Mindfulness for Improvisors (and Others!)
An 8-Week Path to Greater Presence
Course meets at Yuvio, 7th floor, 251 Kearny Street, San Francisco, CA 94108
Tuesdays 6pm-8:30pm
8 Classes May 17th – July 26th 2016 (skips June 7th, June 14th, July 5th)
Free Introductory Class MONDAY, May 9th
$350 Standard
$250 Low Income
$500 Benefactor (enable others to take part)
Why mindfulness?
To do your best on stage—and in life—you need nimble flexibility, well-tuned attention, and an open-hearted presence. Mindfulness—paying attention to the present moment with curiosity and kindness—develops these very qualities. This course will help you forge new neural pathways that shift your life and stagework into high definition relief.
In just 8 weeks, you’ll learn how to:
- inhabit Beginner’s Mind
- train the “puppy mind” with patient, kind, and firm repetition
- develop an “Attenborough Attitude” of kindness and curiosity toward every experience
- employ Ninja detective skills for greater body awareness
- turn off autopilot and turn on a fuller range of expression
- transform your relationship to thoughts and feelings—from hardened facts to ever-changing events
- unhitch from self-sabotaging “snowball stories”
- choose from a range of nuanced responses rather than relying on hair-trigger reactions
- speak and listen with greater presence
- offer compassion to your self and others
This course is based on the secular Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) model first developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the UMASS Medical School and the .b Foundations course run by the Mindfulness in Schools Project, and includes over 20 hours of careful instruction.
Formal practices strengthen the awareness “muscle,” helping us notice how experience changes in the mind, body, and emotions moment to moment.
Informal practice brings that awareness to daily life: when we’re eating, driving, dating, arguing, working—or improvising.
Shared inquiry uses small and large group discussions to draw experienced-based wisdom from each participant in service to the group.
Playful exercises give us the chance to experience firsthand the skills we’re exploring—and to laugh while doing it.
We will refer to improv principles and techniques and use some improv exercises, but all are welcome regardless of improv experience. Students are expected to commit to daily practice at home for the duration of the course.
Ted DesMaisons has been synthesizing innovative approaches to teaching and learning for over 25 years. A graduate of Stanford Business and Harvard Divinity Schools, he serves as US Coordinator and Lead Teacher Trainer for the Mindfulness in Schools Project and is a UMASS-trained Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor. Ted studied improvisation with Patricia Ryan Madson, BATS Improv, and the Loose Moose Theatre, and has performed with the Stanford Improvisors; Walking the Dog Theater company of Hudson, NY; and the undefeated three-time BATS Cave Match champion group, Teddy Likey. He writes regularly about improv, contemplation and positive reinforcement on his blog at AnimaLearning.com/blog and, with Lisa Rowland, produces the Monster Baby podcast.
To register, click on the above blue link, use the form below, or click the following link www.mindfulnessforimprovisors3.peatix.com.
