Mirror Talk: An improv therapy group exercise
An improv team is in front of an audience. They ask for a suggestion of an activity. The audience says, “dancing.” Right away the entire team begins disco dancing at what appears to be the exact same time. How did they do that? How did they all know to disco dance instead of tango or macarena? The answer: One of them started to point to the sky, and the others…
Characters Building Character
Comedic Improvisers are known for their ability to create absurd and wacky characters, often including funny voices or strange physicalities. These performances are entertaining, as the characters might remind us of people we know, or are simply so outlandish we cannot help but laugh. In Improv Therapy, character work is a difficult skill that is often saved for more experienced groups. But encouraging patients to experiment with taking on heightened…
Radical Acceptance: What Makes Improv Therapeutic
In the past decade the field of Improv Therapy has slowly crept its way into psychological scholarship. Frontiers in Psychology and the Journal of Mental Health published articles in 2013 and 2017 respectively outlining the potential therapeutic benefits of comedic improvisation. Around the country professionals ranging from neuropsychologists to therapists to life coaches and wellness experts are incorporating improv techniques into their work. As such improv is currently being used…
“Is he allowed to do that?” – Improv gives us a rare environment where there are no wrong answers
Before an idea is a good idea or a bad idea, it is a new idea. To write a book, start a business or simply change up a go-to dinner recipe, we have to test out a new idea. But with every new idea put into action we take a risk; many businesses don’t succeed and sometimes the new ingredient we try out ruins the dish. For so many of…
Empathy and Storytelling
Improv is often explained as theater that you “make up on the fly.” Indeed, improvisational theater in a performance setting features entire stories and characters invented on the spot entirely from imagination. But improv in a therapeutic setting is deeply rooted in exploring personal stories through drama, and thus requires us to be able to share such stories. Telling personal stories in a group setting fosters empathy between the group…
Child’s Play: Life conditions us not to be silly – Improv reteaches us how
Lisa cupped her hands in the air as though she were holding a baseball. She explained to the group that she was holding an invisible ball of energy which she passed along to the people sitting around the circle. Each individual could mime an action with the invisible ball (dribbling, juggling, etc.) before passing it along. It is one of the simpler improv warm ups, but to most adults the…
Improv is just fun!
Many have asked the question: why should we learn improv? And many, including myself, have answered with things like it’s good for education, useful in traveling, it’s therapeutic, etc. All of those reasons are true and fine, but there can be a much simpler, yet no less valid, answer as well. Improv is fun! Many people seem to be under the impression that in order to do something, one must…
Improv in Schools – Improv for Students
There are so many articles and studies about how teachers can use improv in the classroom to help their students, but there aren’t many discussions on how students can use improv training to help further their own education. Improv can be used in everyday class life ranging from elementary school, all the way up to university. There are many types of class activities and projects that appear frequently throughout all…
Improv and Traveling
Some people don’t travel because they’re scared of the unknown. With improv training, it is easier to face the unknown and have an awesome time doing it! That’s why improv can be a great help with traveling. The first integral part of any traveling experience is figuring out what you’re going to do, whether this be planned months in advance or on the day of. The improv skill that comes…
Benefits of Teaching Children Improv
A vital part of a healthy childhood is playtime, in which children band together to create a game, a scene, or even a whole imaginary world. Improv training from a young age can not only assist in the creativity involved in imaginative play, but it can also help to shape children into more confident and witty adults. They will become quick thinkers and more articulate speakers, more mature and respectful…
Ways Improv Improves Your Everyday Life
Most people think improv is about performance – which makes sense because you do improvise in a group, sometimes in front of other people. But it’s clear that improv has many benefits not related to performing. Improv provides a necessary creative outlet, teaches give and take, and fosters a sense of community and friendship. Improv is very beneficial to every day life for people in varying states of mental and…
How Saying “Yes” in Improv Translates to Real Life Healing
For anyone that has never tried improv, the very idea can cause stress. Standing up in front of a crowd and being expected to speak sounds horrible – one would think. So, how is it possible that improv is becoming a recognized group therapy tool? The Research Scientists, researchers, and psychologists have been noticing the parallels between therapy and improv over the last few years. “Both improv and applied psychology…
When Life Imitates Art… What We Can Learn
In January of 2015, while attending a WZ company-wide team building collaboration workshop, I had the pleasure of meeting Diana Martinez, the CEO and founder of Spark Creative Consulting. Prior to founding Spark, Diana had been the President and CEO of The Second City. Admittedly, I didn’t know much about The Second City until I moved to Chicago. I quickly learned, however, that many famous actors and comedians, including Bill…