The 3 Benefits Of Doing Improv

Hello, fellow Steemians! As I mentioned in my introduction, I've been doing improv for almost 2 years now. It's something that has been on my mind a lot lately, and there are no signs of that changing anytime soon. In the spirit of sharing my love of improv with the world, and of becoming an active member of the Steemit community, I will now share with you what I believe are some of the main benefits of doing improv.

1) The people you meet:

Ask anyone and they'll tell you that people who do improv tend to be amazing people! I think that the main reason for that is that improv encourages cooperation and support. Having been in the improv community for almost 2 years, I'm quite familiar with the intersection between people who do improv and people who do stand up. The unanimous consensus is that there's a much higher level of dysfunction in the standup world than in the improv world. 

Standup is a solo art. It's also highly competitive. The beauty of improv is that it encourages teamwork. Though I've seen solo improv, and I think that being able to do a scene on your own is an important skill, nothing compares to seeing a troupe full of friends go crazy on stage!

(Who says construction work is a lame job?)

2) Brain health: 

A couple years ago, I was listening to an episode of the School Sucks Podcast. In that episode, I was introduced to the concept of the "healthy mind platter". The story behind this next part is too long to get into here (maybe a future post), but let's just say I've been tracking some of my habits for almost exactly a year now. 

Something that became clear to me right away is how doing improv lets you engage in some of the activities in that healthy mind platter. The three breakout champions are connecting time, focus time, and playtime. I give an honourable mention to physical time, but something tells me that even the most physical of scenes doesn't measure up to what Dr. Siegel had in mind.

3) Self-development:

This is probably the thing I love the most about improv! Being able to step into the loading room of the matrix on a regular basis provides a great opportunity to explore yourself on stage. If you pay attention to the situations you often find yourself in, that can provide clues as to things about yourself you might wish to explore. For instance, I've noticed that a lot of characters that I play tend to have daddy issues. This is definitely something that I'll have to look into, but in the meantime, I can use that to provide entertainment to the people in the audience.

Conclusion:

As I said in the beginning, this post is basically a primer that will enable future posts on the subject of improv, the benefits thereof, and maybe some tips to help beginners improve their skills more quickly. I think part of the reason that I became as good as I am as quickly as I have is the attitude that I've had a long this journey. I'd like to get into that too, as I think it would help people on their Steemit journey as well.

It's amazing how many skills that improve your improv will also improve your life. I know I'm going to enjoy documenting the process. I hope you'll follow along and enjoy it as much as I do!

Thanks for reading!

P.S: If you want to keep a closer eye on my improv jouney, I've been documenting it on Instagram. Follow me there for much quicker updates!