Want to "Gag Your Inner Critic?" Want to learn some tools that will really bring spontaneity, joy and spark to your life? This creative self-discovery book offers techniques and exercises for working through blocks to lead a more courageous and creative life. It is unique in that it specifically uses the tools of improv comedy for transformation. Improv requires quick-thinking, collaboration, getting out of your own way, and being in the moment without being a perfectionist. The skills an improv actor uses are skills we can all apply to every aspect of our daily lives.
Many of us have similar struggles – feeling blocked creatively, being afraid to take risks, constantly competing with others, wanting our own way, or being attached to goals that may no longer serve us. We have trouble thinking on our feet, letting go of things that didn’t go as we’d expected, and remembering to see the humor in it all. Katie will show you how to transform your Inner Critic into your Inner Coach, free up your creativity, trust your ideas, go with the flow, be present when it counts, and to feel inspired, energized and confident.
"I've always wished I had instructions for applying the principles of improvisational comedy to living a fulfilling life. Now Katie Goodman has made my wish come true with this practical, fascinating, and funny guidebook. I've already begun applying hints from IMPROVISATION FOR THE SPIRIT, and I'm hoping that from now on, when people point and laugh at me, it will be for more appropriate reasons. A delightful read, filled with wonderful strategies."
-Martha Beck, Best-Selling Author
“A long-time, nationally touring comedian, Goodman manages to slip an improv-inspired dash of humor into the self-help genre, making a winning and creative volume that will help the shy, the fearful, and the controlling to loosen up and enjoy life.”
“Katie Goodman’s book will put the smile of the Buddha upon your face. Her humor is a profound vehicle for teaching deep truths about human nature so necessary for loosening up the ego’s grip on our all-caught-upness and allowing us to move into the natural space of our spontaneity and authenticity.”
“Bravo to Katie! She brings an amazing positivity to improv comedy. The bottom line: Katie is funny. She teaches you to live your life like an improv scene — no fear and fully committed.”
“Katie Goodman is spontaneous, creative and fearless. She has to be: she’s an improv comedienne. Now in her new book, she tells how you too can be all these things. Her writing flows and then jumps with anecdotes and prescriptions for finding courage. Fun to read, hard to put down.”
“Katie Goodman’s delicious roadmap to unleashing our inner Letterman will help you soar through the next interview, ace the next assignment, cement the next relationship. I am gleefully transformed.”
“If Steve Martin and Julia Cameron had a baby and hired TINA FEY to raise it, you might get someone as bright, funny, insightful and inspiring as Katie Goodman. But why bother, she's already here -- dispensing laugh-inducing and life-changing lessons. Punchlines have never been so practical. Life is one big ad-lib and Improvisation For The Spirit shows you how to bring the house down."
- Arianna Huffington
“Katie Goodman strikes gold…a must read for anyone looking to transform their life for the better.”
“This book is wonderful, very down to earth, believable, humorous, wise, and inspiring. A great unique niche — a great example of the gifts Katie has received and offers through traveling her personal path with heart.”
“Katie Goodman has written a book using the wisdom of Buddhist principles but in a flat out funny and practical way for everyone. All too often, we in the spiritual field forget to have a sense of humor and Katie shows us how we can loosen the ego’s grip on our lives and to quiet our inner voices while using real life tools that can anyone can master. This is zen for every day people.”
“Many books promise to unleash your creativity. Katie Goodman’s not only unleashes it, but then teaches it to walk on its hind legs, catch a Frisbee, and maybe even fall in love with a cat. Try it. You’ll love it. It works.”
“You don’t have to be a professional comic to fall in love with this book. Katie Goodman shows how the lessons of improv comedy can help anyone become more fearless and creative. If you feel that something is holding you back, that there is more to you than meets the eye, that the life you are meant to live is out there somewhere if only you could find it, then this book should go straight to the top of your reading list. When it comes to journeys of self-discovery, Goodman is the perfect companion - sharp, energetic and demanding, but also gentle, generous and wise. It helps that she’s laugh-out-loud funny, too.”
“A winning and creative volume that will help the shy, the fearful, and the controlling to loosen up and enjoy life. Goodman provides anecdotes from her work and encourages self-exploration with writing, drawing and doing exercises. Goodman’s advice is even helpful for controlling self-doubt: “Our Inner Critic is trainable. Think Young Frankenstein singing ‘Puttin’ On the Ritz.’” Goodman’s quirky, thoughtful approach and breezy tone should give wound-up readers some new ways to relax, relate and think about their lives.”