Fresh off a trip to Phillips Exeter Academy, Ted and Lisa hop on the ‘cast to explore the fun and reward of sharing control in improvisation (5:53), Line-at-a-Time Drawing and what it has to do with Lisa’s trip to Buenos Aires (11:21), sharing control with life itself (15:58) and whether this approach is an elaborate [more…]
Why I’m Not Looking Forward to the Future Anymore
It may seem sacrilege, but the title is true. I’ve stopped looking forward to the future. That said, fear not. I haven’t become a pessimist or a Donnie Downer. My internal curmudgeon knows how to flex his muscles, but he hasn’t yet commandeered my internal rudder. Generosity and gratitude still captain the ship. It’s just that [more…]
Monster Baby #3: Do Mindfulness and Improv Breed Community?
In Monster Baby Episode #3, Ted and Lisa explore the ways that improv and mindfulness create community (2:25), whether mindfulness generates excessive self-focus (17:36), and the need for a balance between activity and quiet (20:42). From there, they consider how community provides a “tribe” of belonging (29:40), how mindfulness and improv cultivate certain values (35:21), [more…]
Monster Baby #2: Defining Mindfulness and Impulse vs. Pause
In this second episode, Ted and Lisa dive into defining (or at least describing) mindfulness (3:37), discuss what mindfulness is not (16:53) and then explore how improvisation amplifies or differs from mindfulness (21:06). They close by talking about the tension between honoring our impulses and taking a mindfulness pause before acting (42:26). Thanks for [more…]
Monster Baby Podcast #1: Intro and Relationship to Failure
A Monster Baby podcast is born! In this inaugural episode, Ted and Lisa introduce themselves and offer the Monster Baby origin story (1:10) and talk about how mindfulness and improvisation relate to failure (14:53), including whether or not it makes sense to celebrate failure (35:40). Welcome to Monster Baby—we hope you enjoy the curious romp! [more…]
Peace or Privilege? The Paradox of Mindfulness and Social Change
When I consider mindfulness and social change, two contrasting impulses arise within me. One voice suggests coming to peace with what is. That voice recognizes that the problem may not be “out there” so much as it is within me. That I need to develop a quiet, a stillness, a readiness, a clarity of intention before I [more…]
Fifty Nifty Swifties
Last week, I passed through Phoenix, Arizona for a work gig and got the chance to hang with my niece, Madison, and her mom, Priscilla. Passing along more of our family’s punning heritage, I introduced Madison to the Tom Swifty form, a pun-derful method of livening up quotations by linking the speaker’s content with the [more…]
Improvisation as Spiritual Practice: A Deepening Path
Want to explore all this in person? Join our Mindful Play, Playful Mind retreat in Santa Cruz this June 11-15! This fall, I had the immense pleasure of spending four days in the woods outside Montreal with a most beautiful crew of applied improvisors. We laughed, we danced, we played, we performed, we ate amazing [more…]
Judgment vs. Discernment (Part 2 of 2 in a series on How to Evaluate Choices Without Shutting Down the Creative Muse)
For Part 1 of this series, “Unleash the Hounds!” click here. An improvisor who wants access to a free flow of ideas needs to unleash her creative imagination from the shackles of self-judgment and self-censorship. He needs to let go of worrying what others will think of him. As the renowned improv teacher Keith Johnstone [more…]
Unleash the Hounds!!! (Part 1 of 2 in a series on How to Evaluate Choices Without Shutting Down the Creative Muse)
In many ways, the spontaneity of improvisational theatre compares with letting a pent-up dog off-leash. For one, there’s a risk involved—no matter how well the dog has been trained, you’re simply not sure what’s going to happen. Even if your dog tends to stay nearby on its walk, you always have the uneasy sense you’ll [more…]
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