Hello improvisers!

So this week I was thinking about that thing that happens post-show. I was talking about that neurodivergent post-social collapse thing that some of us experience, and it reminded me of what happens after we do something particularly intense like a show or maybe a really hard class on something new.

Sometimes it can even end up bending your brain and making you think like "I really sucked in that show", or something along those lines, even if you didn't. It happens after good shows. It happened after I taught fitness classes. Anything where you are spending a lot of energy, really.

And this thing happens because you are way up there during a show, you have your adrenaline running, your nervous system is cranking. You could be having a great time, or a bad time. But you're activated, and focusing, and social processing, and all of those systems are running simultaneously. You maybe have a fun time after the show with your team or a really great conversation.

So when you come down from all that stuff, bam. It can drop fast.

For neurodivergent folx this can be extra. You might already be running a sensory and social processing load that's higher than the people around you realize (or maybe even you, yourself, realize... dat me), so by the end of a show your body's been managing the performance and the lights and the noise and the being-perceived the entire time. The comedown can end up as some sort of sensory hangover sitting on top of the regular performance drop. We go hard and drop hard.

And this happens after classes too, by the way, and after jams, and after a single drop-in workshop (especially if you're new, or it's otherwise v hard). Anywhere you've been up and engaged and then it stops.

Online might be the hardest version of it, I find. Because there's often little to no transition at all. You finish the show, maybe there's a little social chat afterward, and if that wraps up fast you close the laptop and... that's it. You go from a screen full of faces and energy that's REALLY REAL (don't let anyone tell you otherwise) to a silent empty room in like seconds. No walk to the car, no standing around on the sidewalk chatting as everyone heads out one by one. Just here, and then gone.

So the thing I keep landing on as a thing that might help with all this is to build yourself a transition, some kind of step between being UP THERE to being in your room alone, so your system can come down in stages.

A few things that might help: deciding before the show what the next half hour looks like, so you're not just sitting in a silent room with no plan. For online especially, having something low-demand queued up to move into when you close Zoom, like a specific playlist or stim song, a PLANNED walk, a snack on standby ready to eat, a comfort show, or a text to one person from the show so the social part tapers off gently before you're alone. Queue up that meme early. Changing your clothes or your lighting or moving to a different room can also tell your body that the mode has changed. The idea is to let the comedown happen in a few smaller steps, and make something pleasant part of it.

Here's something I'm less sure about, so take it as a question more than some formal claim of some sort I'm just spitballing... I wonder if that quiet empty room or situation after is also where rumination can creep in for some folx after that kinda crash thing. You're sitting in that crash stage with nothing to do, and your brain starts replaying the show, like the one weird moment, the line that didn't come out the way you wanted (WHAT DID THE TEAM THINK OH MY WORD NO), or that thing you did where people kinda looked at you a certain way. The transition stuff might help here too, because if you've already got somewhere to put your attention, there's less open space for the replay to fill your brain in a not great way.

If this general talk of crashing and nervous systems seems to be something you're into, interest wise, I'm talking about the bigger (or more general) version of all this over on my Wired Divergent show too. Last week's episode is about post-social collapse, which is this same kind of crash that can show up after any draining social thing, including stuff that has nothing to do with improv. I know that's hard to believe. I mean, it always has a little to do with improv though so you can watch all 33 minutes of it through that lens, too. You get to see my dog, Susan, too.

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Fun note, I just got funded for a (Canadian streaming) TV show on neurodivergent nervous systems! You'll have to wait until fall 2027 though (it'll be online too).

And if you want help figuring out your own transitions and what your nervous system actually needs after it's been running this way, or whatever else, I have coaching stuff available for that. I have some GROUP sessions coming up that you might want on a variety of themes. Learn more at the link below, or click reply to ask me anything!

You could practice this stuff after the group session too. Practical? An opportunity? Although I will offer some ramping down time or whatnot at the end of the session knowing what I do about the above :)

Here's a short video I made about the session, or click the link below for a text version. You could work on your improv practice (in or out of the scene), work dynamics, social stuff - whatever you're looking for growth in.

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And also, I'm doing 1:1 coaching for almost free right now as I work towards my certification (different than improv coaching, see more below). For 1:1 you could work on something that's part of your improv practice, team dynamic, ND brain stuff, or whatever else. If coaching isn't what you're looking for, I also offer consulting/mentoring which is more of a flexible back-and-forth conversation.

More about the 1:1 coaching that means below.

Anyway.

See ya, Jen.

Want more music? If you want some music song stuff to listen to, check this new favourite out.

Improv exercises and stuff... for your voice (good for podcasting, too)

$5.00 Vocal Basics for Improv - With Exercises! This 13 page guide is designed to help you find new aspects and abilities in your voice as an improviser. It contains an... Read more Get it now!

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Coaching for your improv goals, or putting improv to work off stage

Some of you know I coach now, mostly because I said it right above this section, but I want to explain further what it actually is because “coaching” gets used for about a hundred different things. And we sure have an idea of one type of it in improv (which is not the kind I'm doing right now with this).

It’s ICF-style coaching, which means it’s a partnership as opposed to advice, teaching, or giving you notes in improv coach style. You bring what you want to work on, and I ask focused questions that help you find your own answers and your own way forward. The questions are the whole method in this style, because it can lead to new forms of processing and growth, so we work on where you are now and where you want to go with your practice (or, outside of your improv practice).

For improvisers it can be really useful in a couple of ways. There’s your improv life off the stage… like nerves, the comparison, the team stuff, the part where you love it and it still costs you a lot in the end kinda thing, er rejection stuff and communication differences and everything that entails. And there’s also being able to take what improv teaches you (presence, responding in the moment, dealing with the unexpected, etc) into the rest of your life, like work or conversations or whatever you’ve got going on.

Four examples of what someone might bring to a session:

• What do I want my relationship with pre-show nerves to be, so the nervous system activation doesn’t ruin the whole day I have a show at the end of?
• I’m loose and present on stage and stiff in a work meeting.... what do I actually want to carry across from improv to work?
• Aw crap, “Yes, and” has me overcommitted in real life. How do I want to decide what (or who) I actually say yes to?
• I keep measuring myself against everyone in my class or team. What do I want out of improv? Or, how do I not do that internal comparison thing?

So, all of those are completely about you, and about something you want to move toward. So you set the goal, and we work it together so you find your way there with what you got on deck already. And oh yeah, I focus on neurodivergent brains and how we might process those things, so I can ask you questions with that in mind in addition to the improv lens.

It’s a low practice rate right now while I finish my certification hours, and there’s a free discovery call if you want to feel out whether it’s a fit: jendehaan.com/coaching​

And if you do want something that's more of a back-and-forth with advice, information/teaching, strategy where I provide input and the like (about any of the things I work in -- neurodivergence, improv, performing or podcasting), check out jendehaan.com/consulting instead. We could do that instead of, or in addition to, coaching stuff.

Bye!