Spiritual Life Coach Tip: Improve with Improv
Taking Improv classes through Jet City Improv is very beneficial. I am very thankful that I have taken improv classes. I recommend that everyone takes them. You can gain so much from taking improv classes. Before improv classes I was the type of person who the most embarrassing thing that could happen to me is to have someone wave in my direction and I wave back. Then find out that the wave was not meant for me. SO EMBARRASSING!! Improv has allowed me to break out of my shell and let go of embarrassment. Being a fool in front of people was a huge fear of mine. Improv classes is being a fool in front of people for over an hour.
When searching the web I came across a blog, 20 Life Lessons You Can Learn from Improv. I am going to pick out the top five that I really agree with, plus add on that I believe they missed.
Bravery: Public speaking and other events involving standing up in front of a crowd is a common pants-wettingly terrifying experience for many people. Enrolling in a low-key improv class makes for an excellent way to start alleviating some of the anxiety. Considering most involve comedy, the presence laughter also serves as a calming agent. Overcoming a comparatively minor fear such as audiences makes for a nice stepping stone to conquering more serious ones.
Taking improv classes increases bravery. To be in front of a crowd and acting like a fool is scary. Especially when having people think you are a fool is one of your biggest fears. Improv definitely helps with bravery.
Self-expression: Spending enough time in the performing or visual arts not only challenges creativity and imagination, but fosters a heightened ability to express one’s emotions and ideas. Whether making a career in the theatre or clinching a client over drinks, the ability to process (and subsequently convey) what’s going on upstairs is an undeniably essential life skill. One does not have to actually perform improv in front of an audience to reap its personal and interpersonal rewards.
You want to learn how to get your voice heard, improv. Improv is amazing at learning to express yourself. You will allow yourself to be the life of a party if you wish. Better yet, you will be able to speak up during a meeting.
Cooperation: At some point in everyone’s life, they will have to work with other people. Even ones they just plain don’t like. Most improv involves collaborative efforts to get to a desired destination. The ability to work well with a wide variety of individuals is a necessity in all professional and personal spheres, so even those just taking a weekly class at the learning annex will still get something worthwhile out of the experiences.
You learn that the scene is funnier if everyone works together. There can be chances to take control and go for the big laugh. However, if you cooperate you can create a scene that is so amazing that people will swear that you scripted the scene.
Communication: Communication takes long walks along the beach at sunset with self-expression. They have so much in common; it makes sense that the both of them receive similar bolstering from improv performances and classes. Self-expression allows participants to find an outlet for their feelings. Communication makes sure they get to the intended audience clearly. Awww. Don’t they just make the best couple?
Improv helps you learn how to communicate what is on your mind.
Humility: Ditching the ego remains key to getting along well and working successfully with others. For more serious improv artists, they have to face the reality that some audiences just won’t dig their performances. Still others need to make sure everyone on stage (or “stage,” as it were) enjoys their chance to showcase their own talents and ideas. All situations force participants to learn the valuable life lesson of humility and the understanding that sometimes one just needs to sit back and have things not always be about him or her.
Humility is very important in improv as a scene is best when you take what is given to you and use the suggestion in the scene. Learning that your idea isn’t always the best idea can help you go far in life.
Their are 15 more things they learned from improv, however I have two more that I learned.
1. Trust. In improv you have to trust yourself that you are going to come up with the right thing to say. Without that trust your performance will come off very jilted. The important thing to do is to trust the first thing that comes to your mind that will fit the scene. The more you trust yourself in your life the farther you will go. This is the basis of living an inspired life. Trusting the little voice in your head to go for it. The voice of inspiration!
2. Yes and… The basis of improv is, “yes and.” No matter what your partners give you, you accept the suggestion and then build on the suggestion. Imagine living a life where you “yes and” your entire life. You will be free of most of the suffering because you will accept it and build off of the occurrences in your life. “Yes and” is a great representation of self improvement and zen all wrapped into one. In fact it is very enlightening to watch an amazing improv performance. It is like being taken to an amazing world. The high is amazing.
Take an improv class. I dare you! Just kidding. About the dare, not about taking an improv class. You will not regret it. Your life will be better because of taking an improv class. If you live in the Seattle Area, I highly recommend Jet City Improv. The two teachers I had there Douglas Willott and Ian Schempp are two of the most talented people I have met. They should be in movies or at least TV commercials.
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