Ann Swanberg is cofounder of LifePlays Improv, bringing the transformative skills of embodied improvisational theatre to communities via weekly classes and weekend intensives, as well as empowering innovative organizations with forward-moving communication skills.

Life is change. And being "afraid of change" is a common statement. So, therefore, most of us are walking around being afraid of life. Hmmmmmmm. What if there were a way to turn this fear of the unknown into simple, even breathtaking, wonder? And have deep fun in the process?

Time jump. Back ten years. Shy girl (37 year-old woman) breaks free in her first taste of an improv class. Spends two hours with total strangers being spontaneous and having the time of her life. Literally. I was so alive in that experience that I drove home feeling like I'd been struck by lightening. In a good way. Something in me knew that I had found my way (back) to that inextinguishable creative fire. That place of infinite imagination, judge-free expression, and the deepest kind of joyful connection with others. In short, Improv was, and is, a return to everything that matters most to me.

Improv — the conscious art of being with, and building on, whatever happens in life — is my path — as teacher, spouse, friend, performer. When I apply the skills of improv (on or off-stage) — Being present, "yes, and-ing" the life energy inside me, "yes, and-ing" my partner, letting go of the inner critic, serving the scene — I have a great time. When I don't (when fear blinds my innate capacity for creative response) and I instead block and control, well, let's just say it's not pretty.

Through this amazing medium, I've learned that I can create with whatever comes my way, and therefore don't have to (pretend I can) control everything. I can spin gold from straw. I know, from embodied experience, that each moment of life (a.k.a. "the unknown") is a wide-open, fertile field inviting me to enter into relationship with it. Wonderment on!