Shame is paralyzing. We store it, consciously, unconsciously, viscerally. We may not know its source or when we started feeling it. Shame impedes us from achieving the joy that is possible, hopes and dreams that could be pursued. Shame deadens our unique and creative expression, our voice, our art, ourselves. Since we may never know the trauma, experiences or singular comment that plunged someone into a state of shame, ultimately stifling their creativity, it is important to have a means to rapidly reawaken their creative expression. Improv can be that means.
Rob Gent, Chief Clinical Officer of Embark Behavioral Health writes, “Vulnerability within a secure relationship is essential for resolving shame for when we are at our most vulnerable, our experience of being an integrated self depends on emotional attunement and co-regulation from those closest and safest to us.”
Improv Combats Shame
The misconception that participating in improv would unleash experiences of embarrassment and shame, is quite common. Improv however, combats shame, teaches that failure is survivable, and moves individuals into a part of their brain where their creativity is unleashed. Quite simply there is no time or place for embarrassment or shame when practicing improv.
The Power of Two Words
Improv and its rule of “Yes, and” is an amazing tool to combat shame. “Yes, and” structures each social interaction guiding individual and collaborative creativity. In “Yes, and…” we are saying, “Yes, I am here, present, listening and unconditionally accepting what you are offering; and I value your offer so much I will add to it. “This powerful practice of improv’s “Yes, and…” creates the co-regulation, connection and empathy that stops shame and allows creativity to flourish. While “Yes, and” creates a sense of belonging, security and trust within a group, the individual also develops a self-trust and confidence as their offers are consistently accepted and valued.
Get Into a Better Neurobiological State
Get Into a Better Neurobiological StateImprov overcomes shame and embarrassment by helping students get to the part of the brain where they are the most expressive and creative. Improv helps people get to the neurobiological state of flow. Research is showing that the part of the brain responsible for judgment, quiets allowing us to instead perform, feel and express our best selves, instead of being locked down by our own self-judgment.
What It Might Look Like
In a published study using the Improv n’ Ink program, high school students played collaborative oral improv story-telling games and then played the same games in collaborative writing activities. Guided by improv’s narrative story structures and its rule of “Yes, and..” students simultaneously wrote multiple stories. Their joyful, creativity expression continued when tasked with writing individual narratives, as well as later when they independently transferred their newfound fluency of thought and creative voice to topic driven writing assignments. Improv allowed for students to quiet any sense of shame, embarrassment or self-doubt.. Instead a their creative voice flowed both individually and in collaboration with others.
One 15 year old student, was identified as a non-writer and yet there she was enthusiastically and competently writing well-formed and rather complex narratives with her group. When she was asked to write by herself, it was discovered that she did not an inability to write but an anxiety about her handwriting that prevented her from completing even a word on the page. Collaborative improv helped her quiet the part of her brain that bound her in shame and self-doubt. Through group improv she found flow, her creative voice and the educational help she had needed for years.
It is not known what caused her to feel such shame about her handwriting or when it initially manifested. But improv helped. And that is the beauty of improv as a tool to combat the outcomes of shame. Improv provides the security, acceptance, co-regulation, attunement, and relationships needed to help someone reignite their creative and unique voice with which to express themselves. The practice of improv is empowering, renewing and restorative.
References:
Gent, R. (2014, February 14). Shame and the Relationship to Self. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/shame-relationship-self-rob-gent/
Lopez, J. (2019). Live Empowered: Rewire Your Brain’s Implicit Memory to Thrive in Business, Love and Life. Lioncrest Publishing.
Learn More
If you would like to try improv at your next conference or event, take a look at my Keynote or Workshop and Online offerings, or purchase One Rule Improv, so you can introduce the resilience-building power of improv to your team, classroom, community or family.
