Improvisational Dramatics (or what I call improv drama) teaches us life lessons. In the process of improvising, as I understand and teach it, we learn to follow the pulse. The pulse is not a conceptual thing. Nor is it an abstraction.
The pulse is a physical sensation in our body. It is a clear nudge in each moment. The pulse tells us what to do in the moment.
As human beings we have free choice. We can choose to ignore the pulse and follow the dictates instead of custom, learning, command, and rational thought.
Custom is of the past and so is inert, dead. It can not usefully inform the present moment which is alive.
Learning is a script and being pre-written can not serve the moment which did not exist even a moment ago.
Command is violent and human life at its best is completely nonviolent. Hence command is but a weak way to move through life.
Rational thought involves reasoning based on the past because we can not reason about what we do not know. Since each moment is unknown until it happens rational thought imposes past structure onto the present. This is an incorrect use of rational thought which may only be used for what has already happened.
I have practiced and taught improv drama for decades. The most important life lesson that I take away from my own improv drama practice is to always follow the pulse, moment by moment. I do not pre-judge, plan or evaluate.
I wait for each moment to come to me. I practice body meditation as taught by my meditation mentor Dan Emmons, where I focus for several hours in every day on the physical sensations in my body. These sensations I recognize as the pulse and follow them, always. I do this on the stage, in the classroom, and in my life. That in a nutshell is my life.
May the pulse be with you!
Abhay
The pulse is a physical sensation in our body. It is a clear nudge in each moment. The pulse tells us what to do in the moment.
As human beings we have free choice. We can choose to ignore the pulse and follow the dictates instead of custom, learning, command, and rational thought.
Custom is of the past and so is inert, dead. It can not usefully inform the present moment which is alive.
Learning is a script and being pre-written can not serve the moment which did not exist even a moment ago.
Command is violent and human life at its best is completely nonviolent. Hence command is but a weak way to move through life.
Rational thought involves reasoning based on the past because we can not reason about what we do not know. Since each moment is unknown until it happens rational thought imposes past structure onto the present. This is an incorrect use of rational thought which may only be used for what has already happened.
I have practiced and taught improv drama for decades. The most important life lesson that I take away from my own improv drama practice is to always follow the pulse, moment by moment. I do not pre-judge, plan or evaluate.
I wait for each moment to come to me. I practice body meditation as taught by my meditation mentor Dan Emmons, where I focus for several hours in every day on the physical sensations in my body. These sensations I recognize as the pulse and follow them, always. I do this on the stage, in the classroom, and in my life. That in a nutshell is my life.
May the pulse be with you!
Abhay
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