Teamwork Starts with Play
by Dan Angelo
Eli Walker came up with the idea for Drunk Yoga during a conversation with a former boss in a bar. It turned into a pretty big deal for the actress and yoga instructor.
She used the concept of Drunk Yoga to create what is now known as The Uplift Center and is using her platform to expand the idea as a motivational speaker and author. She presented the message at the CAMEX25 educational session, The Art of Getting Over Yourself: How To Build Belonging Through Play.
“The art of getting over yourself, what does that mean?” Walker asked. “It means stepping out of your comfort zone to embrace uncertainty, challenge convention and your own beliefs to see a fresh perspective. And, playfully rewriting the rule book.”
She was quick to point out that “drunk yoga” is more suggestive than literal. It’s not about sitting around a bar doing yoga with a glass of wine in your hand, but more about being social and having fun with music, playful interaction, and perhaps a few sips of wine.
“This rule-breaking recipe worked,” Walker said. “People were not coming for just the wine or just the yoga, they were coming for each other. I think that’s what helped Drunk Yoga catch fire.”
What she discovered during the creative process was people wanted to be part of something bigger than themselves. She also realized that play wasn’t just for kids. It also brought people together and made them feel like they belonged.
According to Walker, belonging gives people a deep connection to social groups, places, and individual and collective experiences. It fills people with purpose and helps them feel engaged.
For the college store, that engagement can allow employees to become invested in the success of the business, and not just show up for work. Understanding that helped her come up with the P.L.A.Y. method, which stands for place, language, acknowledgement, and you.
Place refers to the physical environment of gatherings and the way it shapes how group members engage with each other. Space can be interchangeable, but it should be somewhere that helps people feel comfortable. For instance, the atmosphere for a campus store meeting in a sunny outdoor spot is going to be much different than one held in a spare classroom.
Language is used to communicate and set expectations, and the smallest details do matter, according to Walker. As an example, she told the story of how she couldn’t get responses to emails to her yoga instructors until she started asking them to reply by answering nonwork-related questions, such as their first middle school crush or naming their favorite music group. Everyone started responding to those emails.
“It was a really, really easy way to spark play, create joy, think outside the box, and help them feel seen, heard, and valued, and it had nothing to do with work,” Walker explained. “It’s a really easy way to spark communications, and they started looking forward to the emails because they wanted to see what I would ask next.”
For Walker, acknowledgment means breaking down the walls of human connection and fully engage with the group. Using games, even silly ones such as musical chairs, helps to break down those walls.
“Games are powerful tools because it gets us off autopilot and into the present moment,” she said. “The present moment is the only place where belonging can be sparked.”
The final letter of the acronym, “Y” stands for you because you have to get over yourself. That requires acknowledging that reality may not be as you want it to be and being sure to take care of yourself physically and mentally.
“Your college store is more than just a place to shop,” Walker said. “It is the front door to the campus. It’s a place where belonging can happen and you can create it. As a leader, getting over yourself means daring to steer away from convention, breaking down the walls, and using play in your everyday gatherings because when you use these tools to empower your people to engage, you do more than just sell merchandise. Your create a place where people really want to be.”
