner world to become visible, you begin healing through play.

It’s not fantasy — it’s integration.

Through imagination, you invite your exiled parts home and let them show you what they need.Through creativity, you give your system new possibilities.Through laughter, you show your body that it’s okay to feel good again.

The Power of Laughter as Medicine

Laughter is one of the purest forms of nervous system regulation.

When you laugh — especially those full-body, unguarded laughs — your body releases endorphins, oxytocin, and serotonin. These are the same chemicals that build trust, lower stress, and reduce pain.

Laughter literally reprograms the brain for connection.

It resets your breathing, opens your chest, and loosens muscles that have been unconsciously tight for years. It’s the sound of your vagus nerve humming again after silence.

But laughter also does something deeper: it reminds your parts that joy is not dangerous.

When we’ve lived in survival mode, even happiness can feel threatening.That’s why laughter, though small, is revolutionary.It’s the body’s declaration of freedom.

The Role of Community in Healing Through Play

Healing through play doesn’t have to happen alone — and in fact, it rarely does.

Co-regulation — the way our nervous systems sync in connection — thrives in shared play.Think of the laughter that ripples through a group of friends, or the ease that comes from moving, singing, or creating alongside others. Those moments are the nervous system saying, “I belong.”

In therapy groups, creative workshops, or community gatherings, play becomes a sacred act of collective regulation. It dissolves shame and restores our sense of shared humanity.

When we laugh together, our systems learn that connection can be safe.When we imagine together, we remind one another that creativity is our birthright.

Healing Through Play as Resistance

In a culture that glorifies productivity, play is rebellion.

Choosing to play — to laugh, to dance, to rest — is choosing to value aliveness over achievement.It’s a radical act of reclaiming what capitalism and trauma both try to take from us: joy, time, and presence.

When you play, you declare that your worth is not tied to output.You remind your nervous system that you are more than your to-do list.You practice the art of being.

And in that space of being, healing happens naturally.

Play as a Spiritual Practice

For many, play reconnects us with something sacred — the energy of wonder.

When you play, you touch the same creative force that made galaxies, oceans, and laughter itself.You glimpse the divine curiosity that designed life to move, explore, and evolve.

Play reminds us that healing isn’t always about fixing; sometimes it’s about remembering.

Remembering the joy before the pain.The innocence before the fear.The freedom before the rules.

Each time you allow yourself to play, you honor the Creator’s joy flowing through you — the same joy that children feel when they run, sing, or draw without fear of judgment.

Practical Ways to Begin Healing Through Play

If you’re wondering where to start, here are gentle ways to invite play back into your daily rhythm:

1. Follow your curiosity.Do one small thing today that feels intriguing, not productive — like doodling, dancing, or rearranging your space just for fun.

2. Move your body with no goal.Let yourself sway, stretch, or wiggle to music that makes you feel alive. Movement helps reset the nervous system faster than thought alone.

3. Laugh intentionally.Watch something that genuinely makes you laugh. Or better yet, laugh with someone. Shared laughter doubles the regulation effect.

4. Invite your parts.Ask them what they would enjoy. Maybe your inner child wants to paint. Maybe your protector wants to play basketball. Maybe your Self just wants to breathe in sunshine.

5. Create something just for you.Art, poetry, gardening, cooking, sound — anything that lets your creativity unfold without needing to be perfect.

6. Play with others.Join a dance class, board game night, or creative workshop. Co-play restores your system’s capacity for trust.

Remember: play doesn’t need to look impressive. It just needs to feel alive.

What Happens When We Forget to Play

Without play, the world grows gray.Our nervous systems stay locked in vigilance, our relationships lose color, and our creativity begins to fade.

When play disappears, so does the natural rhythm of regulation — the inhale of doing and the exhale of being.We become efficient but empty. Responsible but restless.

Healing through play restores the pulse of joy that trauma tried to silence.It lets your nervous system dance again.

Returning Home to Joy

The body remembers laughter.Even if it’s been years, even if it feels foreign, joy waits patiently inside you.

Healing through play is about saying yes to that memory — the one buried under seriousness and survival. It’s the yes that says, “I’m allowed to have fun. I’m allowed to feel good. I’m allowed to be free.”

Every giggle, every brushstroke, every moment of unfiltered joy is a return — not just to play, but to yourself.

At Heartbeat Therapy & Wellness, we believe that laughter, imagination, and play aren’t luxuries — they are sacred paths back to wholeness. Because when we laugh, we breathe again. When we play, we reconnect.When we heal, we remember who we truly are.

We laugh. We play. We heal.

✍️ Author Note

Written by Erica Smalla, LCSWA, M.Ed. Founder of Heartbeat Therapy & Wellness, a creative, inclusive therapy practice based in Concord, NC. Erica blends Internal Family Systems (IFS), nervous system healing, and expressive arts to help clients rediscover joy, balance, and belonging.