Silence is golden. That’s what they say right? Well, I think they must be the sort of people who don’t love expressing themselves with the dulcet tones of their vocals in conversation or commentating their existence while alone, laughing bombastically, or singing or ranting or whatever!
I was just joking (actually, I was dead serious- they thought I was joking) to some friends the other day about me never ever going to silent retreat as I would never be able to shut up that long and that I would go crazy!
It seems as if the universe was listening and laughing because here I sit in silence. Not by choice, but any kind of vocalisation leads to a tirade of incessant coughing that has brought me to the edge of vomiting on more than one occasion!
Today is the 1st day I have been silent. The last few days I have managed to speak a paragraph before these disgusting coughing fits. I am silent out of necessity believe me.
This hideous stranger (some cold, virus, bacteria-who knows- but not COVID- I’ve tested negative twice- thank goodness!) has trespassed upon my self-expression and made me mute! A situation I have found frustrating to say the least and explains why I probably worsened my condition by speaking sporadically the last few days. My email handle is lindsaybigvoice for crying out loud! Anyone who knows me would know right now I am less than impressed with this situation.
However, unlike Dido- there is a white flag above my door. I have given up speaking (at least for today…lol….so far) and it seems to be helping. I have only had 2 vomit inducing coughing fits today so that is progress. I have now managed almost a full day of no speech and I hate to admit it, but it hasn’t been that bad. In fact, I remembered my Auslan (Australian sign language) alphabet that I learned when I was about 11 or 12 years old! Incredible how we just remember some things. It has been hilarious (inner laughter) watching Luke my husband try to decipher my own brand of Auslan meets charades and mime. When it gets too bad, I use our kitchen note pad.
Interesting how when you surrender and improvise you can find things of interest or fun! I am certainly not saying #i’ve got this but focusing on the things I can do to communicate utilises more creativity and takes my mind off the frustration of not expressing myself in my default way.
So even though I have had to cancel all my improv clients and classes this week I am still improvising….lol. Just not in a way I expected. And I am hoping the miming will improve my ‘object work’ (what we call miming an activity or holding an imaginary cup) in improv. Although at the moment either I am crap at object work or Luke is bad at Charades….lol.
I’m hopeful for a speedy recovery and that I can keep up the silence. Sometimes I think we forget that dialogue is only part of the story when it comes to communication. And to be honest if I asked vocally for Luke to make scones the 2nd night in a row instead of writing him a cute note and looking at him like puss in boots does when he does ‘cute face’ I wouldn’t fancy my chances, but this new communication style seems to have done the trick. I can smell them in the oven already. Love you Luke my scone angel.

Now probably most of you don’t have the full aversion I have to a silent retreat, and I of all people aren’t suggesting such a thing…lol. But perhaps we should all have a look at how we are relying on our dialogue to communicate more than our gestures. And I feel like there is a metaphor here somewhere……
Where are we just talking the talk, not waking the walk?
And as improvisers how can we complement our dialogue with physicality and embodiment, especially on Zoom?
Think about it.
And if you are keen to go on a silent retreat then all power to you! Have fun!
Much silent love.
Lindsay. x

I woke up recently and started to remember my dreams. With great delight I remembered I had had a flying dream! I love flying dreams! I have been blessed throughout my life to have them. I’m not clumsily flapping my arms or anything, just gliding over cities and country sides. It is lovely. I usually start walking, then power walking, then running, and then I start to lift and off I go!

I am somewhat aware in the dream that a lot of this ability to stay aloft has to do with some kind of mindset. I know that sounds weird but there seems to be a kind of letting go that needs to happen to stay up there. It’s like…… when I start to feel a heaviness in my mind and body I start to drop. It is just magic and a wonderful feeling being up there and watching everything, free and unaffected.

However, this recollection of my flying dream soon had me mad! I remembered flying, soaring up over a busy suburb and then, while I was flying, I started ranting to myself- “Oh look at those stupid people down there in their cars beeping at each other and not giving way, look at the rubbish all around on the ground, look at that idiot standing in the middle of the footpath on their phone not being present and about to bump into someone or something!”

But I WAS FLYING!!! Who cares what was happening on the ground! I got so mad at myself in the dream for wasting so much time bitching when I WAS FLYING! I haven’t had a flying dream for about 2 years and here I was not enjoying the most wonderful dream! Why?

Well probably because I have been quite overwhelmed and anxious in my real life at the moment with heaps of improv clients and teaching and all the day to day boring admin stuff as well as just dealing with people in life- who cough and splutter everywhere on public transport without a mask, stand at the bottom of escalators contemplating what they came to the shopping centre for instead of moving away and letting me alight smoothly, or the ones who decide parking their 4WD, tailpipe facing me with the engine still running and the diesel stinking up the place while I try to have a cup of tea and cake at an outdoor café!

I know when I have started focusing on the wrong things in life because I start to get angry, fed up and a bit anxious. Truth be told, most people think I am a very strong person who has their shit together mostly, but I am actually a pretty sensitive person, especially in everyday life when people are so unaware of their surroundings and kindness comes second. Everyone is too busy and important in their own lives to be kind. See what happens? See the spiral this thinking takes me on!

In the dream, I notice this raging is making me lose altitude, down, down, down I come until I gently plop onto the ground again. Angry.

Sitting on my bed contemplating the dream I realise that maybe, there is a chance, that lately I have been focused on the wrong things. Not seeing the bigger picture. Not rising above it all to see the whole.

It reminds me of something improv teacher Benjamin Lloyd told me once. He had been reading a book called the 4 agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and had realised the ‘4 addictions’ the author speaks of could be related to what happens in improv (and in life of course) where people lose focus on the ‘scene’ because they let themselves be taken over by one or more of 4 negative mindset addictions: The need for Perfection, The need to know what is going to happen, The need for intensity and (in my case-and in my dream), The need to see what is wrong instead of what is right.

In terms of improv these addictions can completely derail a scene.

I can see in real life this also holds true.

I am still mad at myself for giving in to this addiction rather than realising that I WAS FLYING!

But rather than be hard on myself and seeing ‘what was wrong’ with ‘seeing what was wrong’ (wow! double bind…lol)- I will take the lesson from it.

Seeing what is wrong with things can help you notice what needs improvement so that can be a good thing but when it becomes an addiction- there lies anger, frustration, disappointment and possibly apathy.

My biggest hope for myself now is that I can be more in the moment and realise that most of the time in my life I am flying! I get to teach and play improv most of the time, I get to see people find their spirit and joy again, I get to make magic almost everyday in that regard. I AM FLYING!

My wish for my improvisers is for them to see that being in a scene- flying by the seat of your pants- the exhilaration of that is a gift! Being ok with not striving to be perfect, not knowing what will happen, being ok with pace and not needing to push the action and noticing what is working in the scene as opposed to what is wrong with it allows for real presence and enjoyment and really good scenes!
LET’S FLY!!!

If you want to feel like flying- you should try improv!

Never done improv before?
Take a solo flight with me with 1:1 coaching- https://www.improvhub.com.au/coaching
Or join the next Level 1 group class for a group flight-
https://www.improvhub.com.au/fundamentals-1

Already an experienced improviser?
Take it to the next level with 1:1 coaching- https://calendly.com/improvhubsessions/improv-hub-coaching-session
Show your interest in an elective class- https://www.improvhub.com.au/fundamentals-2-3-4

As you may or may not know, a few months ago I had a big health scare!
In fact I have only been back at work at Improv Hub the last few weeks…..

At the end of May I woke up one morning with a black spot that was blurring my vision. I thought it was just a trick of the light but the next morning when I awoke it was still there! I thought I had better go to an optometrist and make sure there was nothing wrong. I told her my symptom and asked if she could do the photograph the back of the eye thing. I totally expected her to say she could find nothing and that it was probably just a migraine (which I had been told by an optometrist many years ago when something similar happened).

However, after some eye tests she looked gravely at me and said, “I would like you to go straight to ER at the nearest hospital as I think you have had a stroke”.

I was flabbergasted! ME!! 46 years young! A stroke!

After a stroke work up at the hospital, I was told I definitely did not have a brain stroke BUT I had definitely had an EYE STROKE! I had never even heard of an eye stroke! I was told this was still serious (as it is still considered a stroke) and because I had no risk factors for stroke I would need to keep going for tests as they were stumped as to why……

*It is at this point I want to make a community service announcement! If you wake up one morning with a blind spot, grey spot, dark spot or any loss of vision at all especially in one eye PLEASE get to a doctor or optometrist IMMEDIATELY! (Because I left it 2 days they couldn’t really do anything to get my sight back in my inner right eye’s peripheral vision- but I have heard if you go immediately sometimes they can save it).

My sight in my right eye has improved by about 40% since it happened and everyday I am grateful that it was my inner peripheral vision and not my central vision; so my left eye can compensate .

Still……. it has been a very upsetting and scary time and I have moved through many stages of emotion- shock, sadness, worry, anger, resentment, hopelessness, apathy, gratitude and finally acceptance.

Recent tests have revealed I have a hole in my heart and this hole is what most probably let through the blood clot that caused the eye stroke. Tests are ongoing and decisions will need to be made about treatment. But for now, I am (as my cardiologist assures me) as safe as I can be- taking Aspirin every day.

Apart from letting you know why I have been quiet of late and giving you a community service announcement, there is another reason I am writing this........

Although I have absolutely beautiful friends, family, students and colleagues I was a little disappointed at some people’s reaction to the news of the eye stroke.

I would say I am generally a positive person but when it happened and for at least about a month after it happened, I didn’t feel very positive and to be honest I didn’t want to. I just wanted to feel whatever negative emotion I needed to as I knew this is part of the process after a shock.

There were quite a few people whose reaction was to try and cheer me up or say ‘you’ve got this’ or wanted me to be positive or grateful, or worse than that, started telling me about how it compared to their own ailments! LOL

It got me thinking about how most people react by default and often in a way that they would want others to be with them.
Just like my theory about presents…….lol…… (unless you have a friend or family member who is really sensitive to your values and what you really like) most people buy you the presents they themselves would like to receive…lol. So usually I make a note of the kind of present someone gives me so I know what they would like to get when it’s their turn…..lol

Which leads me to the all-important question! The question I wished I was asked but wasn’t......
Are you ready?

What does support look/feel/sound like for you Lindsay?
Eg. Do you want me to be positive for you, just listen and nod or commiserate with you?

As Simon Sinek said recently in an interview when he was talking about telling a friend he was feeling sad and lonely, “I didn’t want them to fix it, or cheer me up! I just wanted them to sit in the mud with me, just sit beside me in the mud, just to show me I wasn’t alone”.

This question What does support look/feel/sound like for you? Is so powerful.

We are asking the other person what their needs are. We are telling them we are willing to listen- even if it’s hard. We are acknowledging that they may not have the same needs as us- and that’s ok. We are holding the space for them. It sounds simple but, in my experience, getting someone to just hold the space for you without judgement, fixing or advice giving is very rare.

So, I am making a commitment to myself that the next time a friend, family member, colleague or student goes through a hard time be it shock, loss, grief, loneliness, sadness, anger, frustration, depression, or anxiety I’ll stop. Breathe. And ask the question. And then try my best to really listen to the answer. Listen. Deeply listening is key.

Truly listening is one of the greatest gifts we can ever give someone. It is simple, but it is not easy.

I hope I’ve made you think about challenging yourself to do the same as me and ask this powerful question too.
Let’s get better at listening and holding the space for others.

Thanks for listening/reading. I appreciate it.
 
Now here’s the plug!
Want to be a better listener?

I have just the thing! Try improv!! There is a Level 1 class Thursdays for 4 weeks starting September 14th 630-830pm AEST, 2023.
Not only is improv fun and full of joy but the group games and scenes make you listen to others and respond. We create something from nothing together and the only way we can do that is by listening and accepting the other player’s offers! Nothing you or your partner says is too dumb or stupid all ideas are welcomed. We create a safe space to express yourself and be heard!

Sign up now! No experience necessary! Early bird pricing until September 7th!
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/706062480887?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you can't make this class you can also do a 1:1 improv discovery session at a time that suits you!
Go to https://improvhub.com.au/coaching

Just over a month ago I went to the local sports club with a friend for some dinner and a dance. At first there was no one up dancing but that didn’t bother me. I am renowned for being the first to get up and dance in public even on my own. In fact, prior to this night, I had come to the club on my own and danced alone. Of course, when you start the trend people start to join you, but there have been times I have danced alone a good half hour before others got up.

This time however I wasn’t alone, I had a good friend and improviser with me. We were having fun freestyling and making up choreography on the spot. After a few songs we sat down for a rest and an older guy got up and started dancing (very uniquely) on his own, I thought he may have had a little to drink and was tipsy. His son was still sat down at the back of the room cheering him on but wouldn’t join him.

You could see people laughing (not necessarily in a good way) at this man and his ‘unique moves’. My friend said, “We should really get up with him, I feel bad for him”. I agreed and we started to dance around him. At first, he was in his own world, but I made it a point to copy his moves and then he started copying me, then my friend cottoned on that we were mirroring each other (a classic technique in improv) and joined in the choreography. Because by now, that is what it looked like- choreography! We managed to get so in synch with this stranger that every move looked ‘meant to be’!

The feeling in the room changed and the audience started to invest in the dance. There was one moment that felt sublime. I noticed him walking back and forward and I did the same and at a certain point I saw him hold out an imaginary football in front of him and as he did, I did. The next minute in complete synchronisation we kicked our respective imaginary balls into the audience and there was an audible gasp. A communal ‘wow’. And thunderous applause. It was a moment of pure magic. This man had gone from being the butt of some unspoken group joke to a hero.

After a while my friend and I needed a break to catch our breath and as we sipped our water and sat in our little booth, she looked at me and said “Wow Lindsay, you really walk the walk, don’t you? I mean you really believe in that improv principle of ‘Make your partner look good’, I never would have thought of bringing that principle into my everyday life, but I will from now on! There you were making him look good, and it worked!” I smiled and thanked her for the compliment and for noticing.

I’m the kind of person who tries to genuinely compliment and encourage others and to ‘yes and’ their ideas, especially if they are being brave and trying to express their uniqueness. I kind of get upset that most people don’t take the time to truly compliment people, to make someone else look and feel good. It costs nothing. I even compliment strangers. I remember complimenting an older lady all in yellow at a pub once, I went up to her and said, ‘Excuse me for interrupting you but can I just say you look amazing in yellow, it really suits you!’, and she just lit up and smiled saying thank you.

For some reason people are reticent to do this kind of ‘compliment bomb’ but I feel like it is my duty as a fellow human being to point out beauty, achievement, and loveliness when and wherever I see it. Because really, we are all dancing in this crazy world together, we are all dancing with many partners. It’s just a nice thing to do to be kind and make others look good.

When it comes to improv, making your partner look good has some great performance effects:

• When you try and ‘make your partner look good’ in scenes (in other words ‘yes and’ and build on their ideas) it makes you look good!  And interestingly, it makes you look like a much better player!
• When your intention in a scene is to make the other person look good, you get out of your own head and you start to listen more, again, making you a better player!
• Even if sometimes you get stuck in a scene with someone you don’t really like playing with, if you try to make them look good and make their ideas shine not only do they look better but you will look awesome!
  

Making your partner look good in improv (and in life) really works! Why not give it a go?

An improv exercise:

Mirror, Mirror.
This can be done in real life or even online.

In a pair make one person partner A and one person partner B. Partner A starts by moving their hands around slowly in patterns, partner B follows. Then at a random point partner B leads the movement and partner A follows. Then back to partner A leading, then B then A and so on, gradually having less time in between swapping leadership. Until eventually you say ‘no leader’ and see what happens and how each person shares leading and following.
This is very meditative as an exercise and can feel very connective. Especially when you look into each other’s eyes.

If you are an intimate couple this is a beautiful exercise to do for instant connection.

*Here's the thing though, keep your movements slow and flowing. The faster you go the harder it is for your partner to keep up and they lose the synch. I have seen this done once where a guy started doing burpees and his partner was an older lady who could not follow! What a way to not care about your partner or make them look good! And what a way to make yourself look like an A-hole! Lol.

So, give Mirror, Mirror a go and make your partner look good!

The last few weeks Luke (my husband) and I have been having the bathroom renovated. Specifically, a new floor and shower screen. Our old shower floor was one of those pre-fab plastic/acrylic ones probably put in in the 90s. It had gotten to the stage where it had so many cracks and sags no more epoxy filler would do. The semi-retired tiler who came to do the job actually took some of the old shower floor to show his tiler mates for a laugh, as hidden within the floor were pieces of wood someone had put in to strengthen it….lol….he said he’d never seen anything like it before.

We laughed. Because of course wood and water don’t mix and under that old floor was a pile of swollen wood. Still it lasted a while, since probably the 1990s so maybe they improvised something that kinda worked not so bad. Maybe….lol.

The tiler told us that they had come a long way with bathroom innovations and now you could get a shower floor that was pre-tiled and slotted in place in a new hob. He showed me the hob. A chrome right-angle. This would be the simple structure that kept the floor and shower screen in place. He revealed to me that he knew the guy that designed it. He said this particular design had now standardised shower sizes in Brisbane! All new housing developments were using them.

Such a simple idea. Why not standardise shower sizes with a hob that slotted a shower floor and screens in; like Ikea furniture?! He said the guy who came up with the idea, a fellow tiler was now a multi-millionaire and didn’t need to tile anymore. I said “Wow! See, all it takes is just one really good idea!”. “I know, and so simple, but I wouldn’t have enough faith in my ideas to follow through”, he laughed.

It got me thinking about improv and how it is the most creative and best way to keep your brain fit to come up with new and innovative ideas! Improv makes you think outside the box and helps you ride the waves of inspiration.

Now I don’t know if the guy who invented this particular shower innovation was improvising something at a job and came up with it, or just got frustrated that there was no standardisation in shower floors, but either way, it shows you the power of a good idea and trusting your inspirations.

I know for me personally improv has made me a quicker and frankly better thinker. I have learnt not to dismiss ideas too readily and to play with them. I have also learnt to go with instincts and be in the present. Contrariwise, I have learnt to challenge my preconceptions about things and come up with 3 or 5 solutions to a problem rather than just one. In a nutshell I have become more cognitively flexible.

I wonder if you have a million-dollar idea just waiting to be expressed!

You will never find out if you don’t trust your ideas and learn to think outside the box!

And here’s my plug (lol….. get it! Bathroom- plug!):
If you think you would like to have more innovative ideas, why not try improv?! Or get back into it again?!
You will never have more fun becoming a creative genius!

Learn improv privately with me 1:1 and let’s get those creative blocks moved and that sluggish brain renovated!!
Check out your options here:
https://improvhub.com.au/coaching
 
P.S. One of my favourite and simple improv exercises for getting you to think outside the box is ‘3 things that’.
You ask yourself ‘What are three things that ________ (use a verb here)?’
For example:
What are 3 things that crawl:

• A baby
• Traffic
• A spider

 
Practice this with all sorts of verbs eg. 3 things that climb, run, spin, slide, bang, crash, lean…… whatever!
The trick is to try and go as lateral as possible and you will see, over time, you will get better at thinking of non-traditional answers.

I did this exercise recently in my Level 1 class and someone asked me for 3 things that eat. My first answer was ‘rust’ and that is not what I would have thought of saying 1st doing the exercise even a year ago! I would have said 'a person' or 'me'!

So give it a go!
Ask your self 'what are 3 things that ______?' often.

You can do it while in the shower, doing the dishes, waiting in line, falling asleep, wherever, whenever and watch yourself starting to come up with better and more inventive answers!
 
Hope you are well! May the joy be with you!
 
Lindsay. X
Owner/Head Teacher at Improv Hub

copyright 2023 Improv Hub-Lindsay Drummond

I was watching a podcast on YouTube the other day (as I do when I am not recording Banterpreneurs- the improvised business podcast, with Laura) [oh that was a stealth plug- but come on you knew there would have to be one plug at some stage, best get it over and done with quickly right? Ok done….] and the host of the podcast I was watching said this awesome thing!

He is in finance, but he is also a Magician (Andrei Jikh from the ‘Don’t Sweat It’ podcast- although I’m not sure about the whole doing it in a sauna thing…..lol…a bit gimmicky).

He was talking about how when he first started to do magic tricks with cards, he would be so worried about dropping a card in front of people and failing that he became scared and anxious.
He says he was able to move past his fears and anxiety when he decided to deliberately drop a card!

To deliberately FAIL!

“I came up with this technique, I would drop a card on purpose, and when I did, I didn’t care if I was imperfect, and that made me so much better a performer because I wasn’t scared of failing anymore” -Andrei Jikh

Wise words and one thing I LOVE about improv. We learn to risk, to fail, to fail joyfully and to realise in the end there is no failure.

One of my most favourite improv games from the wonderful Jill Bernard is called ‘Loser Ball’:
You throw an imaginary ball to each other, but the catch is……. you must fail!
You must not catch the ball! It can fly past you, hit you in the head, fall through your hands, whatever, but you must fail! Lol. (it’s super funny to watch).
And as you are failing you need to smile and laugh and be joyful about it, have fun with it. And of course, your fellow improv players will yell words of encouragement to you like, ‘wow great dive!’ or ‘ohhh, so close!’ or ‘Awesome work!’ or ‘Almost had it!’ all while you fail big joyfully.

This incredibly simple and silly exercise is rather profound.
What if we had a safe space where we were encouraged to fail?
What if we could see failure as part of the process and not the end of something?
What if we could practice failing joyfully so our brain associated failure with joy instead of dread?
 
Famous painter Bob Ross said ‘there are no mistakes just happy little accidents’ and that is also what we believe in improv. Sometimes what you feel is a mistake or failure in improv becomes the offer that makes the scene!

I truly believe by not fearing failure and being happy to take risks makes you a better improv performer but also a better player in the game of life!

Fear of failure can hold us back from a lot of things including expressing ourselves and our creativity. And even holding back our feelings for others for fear of rejection.

Improv helps us to redefine failure and in doing so changes our relationship to fear.
 
As Robert H. Schuller expressed, ‘What would you attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail?’
 
[I’m afraid of doing another plug but what the heck if it fails, it fails…..lol……This is probably a big mistake to push for two plugs in one email but………what the hay! Here goes……]

If you would like to change your relationship to failure, then sign up for some improv coaching with me!
Book in now here: https://www.improvhub.com.au/coaching

I hope you are well and will take the challenge of changing your association and relationship to failure, whether through improv or by any other means.
 
P.S I highly recommend you check out Bob Ross- a great man.
https://www.youtube.com/@bobross_thejoyofpainting
 
May the joy be with you!
 
Lindsay. x

copyright 2023 Improv Hub-Lindsay Drummond

If you didn't answer YES 100% to this question then maybe you could ask yourself: 'Why not?"
Or an even better question would be: "What stops you?"

Teaching improv for many years now I have seen many things that stop people from being and expressing themselves such as: fear of not being liked, fear of embarrassing themselves with something they do or say, fear of oversharing, fear of not being good/smart/funny/engaging/charismatic enough, fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of being vulnerable, and the list goes on.......

I was very lucky, my Mum is very eccentric and prided herself (and still does) on always being herself and her greatest expectation of me was to do the same. Just to be me. Wholeheartedly.

It took me a while to realise how much of a struggle it can be for people to just simply be themselves.
It is a phenomenon which has fascinated me my whole life and hence I did a degree in Social Science (behavioural studies) and became a life coach and self-expression specialist for many years.

All of my sessions with clients, above all, encouraged them to find and be themselves. Then I found improv. Improv is the savior of self-expression on steroids!!!

In all my years of personal development and coaching I have never found anything as quick, holistic and fun as improv when it comes to strengthening self-expression and finding one's voice.

Participant after participant and improv client after improv client have regaled stories to me of how improv has changed their life and made them trust and express themselves far more than ever before.

As you may or may not know if you read my newsletters or know me I am an improv evangelist!
I believe in the power of improv to emancipate even the most lost of voices to a place of inspiration and true expression. I have seen miracles my friends! Hallelujah!!!


May the joy be with you!

Lindsay. x

P.S. If you want to see me expressing myself why not tune into my improvised business podcast with my co-host, the awesome and self-expressive Laura Piccardi. Even if you aren't in business I am sure you will get something out of the tips for authentic living. We always do! banterpreneurs.com


copyright 2023 Improv Hub- Lindsay Drummond

What is in store for 2023 at Improv Hub? Well… A LOT! But I am currently on a break so will be planning the year shortly. I’ve realised I’m a bit of a workaholic…lol…but when you absolutely love what you do it’s hard not to get obsessed. So, I’m trying to ‘Take it easy Tony’.

So here we are having crossed the line into 2023! Now is the time to start those good new habits and maybe learn some new skills (like improv right!). Ok there’s my sales pitch…lol

I know right now is the whole goal setting thing but to be honest I find it much more enlightening, interesting, and worthwhile not to look forward but to look back! As Keith Johnstone (one of the grandfathers of improv) has famously said “great improvisers walk backwards”.

What does that mean? Well improv-wise it means everything we need in a scene has already happened, and if we get stuck, we just remember what has just happened and go deeper to build relationship, story, and characters.
Life-wise, what I am saying is: setting goals for the future without first learning from the past is foolhardy. I think, more important than looking forward is to look back!

What worked, what didn’t work? What made me come alive, what didn’t? What was hard and why? What was easy and why? What could I have improved on? Who did I love spending time with and why? What was I grateful for? What can I celebrate and expand on? Where did I set boundaries, where did I not?

Looking back can help us decide what works for us and allows us to improve and learn from our mistakes. Learning and improvement happens through reflection. So, before I start grand-planning for 2023, I’m going to do a review.

And in the spirit of that here is a recap of the year that was 2022 at Improv Hub!

Improv Hub had:

• 32 intermediate online improv drop in classes
• 6 in real life drop ins
• was featured at Brisbane Improv Festival with the Improvised Monologues Workshop,
• 2 online Musical Improv drop ins
• 13 courses including things like Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and ‘Relationships in Improv’ and ‘Emotion in Improv’ to name a few.
• We doubled our income this financial year
• had 6 regular one on one improv coaching clients
• 5 creative consulting clients
• our 3rd open to the public (on Zoom) Improv performance.

It was a HUGE year! And thank you so much to everyone who made these successes possible! I’m so grateful. :)
On a personal note:

• I got to do improv masterclasses in the UK and USA online and learn some amazing new styles and formats.
• I co-created an improvised business podcast with the amazing Laura Piccardi https://banterpreneurs.com and we had our first guests and over 2500 downloads on google, apple and Spotify.
• I started my own Musical Improv troupe called ‘Musically Challenged’ with the wonderful Michael David and Rob Hislop https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxF8b7Cw5egM1l4QrlDmX7GhIuuxFDUB_
• I did more hilarious Drummond and Friend duo improvisations for YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB6b21sZJcw&list=PLxF8b7Cw5egPnaIuaboUBDGA9Q4j9uwpB
• Interviewed another amazing Improv teacher (you'll find out who soon...) for my show Masters of Improv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7hIQ_Xgf1A& list=PLxF8b7Cw5egMA3StskwIqi3Rs3UCfk-Qv&index=2
• Got to play with my Slow Burn duo partner the awesome Anna Ong many times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A7S23I9OIo&list=PLxF8b7Cw5egO2b5SmF91qunTIgFKtZsuC
• Played with my super-talented musical improv duo partner Christine Welsh Buck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClRLLEInSnY&list=PLxF8b7Cw5egPS5UhRbDcJULq0NzbnZL9A
• Became part of an American ‘Harold’ team (a long-held dream come true).
• Had another wonderful year with my husband Luke.
• Made practically every new person I met do improv in some form, like my hairdresser, the dental nurse, one of Luke’s academic colleagues and my business mentor….lol

All in all, I am looking at what worked for me and what didn’t, what I want to do more of this year and what I don’t. Will you do a life review and find out what worked for you and what didn’t?

I know it worked for 3 of my improv coaching clients! Upon reflection one realised her kids were playing and she wasn’t and now she is making fun time for herself, another realised he had been stifling his creativity and now realises he is a talented storyteller, and another realised he needed to listen more and be more flexible with clients and is now communicating and thinking on his feet better than ever!

If you look back at 2022 and realise you were too controlling and inflexible, stifling your creativity and your own unique voice, or (like me many years ago when I first found improv) don’t have enough laughter and joy in your life, then have a think about changing things up this year and trying out improv. (And another sales pitch….lol….but it is 100% true).
 
I hope you have all had a great holiday season and are taking the time to celebrate your successes in 2022 and I am wishing you all the best for 2023!!!

(And now the plug!) And if you or anyone you know are too shy to try improv in a group, I do a 1st one on one session on Zoom for only $30AUD for the hour at a time that suits you. https://www.improvhub.com.au/coaching
 
Also, if you want to hear some other interesting ideas about embracing the new year (especially if you are in small business), check out my improvised small business podcast with Laura Piccardi, Banterpreneurs- our special guest was Australia’s first winner of The Apprentice Andrew Morello. https://banterpreneurs.com/how-to-do-business-2023/

And finally, if you would like to see some of our Improv Hub students in action check out and subscribe to the Improv Hub YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPZJLTpVuQqYYVJYx0xQtYQ

Take care of yourselves and may the joy be with you! :)

Lindsay x

copyright 2023 Improv Hub-Lindsay Drummond

When I was at my local garden centre, I saw something quite disturbing to me. I was perusing the plants when I noticed a mother and her daughter having a conversation. The daughter looked between 3-4 years old, and I overheard the mother say “So it is Aunty Shelly’s birthday this weekend what should we get her, what do you think?” The little girl had stopped by some bags of stones (you know the ones you put in amongst cactus and succulents). She picked up a net bag of smooth river stones and held them up to her mum as if it were a precious artifact and said, “these for Auntie Shelly Mummy”. I smiled to myself, thinking how sweet. However, what I heard in response shocked and disturbed me. “Don’t be stupid, we aren’t going to give her rocks, why would you say that? Stop being silly”. Crestfallen the little girl obediently put the river stones back.
 
It made me sad- she wasn’t being silly, she was being serious and helpful! She was only 3-4 years old, of course stones would be a cool gift to her! But what was really disturbing was knowing that this shutting down of her ‘stupid idea’ would grow with her. It stands to reason that anyone who would say something like that to her daughter in public would be saying similar things at home, and possibly quite regularly. Now I don’t want to be hard on the mother here as she is probably a nice enough lady and truthfully it is very likely the same had been done to her at some stage. But unbeknownst to her that seed of doubt was planted in her little girl and will probably germinate and grow over the years.

Like the little girl many of us are silenced from a young age. We shut down our self-expression and hold down our ideas. We become perfectionists and start really caring what others think and how we are coming across. We can end up swallowing down our natural creativity and crazy ideas. We second guess and censor. We self-criticise and judge. And very often that lack of self-acceptance extends to others, and we stop really listening to their ‘dumb’ ideas or encouraging true collaboration.

Part of the reason I love Improv so much is because it helps to undo this psychological mess we end up growing into! In Improv we learn how to accept and say ‘yes and….’ to all the dumb ideas. We make our partners in scenes look good by supporting their ‘dumb ideas’. We have fun again. We express our ideas again. We know we are in a safe environment to ‘fail’ and just be ourselves.

As a teacher it is a really special moment for me seeing when someone releases that critical self-judgement in their head and dislodges the heavy stone in their throat that stops their self-expression. They can start to believe in themselves again and trust their imagination. It is magic!

Improv is all about being offered a stone by your partner and you saying, “thanks for that, it was just what I needed, I’m going to paint it and make it my pet rock named George”.


copyright 2022 Improv Hub- Lindsay Drummond