Regardless (and maybe because) of that I would like to share some ideas, my personal point of view, of how improv improved my life and might as well improve your life.
[PS: English is not my native language, so I'm truly sorry for the stiffness of this text.]
Background
Five years ago a dear friend of mine (lets call her "R") started a improv group in Estonia (the first Improv theater in Estonia was ironically created just a month before that) and while I was reluctant to join in, I visited the shows quite often. It was amazing, mad, scary, cool, empowering and had some strange feeling of freedom in it. I also started to notice similar freedom while talking to R.It took some years before I gathered my courage and joined the improv workshops and later also the theater group. (so keep in mind, I have been only in group improv and have never done it alone).
A year and a half has passed from it, and while I am still the same person, I have definitely changed, and I think for the better. I is not only the freedom, being in the present, having fun, saying yes to what life brings you, supporting your partner and having trust for yourself and others that improv brings out in a person. It is also the repetitive games and shows that will make an imprint in the memory that reach the surface and remind you something important when you are coping with the real life challenges that all of us have.
Presence
It is not so easy as it sounds, to be there, to be in the moment and notice even the small details. However in improv that is what we do. The aim is to use up as much information as you have on stage and build up from that (use up what you have and don't leave too many loose ends) In one workshop last year (in FiiF 2) we created a full scene from a sniff that a actor next to me did (the scene was about a gas leak.. but not only that).In real life, we don't notice small details so often but it is easier if you have trained yourself in it. It also comes to listening skills. In a long format improv play you have to be aware of the play, even when you are not making the scene yourself - it is your job later in the play to combine what you have seen with what your character is doing to get a effective storyline. Also, it is always possible that your character gets a name, while you are not on the stage.
When you notice the small details you can also combine them in your head into a longer story or just use them to better understand the situation (like Sherlock Holmes does).
As it turns out - I now quite often notice what other people don't see at all. This does not mean that that I notice everything. My previous life experience determines what I notice better and improv has just stretched the limits of this.
You get like you own extended way of seeing patterns in the world and I'm not only talking about the inanimate objects. You also notice better the changes in moods (your own and others) ... and can be there in time of need (because, you were the one who noticed that there actually is a need). And this brings us to the next point:
It's never about the cake
Last year I participated in a workshop with the same name. You could wrap up the main idea of this workshop with following sentence:"If you bake a cake to a loved one, it is not the cake that matters, but the emotions behind it - the cake is just a tool for expressing emotions.." It is easy to take so many things in life for granted, but in most cases there are emotions behind it. So for the next time, when someone makes you breakfast, don't see it as a free happy meal, but try to see the emotions that caused him/her to make you the breakfast and be grateful for it.While you learn how to notice and handle emotions on stage, you will also do it better in real life.
Main mantra
You can not fail in improv. You can always improve yourself, but what you do, is already ok as it is. It does sound like life itself, doesn't it? Life, where you have learned to accept yourself as you are.There are no mistakes on stage and the group is there to support you as you are there to support them. Also, you will never know what will happen next on the stage - we are creating the story together as a group and everyone plays a role in it.
In this sense the stage is a good metaphor for life.
Change is the only constant and all you can do is to be prepared for it and accept it as it comes and hopefully do it with a supporting group.
You can not go solo
Being with improvisers in a off stage situation (like a pub or club) is a positive experience in itself. As they are used to support others on stage, they also are more supporting off stage.However on stage it is even more empowering to know that you have people around you who will catch you in case you fall. They are there to support you, but also to challenge you time to time. It is a kind of inside humor in improv to challenge someone on stage and see how they can handle it.
And why wouldn't you handle it?
If you get stuck, the same people you challenged you will also help you to conquer the challenge. Like this you will learn how to better trust yourself and also people around you.
Though I still would not recommend doing a trust fall in the middle of the street with random people around.
Hidden impact
While there is surely direct impact of improv to your attitude and way of looking at life, there is also impact that is not so easily noticed. It is just caused by the repetitive games and activities on stage and can later on give you an "Ahaa, I know how to handle this" moment in life.Let me give you an example.
There is a simple warm up game (often called "passing on" or "juggling") where players stand in a circle and start throwing a ball* randomly to each other so that everyone has received the ball once and passed it on once. When the pattern of throwing the ball is set it is repeated some times and then a new different color ball is added with a new pattern and then also a third one.
You can use as many different balls as your group can handle. The aim in the end is to keep all the patterns and balls going on at the same time.
* You can also play it without a ball but using words/names with touch of emotion. For example, in the first patterns everyone says a different French name with as much love as possible, the second patter is with angry emotion and a Russian name etc.
In my opinion there are two major learning points in this game that you can also use in real life:
1) You don't need to remember the whole pattern. Just remember who passes you what and where you have to pass it on.
2) If you get stuck and all the balls are eventually tossed to you, there is no need for panic. Just take your time to cope with the situation and start all the patterns yourself.
I like to remind myself of this game when I have several different projects going on at the same time and I have to juggle between them. The first learning point reminds me that you only need to concentrate on what is important at the moment - having/remembering too much information can just make it more difficult to juggle. Just let everyone play their own role and you play yours. And if you really screw up or burn down, the second point is helpful. Just calm down, take full responsibility and start the everything again from the start.
Summary
Not a lot of people know that I have a tendency to fall into the depressive side of life. However Improv is one of the tools that I use to keep going, have fun and enjoy life. It is like a antidepressant. One hour of doing Improv games with a group that you trust can improve the mood significantly while keeping the Improv attitude in day to day life can prevent falling to the dark side.For sure, I did not get all of the benefits of Improv listed here, but at least some of them.
Feel free to try it out yourself if you are interested.
(In case you are from Estonia you can find information about improv shows and workshops at improv.ee)
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