How Improv Can Help In Recovey

When people in 12-step groups find out that I teach and perform improv, they always ask me how improv has helped me in my recovery. To me, improv and the 12 steps have a lot in common: They both are done in a group, they both bring more joy into your life, and they both are all about connection. I also think improv can be as spiritual as the 12 steps when it is done right, and the combination of the two has really accelerated all my programs for all my addictions.

Here are three ways that improv has helped me get closer to enlightenment.

1. Being in the moment
People in the rooms are always talking about "being in the moment" and "taking things one day at a time," and when I started doing improv, I realized that "being in the moment" was no longer an expression, but an experience. Improv games and exercises forced me to respond to the last thing that someone said, so I could no longer plan out what I was going to say before they were finished talking, meant that I had to truly be in the moment. Also, improv games are designed so that you can start to realize when you are being present and when you are not, and when you are really in the moment, you can usually tell by the response you get from the other people around you.

2. You Don't Have to Do It Alone
This is a big one. People are often afraid to try improv because they think they are going to be put on the spot and won't know what to say. They are afraid of being out there on stage alone and being humiliated. But that doesn't happen because it's done in a group. Once I could trust that the group had my best interest in mind, I started to take more risks, which came easily because the group was so supportive. In recovery, we learn that we can't do things alone, that we always need the support of the group in order to face our biggest fears. And practicing those skills in improv will help you be able to trust people outside of yourself in your life, too.

3. Acceptance
In recovery, we're supposed to learn acceptance -- of ourselves, of situations, of others. And nothing will teach you acceptance faster than improv, because you have to accept every thing that another person says in a scene as a gift. In improv when some says something in a scene, you can't say, "I don't like that idea, give me another one." No, you have to take what they give you and build off it. In improv there are no mistakes, so whatever happens in improv games and exercises we use and go with the flow. And guess what? It's a lot of fun, and we end up creating beyond our wildest dreams. 

Can you imagine how better things will be when you start applying this to your life?

Jimmy Carrane has been teaching improv as long as he has been in recovery -- which is a very long time. He has taught at The Second City, iO Chicago and The Annoyance Theater, as well as for a lot of big corporations and organizations. He is also an author, stand-up comedian and podcaster. As an actor, he has been in such shows as "Shining Girls," "Chicago PD," "The Bear" and more. His next workshop, Improv For Recovery Workshop, is Saturday, Oct. 24. To register click here.