Your Improv Brain

You get the "more energy" note in improv and nobody tells you what to actually change. I take that note apart and look at what your teacher was probably reacting to.

The energy note does a lot of work in one word, so it can mean several different things at once, and most of us never ask for the clarification. In this episode I go through what a coach might be seeing when a scene reads as underpowered, and the mechanical choices available to you at your completely normal speaking volume. I also get into why the thing most of us do when we feel underpowered tends to make it worse, and why the option nobody suggests might be the one that holds a room. Before improv I taught dance fitness, and the presence I learned there had less to do with being loud than you might think.

• What your teacher is probably reacting to when they say "more energy"
• The four things you can adjust without raising your volume at all
• Why adding motion when you feel underpowered often reads as something else entirely
• The choice that can command a stage without you doing anything
• How to finish the energy note yourself instead of paying an improv tax

0:00 What dance fitness taught me about presence

2:35 Taking apart the "more energy" note

3:05 Show ident

3:50 Why the note is hard to use

6:00 Focus, and where your attention goes

7:19 Stance and where your weight sits

8:27 Tempo and cadence in a scene

9:13 How you take up the space

10:59 Reading "more" as more intentional

12:30 The option beyond movement

13:48 Why we add motion when we feel underpowered

15:16 Performance you might already be doing all day

17:04 Choosing big when you want it

18:47 Finishing the note yourself

Previous episode on pauses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vWZM6qoEM8

Off Script workshops: https://YourImprovBrain.com/offscript

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
• We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd
• Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk
• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.

WORKSHOPS! Check out what's coming up for the Off Script Workshops. We're working on stuff brought up in this ep. https://yourimprovbrain.com/offscript

If you start building your next line while your scene partner is still talking, you might be solving the wrong problem. This episode is about the improv pause, the beat between an offer and your response.

Every improv scene has gaps in it, and most of the time nobody notices them because they stay short and disappear into the rhythm of the dialogue. When a pause runs longer, people start reading it, and the reading is usually some version of hesitation. That gets you the standard notes about committing faster or trusting your first instinct, which assume something fairly specific about what was going on inside your head during that silence. I talk about what a pause can actually be, why two completely different internal situations can produce almost identical silences on the outside, and what you can put into a beat so it reads the way you want it to.

• Why speeding up your response can cost you the offer you needed most
• The difference between a pause that reads as blanking and one that reads as a choice
• Why the note to just be quicker asks you to fix the one thing that might not be available
• What to put into a beat so your scene partner stops filling it in for you
• A couple of options when an offer arrives with more information in it than you can hold

0:00 Building your line while your partner is still talking

1:55 What this episode is about

2:17 Improv as a receiving activity first

3:05 Beats and gaps, and when people start noticing them

4:47 The note you get when a pause reads as a confidence problem

6:56 Two very different things that look identical from outside

9:10 The third kind of pause

10:00 The fix almost everyone arrives at on their own

12:20 Processing delays and working memory inside a scene

13:43 What a confident performer is actually doing in a beat

16:20 Reacting before you respond

18:17 Options when the offer has too much in it

20:35 Where the phrase "juicy pauses" came from

Suzi Barrett, improv podcaster, who coined the "juicy pauses" note: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgWKnIrmQ973mnHJtRRNAdA

Earlier episodes on blanking and freezing on stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeilTyCoEKE (and check the description for many more!)

Earlier episode on silence and pauses as a chosen dramatic tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkIxMS8R30E

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
• We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd
• Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk
• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.

You're in a scene, it's your turn, and your brain goes somewhere else. Going blank on stage, hitting that freeze, is near the top of most improvisers' fear lists, and I want to add something new to the pile of advice about it. I have new things to say about this thing, possibly even something that's a fix. Basically, you need to sort out your default move.

Most advice about the improv freeze(tm) tells you to say or do the next thing, anything at all, and that does work a lot of the time. It can also be the exact thing that froze you in the first place, yuck, especially if you're a neurodivergent improviser with a long history of being told you read the moment wrong or missed the subtext or that unsaid thing that we were supposed to guess or assume. Yuck.

In this episode I offer one more way to think about why the freeze happens, and one specific thing you can sort out ahead of time so you're not making a decision while you're already flooded. I also get into why the pause you're sitting in might be more useful than you think. Ooo foreshadowing and clickbait!

• Why that blank feeling might be the opposite of blank
• The link between a fear of being wrong and a full-body shutdown-y stall-out on stage
• Why "just say anything" can backfire for some improvisers and isn't useful on its own without some more info, data, or nuance
• The three modes most improvisers default to, and how to find yours! With details!
• How to practise your emergency move in everyday life so it's ready when you need it! Planning for improv scenes! No, no, it's not like that.

0:00 The moment your brain leaves the scene

1:03 The classic advice, and where it can fall apart

2:08 What I'm adding this time

2:27 The reframe to try on

3:57 The fear of being wrong, and my hypothesis about it

6:05 Embracing the pause

6:47 Visual, kinesthetic, and vocal moves

8:00 Why choosing under pressure is its own problem

9:27 Sorting your default out in advance

11:41 Practising it with random triggers

13:44 Off Script workshops

14:20 The short version, the tldr; at the very damn end of the episode muahaha

Off Script workshops, monthly, online, small group, neuroinclusive, cameras off welcome: https://YourImprovBrain.com/offscript <-- it will be fun, please come join.

• Mind Blank on Stage? A 3-Step Reboot for Your Brain https://youtu.be/uEdWr4QfRCA
• Mind goes Blank on Initiations: https://youtu.be/8HXZl0LS7AU
• A Source of Great Improv Ideas (bonus: Get Out of Your Head) https://youtu.be/32QbDf9C-wg
• Clear Mind = Get Out of Your Head in Improv https://youtu.be/QtTu7SvUm-A
• 3-Step System & Exercise to Manage Self-Criticism in Improv https://youtu.be/d7X1gFgtkn8

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
• We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd
• Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk
• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.

NEW WORKSHOPS! Find all the information on the newly released website at https://YourImprovBrain.com/offscript

Someone asked in an improv forum how you should actually learn improv, whether that's doing scenes, watching other people, or reading and talking theory. I had a big enough answer that I rebooted the podcast to give it, and to add the one way a lot of people skip or don't think is "a thing" I guess.

I walk through how I'd rank the ways to learn improv, starting with the one that counts most by a lot, then the second thing that shapes your taste and your skills over time. After that I get into the most underused way to get better, I think, and probably the central idea of this whole show really.

If you're neurodivergent, this is also how you work out which standard improv notes fit your brain and which ones you can set aside, and that changed a lot for me.

• Why doing improv beats every other way to learn it, and by how much
• What to actually pay attention to when you watch better improvisers
• The most underused way to get better, and why classes rarely mention it
• How to study your own improv brain so it shows up in scenes without thinking, hell yeah
• Which improv notes to keep and which ones to chuck out based on how your brain works

0:00 The forum question that kicked this off

1:50 Why actually doing improv beats everything else

2:21 What to watch for when you watch better improvisers

3:19 The most underused way to learn improv

4:27 What metacognition means for your improv brain

9:03 Two things to avoid when you look back at a scene

10:56 What you actually get from studying your own improv

13:49 How this quiets comparison and self-criticism

20:50 A simple way to start after your next set

22:32 Off Script: doing this reflection with structure, if that helps

My answer to the original forum question https://www.facebook.com/groups/improvtalk/posts/2860434757656333/

Post-session reflection sheet (linked in my newsletter) and Off Script workshops at https://yourimprovbrain.com

E31: Clear Mind = Get Out of Your Head in Improv: https://youtu.be/QtTu7SvUm-A

E33: 3-Step System & Exercise to Manage Self-Criticism in Improv https://youtu.be/d7X1gFgtkn8

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
• We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd
• Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk
• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.

Steamrolling is one of those improv topics where everyone wants to talk about the people doing it to them, and almost nobody wants to consider whether they might be doing it themselves. This episode covers both sides.

It starts with what steamrolling actually looks like in a scene (and it probably has less to do with how much someone talks than you think), then gets into the reasons it happens, including some ADHD-specific patterns like verbal processing and dopamine-seeking that can lead to steamrolling without even realising it. There's also a nervous system layer here, because steamrolling can function as a fight response to uncertainty, and getting steamrolled can trigger a freeze or shutdown that makes the whole dynamic worse.

The second half of the episode gets practical. If you're being steamrolled, there are in-scene tools you can try, like pointed questions and well-timed interrupts, and there are exercises to practise both of those with a scene partner.

There's also a solo exercise for building the skill of shifting your character mid-scene. And if you're the one steamrolling, there's some homework about building curiosity toward your scene partners and tracking whether the other characters in your scenes are actually getting to be someone.

• Steamrolling is about who controls the scene's content, and it can happen even when both people are talking equally.
• Anxiety and a desire to save the scene cause steamrolling more often than ego does.
• ADHD-related verbal processing, impulse control, and/or dopamine-seeking can create steamrolling patterns without the person realising it.
• Getting steamrolled can involve a freeze or shutdown response, where your nervous system deactivates and you lose access to your ideas.
• The single most effective focus for someone who tends to steamroll is curiosity about their scene partner's character.

00:00 What steamrolling feels like from the inside

01:27 Why steamrolling is about scene content, not volume

03:01 How to tell if a scene was steamrolled

06:10 Patterns vs. one-off big scenes

07:19 Why steamrolling happens

09:22 ADHD and steamrolling

11:43 The nervous system perspective

13:43 What to do when you're being steamrolled

17:48 Exercise: the direct redirect

20:41 Exercise: getting your voice in

23:05 Solo exercise: the character shift monologue

25:31 Homework for steamrollers

• E46: Processing feedback/notes (referenced directly in the episode): https://improvupdate.com/receiving-improv-notes-and-understanding-how-your-brain-rewrites-the-feedback/
• E47: Page for THIS episode with all of those things to consider about steamrolling: https://improvupdate.com/steamrolling
• Downloadable Guides all about notes and feedback in improv (for students and for teachers/coaches): https://improvupdate.com/notes

• E29: Improving Communication Skills So You Can Improvise With Anyone https://improvupdate.com/improving-communication-skills-improvise-with-anyone/
• E28: Mind Blank on Stage? A 3-Step Reboot for Your Brain https://improvupdate.com/mind-blank-on-stage-a-3-step-reboot-for-your-brain/
• E33: 3-Step System & Exercise to Manage Self-Criticism in Improv https://improvupdate.com/3-step-system-exercise-to-manage-self-criticism-in-improv/
• E46: Processing feedback: https://improvupdate.com/receiving-improv-notes-and-understanding-how-your-brain-rewrites-the-feedback/

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
• We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd
• Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk
• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.

OUT NOW! Get my latest guides, all about getting and giving improv notes! Find them and what's inside the guides at https://improvupdate.com/notes. 50% discount on your second guide if you grab them together.

Getting improv notes can affect your nervous system, and your brain. We look at why your brain rewrites feedback and how you can separate the actual content from the emotional delivery (aka, the framing). When a coach gives you feedback after a scene, your brain often processes their tone and body language before the actual words.

This means you might react to a perceived threat before you even hear the advice. We explore a metacognitive approach to receiving improv notes that helps you manage this early physiological response. You will learn an exercise to isolate objective facts, and we cover why writing down your feedback immediately can prevent rumination.

Go here for links to ALL episodes in this series on metacognition: https://improvupdate.com/receiving-improv-notes-and-understanding-how-your-brain-rewrites-the-feedback/

RESOURCES & LINKS:

• NEW! Student and Teacher Guides on Notes: https://improvupdate.com/notes
• Contact BOC: https://www.instagram.com/b3oc
• BOC will travel to teach you! https://highwireimprov.com/boc-tour/
• Watch Billy Mai in this: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089491
• Free PDF note tracker: https://improvupdate.com/newsletter
• Link to podcast version: https://improvupdate.com/improvbrain
• Eileen Gu clip mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bthfcm5R7Eg
• Evidence based approach episode: https://improvupdate.com/why-just-be-confident-doesnt-work-and-what-to-do-instead/

CHAPTERS:

0:06 How your brain rewrites your improv feedback

1:23 The Eileen Gu metacognition example

2:56 Separating objective content from subjective emotional framing

4:16 The first wave nervous system response to tone and body language

6:09 Brian James O'Connell and sorting your feedback into categories

8:18 Why vague notes cause stress and worst case scenario thinking

10:03 How teachers and coaches control the feedback framing

10:52 Preventing rumination by capturing the evidence on paper

12:22 Rejection sensitive dysphoria and the physiological reaction to notes

13:46 Buying your brain time for the second wave of cognitive processing

14:56 A partner exercise to practice separating facts from delivery

17:11 A solo exercise for spotting your own framing patterns

Hey so for whatever reason my audio editor decided to HATE my butt today, and I've re-rendered this episode five times now. I've never gone beyond two renders in nearly 50 episodes! "For sure this one will be fine, I'll just render it." Nope. Now I'm at five test listens and there was always some little blip blunder every time that I missed (something got shifted at the beginning and caused a cascading error). Usually in the second half. Fun. funfunfun So if I've missed a blip in this one? I'm sorry. But I can't re-render and listen to my darn voice any longer lol I'm done it is what it is.

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
• We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd
• Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk
• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.

You know that thing where you learn a skill in class, you can explain it to someone else, and then you get into a scene and your brain does the old thing anyway? This episode is about why that happens and what to do about it. Your brain runs on pathways, and the ones you've reinforced the most fire first under pressure. Understanding a concept intellectually doesn't change the pathway on its own, which is why a single workshop or class series on a skill often doesn't stick.

The good news is those pathways can change. Neuroplasticity, my friend!

Drawing on Olympian Eileen Gu's approach to neuroplasticity and metacognition, this episode breaks down how repeated, focused practice on a single skill can start to compete with your old defaults. For neurodivergent brains, this is both encouraging (your current defaults aren't necessarily permanent) and sometimes frustrating (executive function challenges can make sustained practice harder to maintain). The exercise this week is designed to give you a high volume of reps on one specific habit, with a solo modification you can adapt to conversations in your everyday life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Your first instinct in a scene is whatever brain pathway has been reinforced the most, and those pathways can change with focused repetition.
• Understanding a concept intellectually and performing it automatically live in different parts of your brain, which is why knowing better doesn't always translate to doing better.
• Your nervous system needs to feel safe enough to let you practise new patterns honestly, because stress responses will default to the oldest, most reinforced pathway.
• Targeting one specific skill at a time (rather than trying to fix everything at once) gives that new pathway the best chance of forming.
• Solo practice and real-world conversations can both build improv-relevant pathways outside of rehearsal.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Why your brain defaults to old habits under pressure

01:16 How brain pathways work and why the most reinforced one fires first

02:36 Eileen Gu on neuroplasticity and tinkering like a scientist

03:35 Applying this to your improv practice

04:05 Why understanding a concept doesn't change the pathway on its own

05:51 What this means for neurodivergent brains

06:36 Nervous system regulation as a prerequisite for building new defaults

08:28 Exercise: Stop That Move (partner version with coach)

12:31 Solo modification: recording yourself and practising in everyday conversations

RESOURCES and RELATED EPISODES:

• Eileen Gu's metacognition and neuroplasticity commentary (referenced across recent episodes) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-tbAaPXNeSg
• UCB Improv Manual: https://ucbcomedy.com/store/ucb-manual/
• Evidence based confidence episode: https://improvupdate.com/why-just-be-confident-doesnt-work-and-what-to-do-instead/
• Memory and recall episodes: https://improvupdate.com/memory-and-recall-exercise-improv-jams-57/
• Article for this episode: https://improvupdate.com/how-to-stop-defaulting-to-your-old-improv-habits/
• Video for this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rad6ubzuV98

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
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• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.

"Just be confident." "Trust yourself." "Ya got this." You've heard these things, and you might have even said them. And for a lot of brains, especially analytical or pattern-driven ones, they don't work. During the 2026 Olympics, Eileen Gu described herself as an evidence person, not an affirmations person. Her confidence before competition comes from the specific preparation she's done: the hours of training, the technical breakdowns, the repetitions. Her brain trusts that archive because those are things she's actually executed.

This episode applies that distinction to improv. Affirmations are belief-based, and they get shaky when a scene goes sideways. Evidence-based confidence means keeping a specific, honest account of what you've worked on and what has improved. You'll get a partner exercise for practising real-time recognition of competence and a solo method for building your own evidence archive over time.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Affirmations can increase anxiety in analytical brains because your internal pattern-matching flags them when they aren't backed by evidence.
• Evidence-based confidence means your brain has something concrete and verifiable to draw on under pressure, and a bad show becomes one data point instead of a structural collapse.
• Common improv phrases like "there are no mistakes" and "I got your back" are useful philosophies for treating your scene partner's work, but they're vague as internal confidence strategies.
• Building an evidence archive changes how you practice: every rep, exercise, and scene adds specific proof that you can handle specific situations.
• Even in a rough scene, you can find evidence of what went well, and training yourself to do that is both a skill-building tool and an emotional survival skill.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Why "just be confident" doesn't work for a lot of brains

00:47 Eileen Gu on evidence vs. affirmations

01:53 What affirmations are and why they get shaky after a rough scene

03:01 Evidence-based confidence and how it works differently

04:54 How common improv confidence advice falls into the affirmation category

06:13 The neurodivergent and nervous system layer: why analytical brains flag affirmations

08:19 How evidence-based confidence changes how you handle a bad show

08:49 Partner exercise: Cheer Squad (real-time recognition of competence in a scene)

11:14 Solo exercise: building your evidence archive after each practice or show

RESOURCES:

• Eileen Gu's 2026 Olympics interview on evidence vs. affirmations
• Astute Will Hines (referenced for finding evidence of what went well even in bad scenes) Probably from this book, he has written so much stuff though so maybe not, but the book is good --> https://www.willhines.net/book/
• Your Improv Brain practice worksheet PDF: ImprovUpdate.com/newsletter
• Online article for this episode

RELATED EPISODES:

The Metacognition in Improv Series: Find it near the end of this online page for this episode.

This is a special extended (podcast-only) episode of Your Improv Brain on neurodivergent inclusion in the improv community. These episodes will focus on inclusion, nervous system regulation, and help neurodivergent improvisers understand themselves and help non-neurodivergent improvisers work better with their teammates and students.

This is the first one. Hi!

Think about the best improv team you've ever seen. That team where everyone seemed to know when to step in and when to hold back. That connection didn't come from scenework. It came from the offstage work of actually knowing each other. Jen talks about what it feels like, as an autistic person, to carry the belief that you're a burden in every space you enter. She names where that feeling shows up in improv (hint: it's rarely onstage), what autistic improvisers bring to a team, what's genuinely harder for us, and what teammates can do to include everyone equally. The episode ends with a team inclusion exercise called "What I Need From You" and a solo version you can try on your own.

Have something to share? Add a comment here:

https://improvupdate.com/how-well-do-you-actually-know-your-improv-teammates-offstage-skill-building/

Or reply to the newsletter I send out with these things (any newsletter!) ImprovUpdate.com/newsletter

1. The burden belief often starts early in life and gets carried into every space, including improv, whether you realize it or not.
2. For many autistic improvisers, scenes feel safe because they have structure, but unstructured social time (group chats, hangouts after shows, pre-rehearsal mingling) is where the burden feeling lives.
3. Autistic improvisers bring different pattern recognition, a willingness to name injustice, and perspectives that make scenes richer and teams stronger.
4. Autism is a communication difference, and non-autistic people do not have a more correct way of communicating; both are valid, and the effort to bridge that gap should come from everyone.
5. The fastest way to confirm someone's burden belief is to only engage with them when they're useful and go silent when they need support.

00:00 — The best improv team you've ever seen

02:06 — This episode is about the offstage part

02:31 — The video that stopped me scrolling

03:35 — Who this episode is for

05:18 — Where the burden belief comes from

07:57 — Where this shows up in improv spaces

10:17 — The evidence problem

12:22 — What autistic improvisers bring to a team

13:47 — Communication differences

16:46 — What you can do as a teammate

21:17 — Team exercise: What I Need From You

22:46 — Caveats for running the exercise

24:08 — Solo version

26:00 — Closing

The video I watched: https://www.facebook.com/reel/2189375501869990

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
• We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd
• Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk
• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.

"Get out of your head" is advice that sounds reasonable until you try to follow it. When you do, you end up monitoring whether you're monitoring the scene. That's just another layer of the problem.

This episode covers metacognition (thinking about your thinking) and why it matters for improv. During the 2026 Winter Olympics, freestyle skier Eileen Gu gave an interview that went viral. A reporter asked whether she thinks before she speaks. She gave a detailed breakdown of how she monitors her own thinking in real time and treats that skill as something she's built on purpose.

What she described is directly relevant to what happens in your brain during a scene.

There are two kinds of self-monitoring happening when you're in an improv scene. One kind keeps you present and feeds your next move. The other pulls you into evaluation mode and uses up cognitive resources without giving you anything to act on. This episode breaks down the difference and explains why, for neurodivergent improvisers, the monitoring channel can run especially loud.

Exercises covered:

1. Ground My Brain (partner exercise): practicing the act of noticing when your brain drifts and coming back to the scene
2. Solo observation practice: building the habit of catching yourself in evaluation mode vs. curiosity mode outside of performance pressure
3. Brain exhaustion drill (inspired by Will Hines): letting your planning brain run out before you start

References:

E31 Get Out of Your Head: YouTube / Podcast and Article

Eileen Gu response: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-tbAaPXNeSg

YouTube version of this ep: https://youtu.be/3YZ5wJ9Vvic

Article for this ep: https://improvupdate.com/metacognition-and-improv-how-to-use-your-monitoring-brain-in-a-scene/

Chapters:

0:00 The problem with "get out of your head"

0:56 Eileen Gu and metacognition

2:07 Your monitoring channel in improv

4:47 Useful vs unhelpful self-monitoring

6:46 Neurodivergent brains and the nervous system

9:04 Exercises intro

9:38 Partner exercise: Ground My Brain

11:44 Solo exercise

Download the Free Post-Show Reflection Guide: Sent to your inbox when you subscribe to either newsletter (and added to the footer to each message if you're already subscribed).

NEW! Comprehensive guides all about getting notes as a student, or giving them as a teacher. Two guides, big discount if you get both! https://yourimprovbrain.com/notes

Get a booklet with six exercises to help you get reps in challenging scenes called "Exercises to Ruin You"

Get more downloadable booklets here: https://yourimprovbrain.com/shop

Please consider leaving a review wherever you review podcasts. Don't know where? Here are some options.

Apple Podcasts | Podchaser

It helps out! Thanks!

• Like this episode or show and want more? Support us with a one-time tip: https://learn.improvupdate.com/products/support
• We love our podcast host Capitvate.fm! Contact to ask me anything, anytime. You can support the shows by signing up with Captivate here: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=yzjiytz
• We have our newsletters on Kit.com. We also have our tip form with them, and sell products on their platform. Easy, and they don't take a cut! Check Kit out and support the show using this: https://partners.kit.com/ijdkivtf8ndd
• Transcriptions by MacWhisper. I use and love the Pro version (subscription free!) - you can get it too using this link: https://gumroad.com/a/20303251/ivpqk
• Schedule posts? We use Metricool (reasonable for multiple accounts/brands/shows). Support us using our link: https://f.mtr.cool/VZBOZR
• Support the show and get creative templates and assets: https://share.uppbeat.io/p4od8inwhc2j

This podcast was created, written, and is hosted by Jen deHaan. Jen has certifications related to healthy communities (Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy), nervous system regulation and soon teacher training certification on community resilience. She has a BFA in teaching creative arts to adults. You can find her full bio here.

This podcast was written, recorded and edited in British Columbia, Canada by Jen.