WHAT IS IMPROV?
Did you have a dream last night? Think about the best one you have ever had. It was fun. It was thrilling. It was full of unexpected surprises. There is a reason why the phrase "it was a dream come true" means the best thing you can experience. Because at their best dreams enable us to feel deeply free. Free in a world that sometimes seems designed to constrain us. People with Alzheimer's and other dementia producing diseases and especially their caregivers feel intensely constrained. However there is a way to feel the fresh air freedom even within the role of a caregiver, and by extension enable the person being cared for to feel it too: Improvisation, specifically improv comedy.
On the face of it it might seem impossible that improv comedy could have anything to do with caregiving. But the guidelines you need to follow to perform improv on stage are almost identical to the guidelines for caring for people with dementia. However you might think that it's impossible for you to improvise. If you have the capacity to have a dream when you fall asleep then you have the capacity to improvise. The human brain is miraculous and all of those images, sounds, textures, and realities generated in dreams are created by you. By following the guidelines of improv you are pushed into consciously creating them for the purpose of comedy or for the purpose of connecting to someone who needs help to feel free again.
One of the guidelines of improv is accepting everything that comes along as real. Doubt is useless in this context. Following this guideline produces unusual and interesting moments on stage. Following this guideline in caregiving produces unusual and interesting moments between yourself and whomever you're caring for. Also it places the person being cared for in a world where they are not alone but with someone. Someone who at least is trying to see the world as they see it. This is a tremendous improvement from their normal day.
Other guidelines of improv help in caregiving in other ways. But all of them help the person being cared for feel grounded again. It's kind of magical that the part of you which makes dreams can help someone feel more real.
On the face of it it might seem impossible that improv comedy could have anything to do with caregiving. But the guidelines you need to follow to perform improv on stage are almost identical to the guidelines for caring for people with dementia. However you might think that it's impossible for you to improvise. If you have the capacity to have a dream when you fall asleep then you have the capacity to improvise. The human brain is miraculous and all of those images, sounds, textures, and realities generated in dreams are created by you. By following the guidelines of improv you are pushed into consciously creating them for the purpose of comedy or for the purpose of connecting to someone who needs help to feel free again.
One of the guidelines of improv is accepting everything that comes along as real. Doubt is useless in this context. Following this guideline produces unusual and interesting moments on stage. Following this guideline in caregiving produces unusual and interesting moments between yourself and whomever you're caring for. Also it places the person being cared for in a world where they are not alone but with someone. Someone who at least is trying to see the world as they see it. This is a tremendous improvement from their normal day.
Other guidelines of improv help in caregiving in other ways. But all of them help the person being cared for feel grounded again. It's kind of magical that the part of you which makes dreams can help someone feel more real.