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DAY 1
Key Concepts, Practices, and Somatic Resources for the integration of mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and improvisational principles into therapeutic work
I. Defining Key Concepts and Learning through Embodied Experience
A. Mindfulness
1. Definition
a. Awareness of present-moment experience with acceptance and compassion
b. “The awareness that’s cultivated when remembering to pay attention to the present moment with acceptance” (Cammarata)
c. Aim is to “wake up” and liberate from suffering, not necessarily to calm or clear the mind
2. Core and Related Practices
a. Meditation
b. Breath and body awareness
c. Lovingkindness and compassion-based meditations
d. Mindful movement (e.g., Tai Chi)
3. Mindfulness Experiential
a. Guided practice
b. Debrief and group reflection
B. Psychological Flexibility
1. Definition
a. The ability to be open, aware, and engaged in life, even when challenging thoughts and feelings arise
b. The capacity to stay present with unpleasant internal experiences while acting in alignment with one’s values
2. Psychological Flexibility Experiential: Waiting for a Train
a. Guided experiential exercise
b. Debrief and discussion
3. Other exercises
a. Creative Hopelessness
b. Passengers on a Bus
c. Tiny Steps toward a Valued Direction
d. Fusion/Defusion: “I’m having the thought...”
C. Improvisation
1. Definition
a. Spontaneous, unscripted action or creativity, often seen in music, theatre, and—importantly—psychotherapy
b. Not spontaneity for its own sake, and not necessarily comedic or entertaining
c. The Essential Improvisational Framework of “Yes, And”
i. Accepting what is offered (the “yes”) and building upon it constructively (the “and”): Example
ii. Application to couples/arguments/work
2. Authentic Performance
a. Improvisation as therapeutic intervention: the “as-if” stance
b. “Be a genuine fake” — Carl Whitaker, MD
c. Related to the ACT concept of self-as-context
d. Related to the Buddhist psychology concept of non-self
3. Improvisational Experiential
a. Guided improvisational activity using the “Yes/And” framework
b. Debrief and reflection
II. Body Awareness
A. Mindfulness of the Body
1. One of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
a. Mind
b. Body
c. Feelings
d. Mental objects / Phenomena
III. Embodiment
A. Definition of Embodiment
1. Embodiment is the process by which internal states—such as thoughts, emotions, beliefs, or values—are experienced, manifested, and understood through the body, rather than solely through cognition or verbal language.
B. What Embodiment is Not
1. Just “thinking about the body” (that’s still cognitive)
2. Performing movement without awareness
3. Abstract theorizing about physical experience
C. Key Aspects of Embodiment
1. Presence
a. Being aware of and inhabiting one’s body in real-time (not dissociated or lost in thought)
2. Felt Sense
a. Tuning into internal bodily sensations that carry meaning or emotion (à la Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing)
3. Expression
a. Nonverbal communication through posture, gesture, tone, and movement that reveals inner experience
4. Integration
a. Body, mind, and emotion function together rather than separately—what’s felt is expressed; what’s expressed is integrated
5. Actions
a. Values, insights, and relationships are enacted in and through the body, not just theorized
D. In Practice
1. In therapy
a. Helping clients feel and name emotional experience in the body
2. In improvisation or performance
a. Fully inhabiting a character or emotion physically and expressively
3. In mindfulness
a. Sensing breath, posture, and internal cues with open, nonjudging awareness
4. In social interaction
a. Attuning to physical cues and responding with congruent presence
IV. Embodiment Exercise: Postures of Possibility
A. Purpose
1. To support somatic awareness of therapeutic roles and internal stances
2. To explore physical expressions of flexibility, presence, and improvisational responsiveness
3. To develop mindfulness of habitual body postures in clinical settings
B. Setup
1. Environment
a. Standing or seated in an open space
b. Quiet, distraction-free if possible
2. Mindful Body Scan
a. Eyes closed or gaze softened
b. Verbal guidance
i. “Notice your weight in your feet.”
ii. “Observe your breath and any holding patterns.”
C. Posture Exploration
1. The “Rigid Expert”
a. Prompt
i. “Take the shape of a therapist who must ‘get it right.’”
b. Exploration
i. Hold posture for 30 seconds
ii. Notice breath, posture, muscle tension
c. Release
i. Shake off gently. Take a breath
2. The “Open Improviser”
a. Prompt
i. “Now embody someone who’s playful, curious, and present.”
b. Exploration
i. What shifts in posture, energy, or facial expression?
ii. Observe openness to the moment
3. The “Self-Doubter”
a. Prompt
i. “Try on the physical shape of your inner critic or imposter voice.”
b. Exploration
i. Feel its weight or collapse
c. Release
i. Shake it off gently. Return to neutral
4. The “Values-Aligned Therapist”
a. Prompt
i. “Take the stance of your most grounded, values-driven therapist self.”
b. Exploration
i. Notice uprightness, softness, stability
ii. Try walking a few steps in this posture
D. Reflection and Discussion (
1. Partner Debrief (dyads or small groups)
a. Suggested questions
i. “What did you notice shifting between postures?”
ii. “What felt familiar or unfamiliar?”
iii. “What posture do you default to under stress?”
2. Group Reflection
a. Explore connections to clinical practice
i. “How do body patterns affect therapeutic presence?”
ii. “What stance supports improvisation in therapy?”
E. Clinical applications
1. Mindfulness
a. Develops present-moment awareness of embodied experience
b. Encourages nonjudgmental noticing of automatic reactions
2. Psychological Flexibility
a. Encourages movement between internal states and roles
b. Supports openness to experience and value-congruent action
3. Improvisation
a. Embodies spontaneity, openness, and adaptability
b. Builds tolerance for uncertainty and creativity-in-action
Day 2
The Roots of Improvisation and Role Play in Psychotherapy
I. Psychodrama (Jacob L. Moreno, 1920s)
A. Foundational use of improvisation and role play in therapy
B. Clients act out real or imagined scenarios on a stage-like space, playing themselves or others
C. Techniques include
1. Role reversal
2. Doubling
a. A therapist or group member expresses what the client might be thinking or feeling
3. Future projection
D. Key Ideas
a. Spontaneity
b. Enactment
c. Catharsis
d. Social roles
E. Legacy
1. Influenced group therapy
2. Influenced drama therapy
3. Influenced systemic family interventions
II. Gestalt Therapy (Fritz Perls, 1940s–1970s)
A. Strongly experiential, often using improvised dialogue and role switching
B. Uses the “empty chair” technique
1. Speak to and from different parts of self or others
C. Encourages “trying on” perspectives through tone, stance, and bodily presence
D. Key Principles
1. Awareness
2. Here-and-now
3. Authenticity
4. Experimentation
E. Experiential Role Play with Polarities
1. Debrief
III. Expressive Arts Therapies (1970s–present)
A. Includes drama therapy, play therapy, movement therapy, and improvisational music therapy
B. Improvisation is used to
1. Access non-verbal emotional material
2. Build interpersonal attunement
3. Explore symbolic expression and internal dynamics
C. Drama therapists may use
1. Games
2. Scene creation
3. Character embodiment
D. Supports integration of
1. Emotion
2. Cognition
3. Action
IV. Play Therapy (especially with children)
A. Rooted in understanding play as a child’s natural language
B. Role play and symbolic enactment allow
1. Processing of trauma
2. Testing of boundaries
C. Therapists use
1. Non-directive improvisational play
2. Semi-structured improvisational play
V. Somatic and Embodied Psychotherapies
A. Includes Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
B. Use gesture, posture, movement, and role to shift embodied patterns
C. Clients experiment with physical responses to emotional triggers
D. Improvisational movement supports
1. Trauma resolution
2. Nervous system regulation
VI. Humanistic and Existential Therapies
A. Emphasis on authentic encounter and immediacy
1. Carl Rogers
2. Rollo May
B. Natalie Rogers’ person-centered expressive arts include
1. Improvisation with voice
2. Improvisation with movement
3. Improvisation with storytelling
C. Role play clarifies
1. Values
2. Internal conflicts
VII. Relational and Systems Approaches
A. Includes
1. Satir’s sculpting
2. Family enactments
3. Systemic role exploration
B. Improvised family roles and relational shifts make patterns visible
C. Encourages
1. New relational moves
2. Healing scripts
VIII. Contemporary Integrative and ACT-Based Uses
A. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) incorporates improvisation to
1. Practice defusion from rigid self-stories
a. Example: exaggerated voices
2. Rehearse committed action with embodied presence
3. Explore values-based roles and metaphors
B. Facilitates experiential insight through
1. Improvisational play
2. Metaphor
C. Defusion Experiential
1. Singing or embodying the fused belief or story
2. Debrief
IX. Why Improvisation Matters in Therapy
A. Encourages
1. Spontaneity
2. Creativity (vs. scripted behavior)
B. Accesses non-verbal or unconscious emotional material
C. Builds
1. Empathy
2. Self-other awareness
D. Promotes behavioral flexibility through safe experimentation
E. Rehearses new ways of being in a space that is
1. Safe
2. Collaborative
3. Relational
X. The Ethics, Limitations, and Boundaries of Applying Improvisation and Role Playing in a Clinical Setting
A. Ethical and Clinical Considerations
1. Always allow opt-in, and debrief after emotionally charged prompts
2. Respect emotional pacing
a. Move from lighter to deeper material
3. Establish clear group norms around
a. Safety
b. Consent
c. Non-performance
XI. Role Play Experiential
A. Dyad or group activity
B. Debrief as group
Day 3
Resources for Supporting Psychological Flexibility and the Art of Improvisation: Four Essential Mindfulness Skills
I. Four Essential Mindfulness Skills for Patients and Clinicians
A. Focused Attention
1. Can cultivate concentration and a calm, stable mind
2. Subordinate skills
a. Mindfulness
i. Remembering the object of attention
ii. Letting go
iii. Relaxing into the present moment
iv. Noting (e.g., the breath)
b. Brief experiential practice and debrief
II. Open Monitoring (OM) or Choiceless Awareness (Mindfulness Per Se)
A. Subordinate skills
1. Attention
2. Naming the experience that sweeps you away
a. Thinking (most general category)
b. Remembering
c. Imagining
d. Sensing
e. Planning
f. Judging
B. Benefits of OM
1. Helps us notice intentions, sensations, emotions, thoughts, attachments, judgments, and behaviors
2. In meditation, we employ OM when we notice what took our attention away
3. Brief experiential practice
III. Compassion-Based Practices of Lovingkindness and Compassion
A. The heart of the practice
1. Cultivates “warm attention” toward self, others, and the world
2. Subordinate skills (based on the work of Kristin Neff and Chris Germer)
a. Mindfulness
b. Kindness
c. Recognition of common humanity
B. For the patient
1. Addresses self-judgment
2. Supports healing from depression
3. Builds self-esteem
4. Assists in working with trauma
C. For the clinician
1. Return to the heart of kindness during difficult therapy moments
2. Use heart cradling before meeting with a challenging patient, couple, or family
3. Experiential practice: Self-Compassion Meditation
IV. Mindful Relaxation
A. Subordinate skills
1. Attention
2. Mindfulness
B. Although relaxation is not the goal of meditation, mindfulness enhances body awareness
1. Helps us connect to where and how we’re holding tension in the body
2. Letting go through the body
a. Softening
b. Allowing
V. Mindfulness Practice Incorporating the Four Skills
A. Integration of the essential elements of mindfulness
B. Application to facilitating clients and patients
C. ACT with intention
1. Supports the psychological flexibility component
D. Remembering and embodying
1. Supports the mindfulness component
E. Improvisation as integration
1. The mind of presence
2. The heart of compassion
3. The body of fluidity
VI. Experiential Integration of the Four Essential Skills Within an Improvisational Framework
A. Discussion
Day 4
The Core Processes of Psychological Flexibility According to ACT
I. Six Core Processes of Psychological Flexibility (Steven Hayes, Ph.D.)
A. Defusion: Creating “space” from thoughts
1. Definition
a. “Cognitive defusion techniques attempt to alter the undesirable functions of thoughts and other private events, rather than trying to alter their form, frequency or situational sensitivity.” (Source: https://contextualscience.org/the_six_core_processes_of_act)
b. Fusion is about attaching a thought to an experience, identity, or outcome so strongly that the thought dominates
2. Metaphors and Explanations
a. Being in the movie vs. watching the movie
b. Inflexibility of perception and behavior determines dysfunction
c. Mindfulness facilitates cognitive defusion by creating distance from thoughts
d. Improvisation facilitates movement toward uncomfortable (fused) material in service of freedom from identity constraints
3. Discussion
a. How does cognitive fusion function in anxiety and depressive disorders?
b. How can mindfulness and improvisation facilitate defusion?
B. Acceptance
C. Contact with the Present Moment
D. Self-as-Context
E. Values
1. Values vs. goals
2. Process vs. outcome
F. Committed Action
1. Wanting vs. willing
II. Mindfulness Processes in ACT
A. Facilitate contact with the present moment
1. Bidirectional application (therapist and patient)
B. Build acceptance by defusing language
1. Teach limits of language in experiencing the present moment directly
a. Undermine fusion of self and language
i. Strategies for cognitive defusion
a. Deliteralize language
b. Interventions
i. “Milk, milk, milk” exercise (or alternate content)
ii. Singing fused thoughts
c. Buying thoughts vs. having thoughts
d. Use of metaphors and stories
i. Passenger on the bus story
ii. Thoughts on a train metaphor
2. Undermine evaluations and reason-giving
a. Teach difference between evaluation and description
b. Intervention: Reasons vs. causes homework
3. Teach nonjudgmental awareness
a. Promote willingness (vs. wanting) skills
b. Mindful awareness of experience
4. Build acceptance through direct experience
a. Examples
i. Lovingkindness meditation
ii. Self-compassion meditation
iii. Forgiveness exercises
iv. Dyadic exercises (e.g., in couples therapy)
III. Undermine Attachment to the Conceptualized Self
A. Show how attachments to self-concepts can be detrimental
1. Mental polarity exercise (“I am perfect” vs. “I am worthless”)
a. Create awareness of self-as-perspective
2. Mindfulness exercises: distinguish consciousness from content of consciousness
3. Metaphors
a. Clouds vs. sky
b. Chessboard metaphor
B. Contrast the conceptualized self with the observer self
C. Undermine rigid self-concepts
4. Improvisational Exercises aligned with ACT
a. Faking it
b. Pick an identity
IV. Values Work
A. Identify values across domains
1. Work
2. Family
3. Spirituality
4. Health
B. Undermine values rooted in avoidance, compliance, or fusion
V. Commitment and Behavioral Change
A. Foster willingness and action in service of values
VI. The FEAR and ACT Algorithms (Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson)
A. FEAR
1. Fusion with your thoughts
2. Evaluation of experiences
3. Avoidance of your experiences
4. Reason giving for your behavior
B. ACT
1. Accept your reactions and be present
2. Choose a valued direction
3. Take action
Day 5
The Therapeutic Power of Improvisation: Mindfulness, Psychological Flexibility, and Clinical Practice
Hour 1
I. Foundations of Improvisation in Brain, Cognition, and Emotion
A. Neuropsychological Findings on Improvisation
1. Brain Networks Involved in Improvisation
a. Default Mode Network (DMN)
i. Boosts spontaneous, internally generated ideas and mind-wandering
ii. Plays a key role in imagination, perspective-taking, and narrative identity
b. Executive Control Network (ECN)
i. Activity diminishes during improvisation, lowering self-critical barriers
ii. Enables letting go of perfectionism and performance anxiety
c. Interaction Between DMN and ECN
i. Improvisation involves a dynamic interplay between spontaneity and control
ii. Facilitates balanced states where insight and adaptability thrive
iii. With practice, this interaction becomes more fluid and efficient
d. Connection to Mindfulness and Psychological Flexibility
i. Similar neural signatures appear during open-monitoring mindfulness practice
ii. Both rely on attentional shifting, present-moment awareness, and cognitive defusion
iii. Improvisation can thus be considered a form of embodied mindfulness
2. Experiential Exercise: “Yes, and…” Mirroring
a. Instructions: In pairs, Person A begins a sentence with a declarative observation, and Person B responds with “Yes, and…” Repeat 4–5 times
b. Debrief: Explore judgment, flow, and attentional shifts
c. Clinical Reflection: Connect to therapeutic stance of curiosity and validation
B. Cognitive Benefits
1. Creativity and Problem-Solving
a. Enhanced divergent thinking
i. Activates the DMN, enabling ideation and perspective generation
ii. Helps therapists access creative interventions
2. Cognitive Flexibility
a. Increased capacity for switching between planned and spontaneous actions
i. Strengthens PFC functioning
ii. Supports adaptability with unpredictable client responses
3. Improvisational Exercise: “The Object Story”
a. Instructions: Pick a random object and invent a story using a unique perspective
b. Debrief: Reflect on spontaneity and self-talk
c. Clinical Tie-In: Flexibility with narrative and client stories
C. Emotional and Stress Regulation
1. Physiological Benefits
a. Improvisational activities reduce cortisol levels
b. Fosters play and humor, increasing resilience and vagal tone
2. Embodied Practice: “Emotion Switch”
a. Instructions: Deliver a neutral monologue, then shift tone/emotion on cue
b. Debrief: Explore changes in energy, posture, and breathing
c. Clinical Application: Safely explore emotional range and somatic cues
II. Relational Dimensions and Clinical Applications
A. Social Connectivity
1. Empathy and Group Cohesion
a. Improvisation enhances mirror neuron activity
b. Facilitates co-regulation, shared vulnerability, and group flow
c. Builds trust, responsiveness, and emotional safety
2. Experiential Practice: Synchronized Movement for Empathy & Group Cohesion
a. Instructions: In pairs or small groups, mirror each other’s movements
b. Debrief: Explore leadership, following, and connection
c. Therapeutic Relevance: Using mirroring for attunement
B. Applied Integration: Improvisation, Mindfulness, and Psychological Flexibility
1. Conceptual Bridge: Improvisation = Embodied Defusion + Present-Moment Engagement + Committed Action
a. ACT Process and Improvisational Parallels
i. Defusion: Saying “yes” to ideas without attachment
ii. Present-Moment Awareness: Listening and responding authentically
iii. Self-as-Context: Taking on roles without overidentifying
iv. Values: Playing toward meaningful choices
v. Committed Action: Taking creative risks
vi. Acceptance: Welcoming the unexpected
2. Final Exercise: “Clinical Role Rehearsal Improv”
a. Instructions: In triads, role-play therapist, client, and wild card (e.g., inner critic)
b. Therapist improvises responses grounded in mindfulness and values
c. Debrief: Reflect on presence and improvisation under uncertainty
C. Closing Reflections
1. What improvisation capacities are already present in your work?
2. What edges feel risky or unfamiliar?
3. How might you bring one improvisational stance or exercise into your clinical practice?
REFERENCES
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Felsman, P., Seifert, C. M., & Himle, J. A. (2020). Improv experience promotes divergent thinking, uncertainty tolerance, and affective well‑being. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 35, Article 100632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100632
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