Insights and Reflections on Improvisation

The other day I was talking to someone about how much I enjoyed doing live meditations. They said well that makes sense because it was a form of improvisation.

This made me pause because in spite of the fact that I taught improvisation for many years, I never enjoyed doing it myself. In fact, it was quite terrifying to me. But, when I thought about it, it's true, my meditations are quite improvised. So I inquired with myself why I had been so uncomfortable with theatrical improv.

Most people I know who dislike improv will just say, "I don't want to look stupid." But it goes deeper than that.

Improv is a big game of giving and receiving.

You throw something out to someone hoping they will catch it and then they do the same. There is an ENORMOUS amount of trust involved with this because if someone doesn't receive what we throw them, often we are left feeling what we gave wasn't good enough to be received.

In improv there are rules about always accepting what is given and doing your best to incorporate it into the story to flesh it out and allow it to grow in unexpected ways.

However, sometimes your scene partners don't know how to incorporate what you offered or they already had a storyline in their head that they are not willing to let go of and they either block or drop the ball.

This is not a reflection of what you had offered, although that is often the story we tell ourselves.

It is also not a reflection of our scene partner, although we like to place the blame on them.

The simple fact is, sometimes the ball gets dropped. And so you pick it back up and if you're brave enough you throw it again.

It's way easier to decide you just don't like improv and if called to the stage allow yourself to freeze in crippling self doubt. Yes, believe it or not that's the easy choice.

So, to all of you out there so beautifully improving in all areas of your life right now, please know that what you are giving is beautiful, valid and worthy.

Try not to feel too bad when the ball drops. Just pick it up and keep playing.