You should do it! I took a year of improv as an adult (30's) and found it an incredibly valuable experience. It benefitted my communication skills tremendously and reduced the anxiety I had talking to strangers.
"yes, and" helps with the communication protocol. You're more constructive and work harder to clearly communicate your points.
"you don't have to say anything clever" takes you off the spot and reduces the pressure. If you're less comedically included, you can still heighten the stakes by interpreting what's going on and going along with it. The audience just wants to see human drama, and the most truthful thing is how you feel about what's happening. Just to do it -- it's that easy. There are no expectations.
Improv teaches a meta language. Your intent, what you're going to do with the scenario, how you feel about each other and the world around you -- none of this has to be spoken. You're having a dialog with your scene partner(s) and communicating to them in realtime outside of the actual words that you're speaking. This is especially important, because so much of real life communication is non-verbal. Improv opens you up to that whole world.
There are no wrong choices. Yes, there are more optimal choices, but there are no bad ones as long as you follow the simple rules of improv. You don't even need to worry about that until you become serious about improv as a hobby.
You'll find analogs to all of these points in your own communication with friends, peers, superiors, et al.
Improv is one of the best courses on human communication. It's also cheap, fun, and highly effective.
> Improv teaches a meta language. Your intent, what you're going to do with the scenario, how you feel about each other and the world around you -- none of this has to be spoken.
Thanks for articulating that insight. I've looked into improv off-and-on for years but have not found the clinching argument on its value-add in my situation. I'm fortunate enough to not be prone to social anxiety (I'm a people-connector type and am actually drawn to strangers), and public speaking doesn't faze me, so I haven't really been able to see how improv would fit into my life. But improving non-verbal communication is a meta skill that I could get behind.
I'm still not sure how "yes and" would apply in improving daily conversation though. Do you have any positive experiences to share?
"yes, and" helps with the communication protocol. You're more constructive and work harder to clearly communicate your points.
"you don't have to say anything clever" takes you off the spot and reduces the pressure. If you're less comedically included, you can still heighten the stakes by interpreting what's going on and going along with it. The audience just wants to see human drama, and the most truthful thing is how you feel about what's happening. Just to do it -- it's that easy. There are no expectations.
Improv teaches a meta language. Your intent, what you're going to do with the scenario, how you feel about each other and the world around you -- none of this has to be spoken. You're having a dialog with your scene partner(s) and communicating to them in realtime outside of the actual words that you're speaking. This is especially important, because so much of real life communication is non-verbal. Improv opens you up to that whole world.
There are no wrong choices. Yes, there are more optimal choices, but there are no bad ones as long as you follow the simple rules of improv. You don't even need to worry about that until you become serious about improv as a hobby.
You'll find analogs to all of these points in your own communication with friends, peers, superiors, et al.
Improv is one of the best courses on human communication. It's also cheap, fun, and highly effective.