Improv for Confidence and Joy with Improv Performer, Coach and Intuitive Mentor (Anoo Tree Brod) 🐢

Today we're talking about improvisation, personal growth, intuition, social anxiety, purpose, and more! 

My guest today is Anoo Tree Brod who is an improvisation coach, performance coach, intuitive reader and mentor. 

What you'll find in today's episode:

• What is improvisation and how does it go beyond acting without a script?
• How can improvisation be a tool for personal growth?
• How can we foster spontaneity and playfulness in everyday life?
• How can we notice intuition and think about finding purpose?

Be sure to check out Anoo's work! 

Book a reading with Anoo: anootreebrod.com
Anoo's improvisation work: wildmindimprov.com

Instagram: @anootreeb_wildmindimprov
TikTok: @anootreeb_wildmindimprov
Facebook: Wild Mind Improv with Anoo Tree Brod
 

🎙️ Want to help Multitudes reach more listeners? I would love if you shared this episode with a friend! 
🎙️This is part one of a two-part conversation with Anoo. Be sure to subscribe to Multitudes to hear part two!
🎙️ You can find out more about Multitudes by checking out multitudespodcast.com and heading over to our IG @multitudes.podcast. 

Transcript

0:00

Your natural brilliance is going to come through. Your natural hilariousness is going to come through, but you never ever have to try. Hello and welcome. You're listening to the multitudes podcast. And I'm your host, Nicole Carter. And that was a new tree, broad, who is my guest today. A new does so many things. She is an improv coach performance coach, intuitive reader and mentor. And in this conversation, we talk about what improvisation is, including the fundamental principles and techniques. And we ended up talking about what an improv class could look like and ran through some improv one-on-one exercises also what I love about this conversation is that we talk about why improvisation is more than just acting without a script. And how it can be seen through the lens of personal growth. And so this isn't just a conversation about improv. As we expanded to talking about social anxiety, intuition, finding purpose, and navigating life with simplicity, its spontaneity and playfulness. I hope you find some ideas or techniques that could be applicable to your life in this conversation. And as always, you can check out multitudes@multitudespodcast.com. and please be sure to follow multitudes on instagram at multitudes dot podcast to learn more I'm very excited to be here. Yes, me too. I am really looking forward to talking about a topic that I think we use every day in our lives, but I haven't really had a lot of exposure to. Improv and like improv classes. So I'm so excited to chat about improv with you and we'll get right into it because I would love to know if you could tell us what is improv all about. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a multifaceted answer. So the basic answer is improvisation is acting without a script. It's using our imaginations, creating worlds with our imaginations and other players that we invite the audience into. And then it's also this incredible, what I found is it's this incredible practice improvisation is really much more like yoga. So it's a practice of. In the way I see it and the way I perform it and the way I teach it of being fully present in the moment and learning to get out of our own heads to be in the present moment and to connect with the people that we're playing with. So the more you practice improvisation, like you would yoga, you know, weekly classes or whatever, the more you start to embody the tenets of improvisation, the playfulness, the spontaneity, the full range of emotional self expression, getting confidence, finding your voice, So Yeah, the simple answer is it's acting without a script, but it's also all these other layered things as well. Hmm. I love that I would love to know if there's anything that you think improv is not, or any myths Yeah, I love that question. That's a really good question. So improv is not stand up comedy. That is definitely a myth around improv. It's like, Oh, you just, you get up there and you try to be funny, right? I should say there's lots of different schools of improv, so it depends on where you're training, who you're training with, etc, etc. But the type of improv that I do that I call wild mind improv is really about finding humor in organic, honest moments. Through creating characters that are hilarious because they're so relatable, you know, so it's not about just getting up there and panicking, you know, and being anxious on stage and trying to get, you know, say something outrageous so that the audience laughs and you can feel better. That would be more beginner style improv. I have never been to an improv class. So if I were to walk into an improv class, what can I expect? lemme get a little more grounded and practical. So if you were to come into an improv class first time, I usually in a beginner class, we usually start out with gentle, playful games that get us kind of out of our head and get us starting to be. connected with each other and a little bit freer and starting to laugh more and a little bit more relaxed. So it starts out with just playing some games. So we've got the structure that kind of helps with, you know, I'm not just out there saying, Hey guys, go play, have fun. it's like, no, there's structured games, activities, exercises that I'll take you through that will incrementally. Build your confidence and you'll start to without even noticing it. You'll be like, oh, oh, this is fun Like I had a student recently. she said I was I'm definitely expecting when I came in here that I would have to try to have fun. She said, but I'm actually just having so much fun and I'm not having to try at all. And I'm like, yes, that's what it's about. It's like people come in and they're just like, uh, you know, it's, it's. It's amazing the bravery because most people are like, well, what am I doing? And they're not, their expectations are probably like, Oh God, this is going to be weird. It's going to be scarier. And generally speaking, even after the first night of like a two hour class, people will walk away really lit up. So again, on the practical level, we just play a bunch of games that start getting you feeling comfortable. Like, I guess I can give, like, an example. So something we talk about in improv is, is the concept of yes and. That's kind of the building block of improvisation. So the idea is, if I'm in a scene with my scene partner, and my scene partner says, Welcome to Whole Foods. I want to say yes. Okay, so I don't want the opposite of that would be to denial what we're not in Whole Foods. Okay, if I said that in a show, that second person would probably get a laugh. And no one in their freaking minds would want to work with them for the rest of their lives. They'd be like, this person is not working with us. Working with me. They're not playing with me. Okay. So the opposite is you want to accept the offer. Okay. Now I know I'm in Whole Foods. Yes. And I need some avocados for a potluck tonight. So we're not trying to be funny. We're not trying to be interesting. We're not trying to be brilliant. We're not trying to be creative. This is what I tell my students the first night they come to work with me. Don't try to be any of that. I'm going to teach you things. We're going to do some things. And in the process, your natural creativity is going to come through. Your natural brilliance is going to come through. Your natural hilariousness is going to come through, but you never ever have to try. We want to really focus on simplicity. So anyway, and exercises. Yes. And so we'll work on, I'll have people usually on the first night break off into pairs, you know, at some point, not right away and just practice. Yes, and then each other for about five or six minutes. So you know, they might start out some, I just say, just start with a simple sentence. Like I'm seeing my cat here, I would say like, my cat is sleeping next to me. It could be something like that. And the person would be like, Oh, do you want to do it with me? We could do like a sample. Sure, yeah, let's do it. the focus here is learning to listen, because you have to listen when you're yes anding, and to build. And so we're just going to create something out of nothing with each other. And we, one of the rules is no questions. So instead of asking a question, which is the thing we do when we're timid, try to, if you do notice yourself asking a question, turn it into like giving information instead. Okay. I'll start. It's really hot here in North Carolina. Yes. And, so do I start with yes and, or do I? Yeah, yeah. Oh, sorry. I didn't make that clear. Why don't you start with a sentence, and I'll yes and you. Okay. It's really hot here in New York as well. Yes, and everybody is sweating so much it's creating pools for people to, um, swim in. Pools. Have you... So then you say, yes, and... Okay. Oh, then I say yes and, okay. Yes. And have you heard of the recent pool that opened up in California? Yes. And they have let wild dolphins swim in that pool. Yes, and those dolphins are creating a revolution to overtake the humans Yes. And they have come up with a detailed plan to get into the White House. Yes, and dolphins are learning how to read and write. Okay. Well, I'm there. Yay. Okay. Yay. Okay. Thank you for giving that sample with me, by the way. Yeah. I know I totally, I totally put you on the spot, but just to like, since you're kind of asking, like, what is it like, like, that's just kind of like a very... Practical thing you might do to start to learn how to listen and build with somebody. And you did great, by the way. That was awesome. at first it's like my mind went blank and that was very fun. Yeah. Okay. So can I speak to So first of all. I just want to, you know, be clear. That was me kind of throwing you in if you were in a class, there would be build up. There would be much more explanation. There would be warm ups games that we have played to kind of like, you know, get you ready. But what you said was very important. You said. My mind, you said something like my mind kind of blinked. I can't remember the exact words. Yeah. My mind went blank. Okay. My mind went blank. Who has that not happened to, right? so the difference between somebody who's learning and a, you know, professional improviser or somebody who's very experienced is. We, those of us who, you know, this is our work or whatever, we know how to work with the mind blank. So everything comes up for, let's say, the professional improviser, that would come up for anyone else. But we've learned how to use it to our benefit. So what happens when our mind is blanking, and to be honest, at this point, just because I've been doing it so long, I wouldn't say my mind. Blanks very much. Our mind oftentimes blanks when we're trying to make something happen. So when we're, when we're just keeping things super simple and giving ourselves permission to be completely simple and completely boring. Then we're less likely to have the mind blank. So what the improv classes are so beautiful because does the mind blank for a lot of people? Sure. Yeah, totally normal. But I love to validate that and normalize it and be like, it's no big deal. And what's the, what's a boring teeny tiny thing you could say next. Right. And that unstucks people a lot of the time when they have that full permission to just like, Not make it interesting, not make it brilliant, just say one little thing that's gonna give their scene partner something to respond to, and then their scene partner says one little thing. So, the thing is, improvisation is, is profoundly simple, but it takes, probably a good decade, or maybe more, to master it, right? It's because of... We've been trained to be adults who are deeply complex. We also have traumas, you know, that make us go into a freeze. You know, I certainly know about that personally, um, for myself. So mind blank is very common. And I just want, I would love to leave people with the idea that it's totally fine for your mind to blank. And how can we play with that? How can we use that as part of the play and part of the energy? You know, that's another question to ask when we get deeper into improv. Mhm. Yeah. I love that. Also, the idea of trying to make something happen, is relevant to life as well when you're forcing things to happen. And it's like the overwhelm of that can make you stuck. Yes. Improvisation is this beautiful metaphor for life. It really, really is. And that's why the tools, as I found out, like I was saying earlier, are a practice. They are a practice that, you know, it's not like, Oh, I get it. My life's so easy now. It's not that I don't want to give any false, you know, like, but my improvisational skills deeply help me in my daily life. everyone's going to be really anxious at the start and kind of panicky and trying to. Yeah. Maybe fun for the audience's approval, completely relatable and understandable. But with this other style of improv, it's more about creating real relationships with the people that you're playing with. When I say real relationships, they're imaginary because everything's pretend on stage. But the humor, and it is, it's hilarious. The humor comes because it's honest. And that honesty resonates to us as human beings. And we go, Oh my God, I know that guy. I work with that guy. Or, Oh my God, I know that person. It's me. And we can laugh at ourselves. it's like, that's the beautiful thing I think about art is. It helps us to see things in a new way and improvisation in particular helps us to lighten the F up, and to laugh at ourselves and to play with who we are, to play with other people, to remember and rekindle that childlike part of us that really just like. The child like part of me just seriously wants to play, like, all the time. And I'm sure I'm not the only one, right? It's making me think about, like, the word adulting. Like, who wants to adult? I know I was this way. I don't know how you feel, but like a lot of kids are afraid of growing up because they look around and they're like, dang, there's a lot of pissed off, cranky ass adults out there in the world. Yeah, totally lost. They're sparkle and their ability to like live in their full body and not just from the head up and I don't think it has to be that way. And that's kind of like one of my missions. It's like, let me just spread this as far and wide as possible. You know, it's just like, let's bring playback. let's bring it back onto the planet earth for like people that are over 10 years old. Mm hmm. Yeah, and being an adult feels very repetitive, like day in and day out, you have more or less the same schedule. And I think like play with an unpredictable nature is allowing for that sense of novelty. I love that. Yeah, I think one of my favorite things about improvisation is the element of surprise. which is pretty much what you just said, the unpredictability of it. We were talking in class last night about those moments that happen sometimes when you're on stage where something comes out of your mouth and you're literally like, you're surprising yourself, you know, so not only are you, because it's a team sport, quote unquote, and you're playing with other minds that think in different ways than you do, you also so you're always surprised by what's going on out here. And that's delightful. It's the opposite of redundant and repetitive and boring. It's also sometimes so in it that something will fly out of your mouth. That's like, yeah. Incredibly surprising and how delightful to be surprised by the person we live with day in and day out that happens to be us, right? Yeah, that element of surprise. It's like it can come from yourself and I love that, People might. Like see me or hear me talking and go, Oh, well, that's easy for her. You know, she's probably always been this way or people sometimes think I'm like this confident person and I'm deeply riddled with, with a lot of deep problems and insecurities and fears and anxieties. And I was so profoundly shut down in my life, Like So I guess I want to mention that in case someone's listening and is thinking, well, that's great, but I'm just not that way. Like, I'm not, oh gosh, I hear this all the time. I'm not, I'm not quick enough. I'm not funny enough. Or someone might be thinking while we're talking right now, like, but I'm just not a playful person or I'm not whatever. Fill in the I'm nots. You know, we can spend a couple hours filling in the I'm nots. Right. But I had extreme social anxiety. I couldn't. Go to the post office and buy a book of stamps without my face turning bright red and going into a panic. I couldn't sit down and have a cup of coffee and have a conversation with someone. So I come from a background of being deeply. repressed and shut down. And I say that as like, you know, one of those things you hear all the time. If I can connect with that part of me, then I think we all have it. Every single person has it. You have gone through a transformation and people may be seeing like, wow, you must have been this and that, but actually like you're relatable and have gone through many of the difficulties that people go through. So thanks for sharing that. I would love to know how you. Got into improv, Yeah, absolutely. It's it is related to actually exactly what we're talking about. So when I was in college, I was living in Northern California, and that was the time period in my early 20s. Even like late teens and stuff when my social anxiety, we didn't even have the term social anxiety back then. and we didn't, people didn't talk about it. I remember the first time I heard the term social phobia maybe around then but like so much stigma and all that kind of stuff. So I was really at that time in my life living in this prison of. Fear. And I think that along with many other things that I probably won't go into right at the moment catapulted me on a kind of deep and profound spiritual journey. So at the time I started reading a lot of like self improvement books and I read a book by a woman. I don't know if you've heard of her at this point. It's very like. old school, named Shakti Gawain. She wrote a book called Creative Visualization. That's probably what she's most famous for, but she wrote a lot of other books. And I was reading one of her books and she really resonated for me. And she talked a lot about following your intuition. And I was like, it hits something deep inside. And I was like, okay, my intuition knows I don't know that I was thinking this clearly at this time, but I'm kind of like putting my thoughts now back then. Like my intuition knows the answers to the questions I have. My intuition knows how to help me solve the problems that like I'm going through. Like my intuition, I want to know what this intuition is. So I started making it a practice in my life to learn, to get to know this intuition. And so what that looked like for me was, if I was biking to school and something kind of felt like instead of going my normal route, something kind of felt like, turn right here, I'd be like, okay, I'm going to turn right here. Or if something told me go in a different direction, I'd go in a different direction. So really just listening to those little nudges and practicing that. And although I probably didn't realize it at the time, but I was learning at that time to speak with my spirit guides and my angels, which I now actually do as a side business too. I give readings and that's my other passion, but. What I was being told by what I would call at that time my intuition, which I would say is the same thing as our, our team of angels or guides or whatever, over and over again. And by the way, that's a way you can know your intuition is it will say the same damn thing over and over. It is patient. It's like, I'm just going to say the same sentence over and over. So what I kept hearing was take an acting class. I was like, I'm sorry. What? Like, what? No. can you imagine a person who's too scared to order a bagel at a bagel shop getting up in front of a class of people and having them look at me and yeah, it sounded like a nightmare, but I was also equally intrigued and equally Desolate and despairing and like I said living in this prison that I didn't honestly think because I can remember how I was thinking back then I didn't think I thought this was my life that I would just this was how I was wired. And this is who I was. So I signed up for a class in northern California. Um, the guy talked a lot and I was just kind of bored. So I dropped the class. Maybe I wasn't ready. Signed up for another class in the college. I was going to in Northern California. It was like an 8 a. m Class too early for me. I dropped the class. So it wasn't until a few years later Hey at this point, I kind of forget exactly how old I was. I think I was about 26 but I spontaneously moved from California to North Carolina on an intuition. And I was perusing, you know, I had a little money that I had gotten for my birthday, which is August 31st. It was like fall classes at the local art center. And I saw. My other opportunity to take an acting class, you know, still wanted to follow that voice and just signed up for it. It was called something called improv. And again, this is 1996, 1998. Yeah. And improv has. Verifiably exploded, you know, since then, but at that time, I didn't really know what it was, but I had an inkling it was something to do with acting. So I had gotten like my social anxiety was like lessening a little bit at that point. I'm still pretty big, but not extreme like it was Few years prior and I just kind of was like, okay, let's do it. And I walked into those doors and Never looked back like my, my life completely changed listening to that voice that was so patient with me and as patient with all of us that said, take an acting class, take an acting class. Hey, do you remember take an acting class? You know, it's just like, I'm just gonna keep, I'm just gonna keep whispering in that still small voice, as they say, and boy, wow, how loved was I, how known and understood was I by whosoever voice that was. Because it was really the last thing that made any logical sense for somebody like me. I was so shut down. I was so scared. I really appreciate you talking through like, I can't order a bagel without having social anxiety. And now I'm in an acting class. And also that you took an acting class after like the first and second time didn't work out. I'm curious about like what was going through your mind. Like, how did you decide to keep trying acting and then eventually improv? You know, that's, that's a really interesting question. Thank you for helping me kind of put the pieces of my life together. It's, it's really interesting to think it through. I don't think there was a lot of like conscious thought around it. I think it was just in the background that I knew that this was something that I was. Let's say at this point I would say supposed to do. I don't know that I would use those terms at that point So I don't there wasn't a lot of thought It was just probably that I knew that that was something I was supposed to do But I wasn't probably ready again in hindsight I can see that and it's funny that the one class I walked into when I finally was quote unquote ready now That doesn't mean I wasn't terrified it's not like it was this magic pill. Like I walked in the doors and suddenly everything changed, you know, it was like a total initiation. It was a total process. It was challenging, but the important thing, and I will get back to your question. The important thing was, I think the love of it was. so deep and so profound that no matter what challenges came to me when I did actually start my improv journey, I couldn't turn away from it. It was just, what I would imagine. I've never been married, but what I would imagine a lot of people would say about like when they meet the love of their life and they're like, it was so hard and we had all these difficulties, but I just, I couldn't look away. I couldn't turn away. It's like that. Deep sense of personal destiny, and I've never really put it in those terms before, but whether that's with a person that we're meant to be in relationship with or a life purpose or a pet, it's just, there's something that happens when destiny calls us and it's just very hard to turn away from that. If you could share a little bit about what that felt like and if you've like doubted that. throughout the year. So like how you've dealt with any sort of like lows and highs of that. Mm hmm. Okay. So let's start with what does that feel like? And I'm really glad you're asking that because again, this is me talking in hindsight where things are much You can see the, the kind of like little, it's like coming to me in my mind of like lightning bugs of light, you know, lighting up your path and you can see how things connect so much better in hindsight, right? So if you had asked me at age 25 or 26 or whatever, Oh, you know, you just took an improv class. Is this what your, is this your destiny? Is it calling to you? I'd be like, I'm sorry, what? Like, no, don't at all be discouraged if you haven't had that feeling. And you don't know what it feels like. I want to simplify this because this is actually part of what I do in my spiritual work and another one of my passions. And the way to find, in my opinion, your destiny and, you know, your various callings or the right things for you is to listen to What lights you up, listen to the things in your life that give you, maybe it's just a teeny tiny spike of energy or, you know, you might, I've struggled a lot with a lot of depression, despair. So there are times in my life where it's like, not a lot is lighting me up. But even in those times, there are things that light me up more than other things. So it's like a journey of getting to know ourselves, paying attention to who we are and what brings us either a feeling of expansion, a feeling of yes, a feeling of, um, spark or light or energy. Yeah, and I think we all experience it in different ways. I'm pretty kinesthetic, so I tend to feel it in my body. I don't know, do you have, do you have that in your life and how does it manifest for you? I feel like it comes in seasons and I feel like it has helped me. provide very clear direction of like, I know exactly what I want in the next step. It doesn't for me feel like it translates to like the entirety of my life It very much feels like I am in the season of. Doing this podcast or going to school for this thing. it makes me feel like, okay, right now, this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. And that's going to be different a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, 10 years from now. So I struggle with the idea of like how that is sustained throughout your whole life. At the same time, I'm kind of like, okay, the common denominator is me. So I'm like, maybe just like I'm the purpose of like, just doing what I'm doing in this moment right now. and thinking through the idea of like, Trying not to become so focused also on finding my purpose, Yeah. I mean, I, I hope I didn't give the impression that I think that there's one thing for each of us to do that. Yeah. That is our. Purpose. You know, with a big P. I think you're, you're right on at least the way I experienced it as well. And the way I would teach people about these sort of things when I do my more of my spiritual stuff. I want to write a book and I want the book to be called Think small. Um, because I think we really, isn't it great? I think we really, there's probably a book like that out there already, but anyway, but I think we really do ourselves a disservice and get really muddled up in our head and improvisation is all about getting ourselves out of our head. by thinking big. I mean, sure, we want to think big. We want to be expansive. We want to live our best life, all that stuff. But it's just like, always when I'm teaching people about intuition and so much of intuition dovetails with improvisation. These are my two passions and they're, they're very connected, but it's always about what's the next moment. Like exactly what you said. We're not supposed to know as human beings, in my opinion, like, that we're not supposed to have the whole picture, you know, that would be kind of boring, we want, we're in the movie of our lives and it has to unfold if we knew everything, it, I don't know, it just, That's not, yeah, I feel like I'm stumbling over my words, but I think you get my point. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. In the movie of our lives, I also even wonder, yeah, if we were given a blueprint of everything we were ever supposed to do, like that would lead us to also a different kind of despair of, okay, this is it. There's so much hope and optimism and the uncertainty. So, yes, yes. I love that. I love that. Thank you so much for listening to part one of my conversation with a Nutri broad. And that last thought we left off on reminds me of this quote by choreographer director and dancer, Agnes de Mille. Living is a form of not being sure. Not knowing what next or how the moment, you know, how you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We may be wrong. But we take leap after leap in the dark. As this was part one, be sure to stay subscribed, to multitudes, to hear part two of our conversation. And in part two, we talk about creating safe spaces, improv and relationships, listening, and presence and spiritual authenticity. And also be sure to check out a news work on her website. And a new is also on Instagram, Tik, TOK, and Facebook at wild mind improv. And we will have all of those links in the show notes. And if something resonated with you today, I'd love to know. You can let me know by leaving a review. You can go to multitudes podcast.com and click rate show. It's super easy to do from your phone. And I read all of your reviews and all of your comments are truly inspiring. And as always, thank you so much for listening and I'll see you next time.