• THE RECESS PROJECT

    We bring play to you.

    Happy, healthy, fun.

  • Menu of Services

    "Recess!" Workshop

    When workers play together, they are happier, more social, easier to work with, and more likely to be friends and stay at the company. We'll shape your workshop around your group's interests (improv, frisbee, etc.) and needs. Book times from 30 minutes, up to 2 hours.

    Keynote Speaker

    Working in a high-stress environment with long hours? Charlie Hoehn's keynote will give your team simple steps they can take to immediately start relieving stress and preventing burnout. Participants will receive a free copy of Play It Away: A Workaholic's Cure for Anxiety.

    "Happy Office Culture" Video

    Want to show off how fun it is to work at your organization? Our talented team of videographers will collaborate with your company to produce a visually stunning trailer that captures your office culture at play. 

  • TEDx "The Power of Play"

  • OUR WORK

    Here are some of our projects.

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    Swings: Coca Cola Campaign

    Featured in international commercial, over 1,000,000 views

    Status: Filmed in 2012


    Jeff filmed a commercial in Buenos Aires for Coca Cola, hanging swings around the city. The aim of the campaign was to showcase real people from around the world who perform “Random Acts of Kindness.” It was directed by Henry Alex Rubin, who directed the Oscar nominated (Best Documentary) Murderball, and was filmed over the course of about six months in as many countries.

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    Play It Away by Charlie Hoehn

    "Here's the cure to your stress!" - Tony Robbins

    Status: Launched in February, 2014

     

    Charlie's second book contains a 4-week plan for overcoming anxiety and stress naturally, with an emphasis on having more fun. Thousands of copies sold, debuting at #1 in Stress Management on Amazon. Over 30,000 digital copies have been given away, and hundreds of physical copies donated to U.S. soldiers and veterans.

     

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    U.S. Department of Defense Keynote

    Mental Wellness Speech for The Pentagon

    Status: June 2015

     

    Charlie was invited to speak at the Pentagon with American Dream U to on how soldiers can use play to facilitate mental wellness. The talk addressed the epidemic of military suicide (estimated 22 U.S. soldiers and veterans commit suicide per day) and possible alternatives to improve reintegration into civilian communities.

     

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    TEDx Santo Domingo

    "The Power of Play" for the Dominican Republic

    Status: Recorded in December 2015

     

    Charlie was invited to his third TEDx talk in the Caribbean, where he was asked to speak on the topic of "hacking anxiety." The speech covered how he experienced burn out and stress, then rediscovered the transformative power of play. He finished the talk with a series of quotes from our culture's greatest influencers.

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    Greenheart.TV

    "Channel Your Creativity"

    Status: Ongoing

     

    Greenheart.TV was founded by Jefe and Kelly Greenheart. Their mission is to make media that truly moves people and inspires them to play more. They believe that the life you live is your greatest work of art, and the more we can get in touch with our role as creators, the more fully we can embrace our expression, call to adventure, and need for connection. Their work has been featured on National Geographic, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Discovery Channel, MTV, The Travel Channel, and many others.

     

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    How to Cure Anxiety - Youtube Series

    Six videos that have been viewed 30,000 times

    Status: Launched February, 2014


    This is a series of short videos (2-5 minutes each) that contain some of the best tips from Charlie's book, Play It Away. He gave these videos away for free in hopes of reaching an even wider audience through the world's second largest search engine, Youtube.

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    "How I Cured My Anxiety" Post

    #1 worldwide result on Google for the search "cure anxiety"

    Status: Organic traffic of 1,000 visitors per day since 2013


    For two years, Charlie's work has been the #1 global result on Google for the search "cure anxiety." Over 1,000,000 people have read his online writing on overcoming mental illness -- most searchers find his advice first. He has numerous posts on mental health that have garnered massive traffic, including his burnout piece on Fast Company (15,000 shares) and two guest posts on Tim Ferriss' blog (outranking Dr Oz's advice on Oprah.com in the top 10 search results for "cure anxiety"). 

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    The Recess Project - Austin

    Zilker Park, Barton Springs, and other fun places in the city

    Status: Ongoing


    Charlie has been hosting recess in Austin's Zilker park since April, 2014. This was the original email he sent to a small group of close friends: "This Friday, I'm going to play at Zilker park from 5 - 7:30pm. I think you should join me. Here's why... A lot of us don't play -- we work all the time. We're always online, sitting indoors, staring at screens, and drinking caffeine all day long. Sometimes you need a break from work. You need time away from the digital world, to get outdoors and run around in the sunshine. You need recess. So come take a break to have your own fun, hang out with nice people, and enjoy the park." Now, more than 200 people are in the Facebook group, subscribed to the weekly hangouts.

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    Play for a Living by Charlie Hoehn

    Coffee table book, based on this Slideshare with over 300,000 views

    Status: In Production

     

    Charlie is currently assembling the first of several books under The Recess Project. Play for a Living will be coffee table book with more than 60 quotes from society's biggest influencers and achievers, talking about the importance of playing for a living. The goal is to open the readers' eyes to the power of viewing their work as a means to have their own fun, rather than just a way to pay the bills. All of the portraits in the book are being custom-made and donated from artists around the world. And all of the profits from the book will be donated to Child’s Play.

     

  • MEET THE TEAM

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    Charlie Hoehn

    Co-Founder

    Keynote speaker, author of Play It Away: A Workaholic's Cure for Anxiety (called "The cure to your stress!" by Tony Robbins). Advised leaders in U.S. Military and Tesla on stress management.

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    Jefe Greenheart

    Co-Founder

    Filmmaker. Worked with President Obama, Lady Gaga, Jim Carrey, Amy Poehler, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Jimmy Kimmel, and major music festivals. One of the “top 1% of Hypnotists in the World."

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    Kelly Greenheart

    Creative Director

    Filmmaker. Co-founder of Greenheart.tv. Created documentaries for non-profits in South America. Work featured on Jimmy Kimmel, MTV, Travel Channel, and more.

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    Jeff Waldman

    Master of Execution

    Street artist, TEDx speaker. Collaborated with Coca Cola to create a one-day community event throughout Latin America. Put up hundreds of free swings in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Bolivia.

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    Rob McLeod

    Speaker, Frisbee Ambassador

    6 Guinness World Records, 10 World Championships in various disc sports. Director of Communications for the World Flying Disc Federation. About: frisbeerob.com

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  • OUR MISSION

     

    "Life must be lived as play."

    - Plato

     

    Why do we live like robots? We work all the time. We look at screens all day. We feel lonely and disconnected. We don't have enough joy, running around, or goofing off with friends.

     

    Our mission is to make people feel human again. We bring play to the overworked and play-deprived, so that we can be a healthier and happier society. Play works. Play saves.

     

    Nietzsche said, “Play is the highest form of human activity.”

     

    Einstein said, "Play is the highest form of research."

     

    We believe play is essential for humans to function. Play is how we learn, and develop skills, and safely explore our world. Play is how we bond with one another. And play is how we laugh and have fun, which gives us the power to release our stress, and to alleviate anxiety and depression.

     

    We live in a workaholic culture, where people are expected to work non-stop. We take pills to stay focused and sleep less, then find ourselves feeling isolated and lonely. In a play-deprived world, we are less creative, less social, less healthy, and less happy as a whole than we could be.

     

    The Recess Project's mission is to help people play. We are here to assist the millions of people who are over-stressed and over-worked.

  • PLAY CREATES CULTURE

     

    "The simple “break” from work — the kind that lasts an hour, or the kind that lasts a week or longer — is part and parcel of daily working life. It's something that's been built into the whole working process, a part of the schedule. The “break” is there for the sake of work. It is supposed to provide “new strength” for “new work,” as the word “refreshment” indicates: one is refreshed for work through being refreshed from work.

     

    The power to be at leisure is the power to step beyond the working world and win contact with those superhuman, life-giving forces that can send us, renewed and alive again, into the busy world of work."

     

    Josef Pieper, author of Leisure: The Basis of Culture