The Life Improv Project
“Life's solutions lie in the minute particulars involving more and more individual people daring to create their own life and art, daring to listen to the voice within their deepest, original nature, and deeper still, the voice within the earth.”
- Stephen Nachmanovitch
- Stephen Nachmanovitch
Improv + Soundscapism:
Both, really, are about the ordinary.
Or, we might say, the ordinary made extraordinary by the attention we give.
They favor experience over knowledge.
They focus on perception rather than explanation.
They are both modes of exploration.
They are both about relationship, interbeing, collective relations, meaning and making sense.
They both, in a comforting, ordinary way, make things make sense.
Both, really, are about the ordinary.
Or, we might say, the ordinary made extraordinary by the attention we give.
They favor experience over knowledge.
They focus on perception rather than explanation.
They are both modes of exploration.
They are both about relationship, interbeing, collective relations, meaning and making sense.
They both, in a comforting, ordinary way, make things make sense.
Improv & Everyday Life
Improv. Is it a seemingly magical ability to manage, with enviable dexterity, all manner of change? Is it special talent in the face of unexpected circumstances, shortcomings, difficulties and the ordinary failures of everyday life? How do improvisers do it, and with such a light, playful touch?
The honest answer is: it’s a matter of practice - just like listening itself can be an aesthetic practice.
Yes, and you will need to improvise today. We all will.
Most of us, however, doubt our ability to navigate change with confidence. The practice of improvisation can help us learn to trust our own ideas. Improv gives us the tools to experience new ways of responding and adapting to change, and it can help us become more comfortable thinking and speaking spontaneously.
Improvisation is not about comedy or being clever; it is about recovering and using our native common sense to solve problems. A good improviser is someone who is awake, not entirely self-focused and one who is not only moved by a desire to do something useful and give something back but one who actually acts upon this impulse.
The craft of improv practices life skills such as paying close attention to reality, learning how to work with a spirit of cooperation, and coping positively with mistakes. We can learn how to be generous, more attentive, and more willing to take a chance.
And if your purpose is the bottom line, it's possible that improv can help to shake up your business model or inspire your team to innovate.
Listening and improv are practices that can become a way of life.
The honest answer is: it’s a matter of practice - just like listening itself can be an aesthetic practice.
Yes, and you will need to improvise today. We all will.
Most of us, however, doubt our ability to navigate change with confidence. The practice of improvisation can help us learn to trust our own ideas. Improv gives us the tools to experience new ways of responding and adapting to change, and it can help us become more comfortable thinking and speaking spontaneously.
Improvisation is not about comedy or being clever; it is about recovering and using our native common sense to solve problems. A good improviser is someone who is awake, not entirely self-focused and one who is not only moved by a desire to do something useful and give something back but one who actually acts upon this impulse.
The craft of improv practices life skills such as paying close attention to reality, learning how to work with a spirit of cooperation, and coping positively with mistakes. We can learn how to be generous, more attentive, and more willing to take a chance.
And if your purpose is the bottom line, it's possible that improv can help to shake up your business model or inspire your team to innovate.
Listening and improv are practices that can become a way of life.
Improv Wisdom
This very fine book (translated into 8 languages) and written by Patricia Ryan Madson - professor of improv at Stanford University for over 40 years and coach to corporate executives around the world is transformative.
Together, Patricia and JD work with small groups and teams to explore new modes of listening, relating and applying the deep wisdom of improv to everyday life. Yes, and…
This very fine book (translated into 8 languages) and written by Patricia Ryan Madson - professor of improv at Stanford University for over 40 years and coach to corporate executives around the world is transformative.
Together, Patricia and JD work with small groups and teams to explore new modes of listening, relating and applying the deep wisdom of improv to everyday life. Yes, and…