Masks are not required at HVC, but they are always welcome. Click here for our COVID policy!
|
An Improviser's Guide to
|
"There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life."
-Tara Brach
"An Improviser's Guide to Mindfulness" is a great way to:
Start, re-start, or deepen your mindfulness and meditation practices in a positive, supportive community
Approach whole-hearted living through the tenets of improvisation
Intentionally connect with other wonderful people
Benefit from playful experiences of mindfulness
Practice taking life seriously while holding it lightly and taking life lightly while it holding it seriously
Happier Valley Comedy founder Pam Victor guides you on a joyful exploration of mindfulness through individual and shared practice and play ... and you help shape the curriculum. Each participant selects from a list of themes, such as ease, presence, curiosity, compassion, acceptance, letting go, feeling our feelings, joy, gratitude, authenticity, and more. And Pam builds the eight-week session around the most requested themes, which we investigate through guided meditation, 3-4 improv games, and in depth discussion. Yep, it's a choose-your-own adventure in mindfulness!
Let's spend some thoughtful and fun time together
enjoying the places where mindfulness and improv meet!
Start, re-start, or deepen your mindfulness and meditation practices in a positive, supportive community
Approach whole-hearted living through the tenets of improvisation
Intentionally connect with other wonderful people
Benefit from playful experiences of mindfulness
Practice taking life seriously while holding it lightly and taking life lightly while it holding it seriously
Happier Valley Comedy founder Pam Victor guides you on a joyful exploration of mindfulness through individual and shared practice and play ... and you help shape the curriculum. Each participant selects from a list of themes, such as ease, presence, curiosity, compassion, acceptance, letting go, feeling our feelings, joy, gratitude, authenticity, and more. And Pam builds the eight-week session around the most requested themes, which we investigate through guided meditation, 3-4 improv games, and in depth discussion. Yep, it's a choose-your-own adventure in mindfulness!
Let's spend some thoughtful and fun time together
enjoying the places where mindfulness and improv meet!
"An Improviser's Guide to Mindfulness gave me a time and space, in the midst of all the other chaos of life, where I could be both grounded and playful, and where I could be reminded that being grounded and playful are intertwined! It was an awesome chance to explore more thoroughly the meditative and spiritual threads of Improv that were already coming up in my other HVC classes."
-Megan M.
Note: Though we'll play 3-4 improv games to practice mindfulness, this is not an improv class.
(If you want to take an improv class, take this one instead. :-)
No previous experience with meditation, mindfulness, or improv comedy expected.
This class is designed for wherever you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum.
Activities can be adapted to practice sitting, standing, or lying down. (No need to be able to sit cross-legged on the floor or do bendy things with your body...unless that brings you joy!)
(If you want to take an improv class, take this one instead. :-)
No previous experience with meditation, mindfulness, or improv comedy expected.
This class is designed for wherever you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum.
Activities can be adapted to practice sitting, standing, or lying down. (No need to be able to sit cross-legged on the floor or do bendy things with your body...unless that brings you joy!)
a peek into A typical class :
|
though this course is entirely secular, the material - like all of mindfulness practice - derives from buddhist and hindu traditions and is based on Zen, Vipassanā, and Tibetan meditation techniques. we honor and are grateful for the wisdom of the teachers who have come before us.
This class meets the following 8 THURSDAYS from 5:00pm - 7:00pm:
May 1
May 8
May 15
May 22
May 29
June 5
June 12
June 19
Possible make-up date if HVC needs to cancel class: June 26
May 1
May 8
May 15
May 22
May 29
June 5
June 12
June 19
Possible make-up date if HVC needs to cancel class: June 26
About Your Teacher: Pam Victor is the founder and Head of Happiness of Happier Valley Comedy, where Pam performs regularly and teaches improv to the best students in the world. Pam is the creator of The Joy & Ease of Improv curriculum and The 30-Day Happiness Experiment. She brings the power of improvisation to the workplace in Happier Valley Comedy's professional development and wellness & wellbeing programs. Pam is the author of the children's therapeutic fiction book "Baj and the Word Launcher: Space Age Aspergers Adventures in Communication." Along with improv greats TJ Jagodowski and David Pasquesi, Pam co-authored of "Improvisation at the Speed of Life: The TJ and Dave Book." A Smith College graduate with a Master's in Elementary Education from Iona College (NY), Pam received improv training from iO Theater (Chicago,) Annoyance Theater (Chicago,) Improv Boston, and Second City Chicago teachers. She is a member of the CloudSangha community. Pam has meditated regularly for over 2,538 (mostly) consecutive days and counting! Pam is a nice person and she likes you already.
Small but Important Fine Print:
*Please note that once you make your purchase, your place in the class is NON-REFUNDABLE unless we have 48 hours notice before first class AND we can get someone to fill your spot.
*Students must be 18+ years. (In actual years, not maturity. ;)
*Some improv exercises involve some standing, physical activity; however, we can accommodate all physical abilities. Please let email us to let us know how we can best fit your needs or if you have any questions about accommodations.
*Please note that once you make your purchase, your place in the class is NON-REFUNDABLE unless we have 48 hours notice before first class AND we can get someone to fill your spot.
*Students must be 18+ years. (In actual years, not maturity. ;)
*Some improv exercises involve some standing, physical activity; however, we can accommodate all physical abilities. Please let email us to let us know how we can best fit your needs or if you have any questions about accommodations.
*Happier Valley Comedy rents land that was stolen from Indigenous people, including the Pocumtuc and Nipmuc tribes. A land acknowledgement is not appropriate or adequate to address this injustice that continues to harm people today. Therefore, we have instituted an ongoing process of contributing to the preservation of the lands and cultures of Northeastern Indigenous Peoples. All class fees contain an additional $3 to benefit The Nolumbeka Project, a local nonprofit whose mission is dedicated to these goals.
Learn more about The Nolumbeka Project, including their upcoming events.
Learn more about our commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Learn more about The Nolumbeka Project, including their upcoming events.
Learn more about our commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Appreciation from our students:
"I was really blown away by how profound the lessons of improv actually are. I assumed it was about trying to be fast and funny and witty. I learned that it's about really paying attention, accepting what others are doing and trying to help them succeed."
"Pam shines her refreshing light onto her participants and leads with honesty and openness conveying that she is well studied in mindfulness and in this happiness space but is also a student who joins participants in the journey and experiment too." |
|
"Pam is a skilled improv teacher who brings depth and breadth to her workshops. She helps walk us through assumptions, misperceptions and judgment and helps us land in openness, insight, laughter and greater ‘ease fullness’ Highly recommend."
Dr. Rob Smith, DO, Director of Baystate Health’s Mindfulness Program
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY AS TO STUDENTS
The Happier Valley Comedy School admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religious affiliation, age, ability, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religious affiliation, age, ability, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and other school-administered programs.
The Happier Valley Comedy School admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religious affiliation, age, ability, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religious affiliation, age, ability, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and other school-administered programs.
