My wife walks into a bar, well at least that's how she explained her injuries to the police.

I work at the Second City in Chicago and this is a new class we're offering in conjunction with the Panic/Anxiety Recovery Center! Maybe some folks in the Chicago area would find it useful or interesting!

http://www.beyondanxiety.com/emails/improv/index.php

hey have you done any acting before? i want to take a comedy improv class soon and I'm completely new at theater arts. I found out the same thing though when i went to toastmasters i can give speeches quite easily but just socializing with people and connecting with them is much harder for me.

oh and how much did the comedy improv classes cost?

I never did any acting before, it just came naturally to me. I didn't learn anything new during the class cause I was already naturally doing what was instructed... But I saw most people to which it didn't came naturally progress during the course.

It was a beginners course and it cost me €100,- for 10 x 2 hours (Europe is more expensive generally then the US is though).

Gotta remember, taking an improvisation class should be different from an "improv comedy" class. Try to find a supportive teacher who loves the work and recognizes that each individual student has different goals, needs, and rewards. Too many classes right now just run through a laundry list of "comedy games" and never let you work on the simple communication that is the best part of improv. If you did 10 weeks of class and were always "assuming a role" instead of just being yourself and listening and reacting to your scene partner, you might not have gotten everything the work has to offer. My advice is to audit a class before you take it, and watch how the teacher works with the students -- some may charge you to audit, but it's worth it -- and look for an older teacher who has been doing it awhile. If the teacher/school doesn't allow auditors, move on! Best of luck!

me and my sister would do this but instead of movies it was an activity which grew out of our people watching on the street

interested in this improv thing as well, seems like it would be great exposure/practice

I'm one of those people some of you talked about who can perform fine on stage without much more than butterflies, but fail miserably in a more intimate, face-to-face setting. There's a couple things I've attributed it to. One is that in a regular performance setting (not improv), all the lines are already given to you, so figuring out what to say isn't an issue. However I've taken an improv workshop before (enjoyed it very much) and found I could do it at least as well as everyone else. So two, I'm finding that if the focus isn't on me, my life, my experiences, I have no problem putting myself in front of people. People are judging my performance, not me as a person. Social situations tend to be very personal; I think I tend to be embarrassed about my person, constantly thinking I'm not good enough in every way, whereas onstage I'm very confident in my performance capabilities.

I'd love to take a full improv class though. It might help me to think on my feet better, something maybe I could apply to real social situations.

I totally support Improv Comedy for Social Anxiety! I'm on my 5th month and it has done wonders for me. The improv skills have transferred to my conversation skills very nicely. No more awkward pauses in my conversations, no more blanking out...now my conversations just flow, it's beautiful.

After seeing the results for myself, I plan on doing Improv Comedy for the next couple years. Aside from the social anxiety aspect, I've fallen in love with the art itself.

I am also like some of you, in the way that I perform fine on stage when I can assume a role, because that removes the pressure of me being judged. I performed in high school in a play and was given amazing reviews in the local newspaper. I both wrote and acted in sketches. But in real life I have struggled to achieve the same success, because I can't stand being put on the spot. I want to try improv classes though, it seems like a way to go. And if it doesn't completely rid me of my negative anxious thoughts, it sure will be a fun stress reliever. I'll post my progress in a couple of months!

Hey awesome thanks!

I am thinking improv workshops without comedy as the sole focus would help me, but unfortunately it looks like my town only has comedy improv. I think I'll suggest at my next appointment that maybe I could help start some kind of CBT improv group at the local low income counseling center. It seems like classes would be easy to design, because there's loads of improv game info available for free. I'm just worried that there will be obstacles and then I'll lose interest, or that my interest will fade.

For anyone who's interested, I've posted my article, "'Yes, and': Acceptance, Resistance, and Change in Improv, Aikido, and Psychotherapy" to http://www.sfxmachine.com/docs/yes,_and.pdf . Thanks again to everyone who helped with quotes for the paper.

Hey yall,

Im happy to see that people are doing Improv to get over their anxiety because thats where I started. When I got into uni, my anxiety got really really bad, to the point I just wore a hood where ever I went, stayed indoors for years, and never went to any parties. After a bit of CBT and therapy, I decided to take Improv to really change myself and I haven't looked back. It really changed my life, and Ive kept it up. its something that has really helped me to become more comfortable with it, and now I go to class and feel a part of society again after years. I highly recommend it !!!!!

That actually sounds interesting. I think I'll look it up and see if I can use this method

This is insane....