Monster Baby: A Curious Romp Through the Worlds of Mindfulness and Improvisation

May 09 2024 100 ep. 83
Monster Baby: A Curious Romp Through the Worlds of Mindfulness and Improvisation Podcast artwork

Stanford-trained improvisors Ted DesMaisons and Lisa Rowland explore the beautiful, surprising and unruly intersections between mindfulness and improvisation as they seek to befriend the “monster baby,” that oft-hidden and sometimes scary part of all of us that can lead to a life well-lived. Visit http://monsterbabypodcast.com for more information.

  Arts  Education  Religion & Spirituality
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Monster Baby #107 Getting Engaged

May 09 2024 67 mins  
What does it mean to be engaged? Big news from Monster Baby land: Lisa got engaged! For Episode, #107 she and Ted take the opportunity to explore just what that means—both in a marital sense and in an improv and mindfulness sense. They start by playfully acknowledging some technical difficulties (2:03) before Lisa tells the fun story of her partner’s proposal (3:24). The two d

Monster Baby #106 The Eyes Have It

Dec 13 2023 60 mins  
How often do YOU hold eye contact? Why or why not? If you’re like Ted and Lisa of the Monster Baby Podcast, there’s a lot there—for both mindfulness and improv—within the world and practice of eye contact. After a short improvisational riff on raccoons (1:32), Ted introduces his reasons for wanting to explore the topic (3:08). In that, he mentions the awkwardness of follow

Monster Baby #105 Kickin’ It Back Up!

Nov 14 2023 57 mins  
What’s been cooking in Ted and Lisa’s improv and mindfulness kitchen over this last while? It’s been a few months since the Monster Baby crew gathered for an episode so it’s time to get caught up! Ted starts the conversation off by sharing “Wordle Haiku,” a new creative delight that he and a loyal Monster Baby listener recently came up with (1:44). Lisa then shares a wo

Monster Baby #104 Clanging! (A Conversation with Dion Flynn and Josh Radnor)

Feb 07 2023 81 mins  
How does a “silly verbal tennis match” become a profound spiritual practice? Inspired by the intro “Clanging” game they played on the immediately previous Monster Baby episode #103, Ted and Lisa invited the game’s creators, Dion Flynn and Josh Radnor, to come on the podcast themselves—and they accepted! For context: Dion Flynn is a writer, keynote speaker, improvisor,

Monster Baby #103 You Contain Multitudes (Considering Identity)

Dec 21 2022 68 mins  
Who are you? Answering that question well may require more angles than we usually think of. After starting with a delightful new game (“Clanging”, introduced by Dion Flynn and Josh Radnor) (2:25), Ted and Lisa consider some of the primary lessons about identity from the world of mindfulness, including the Buddhist notion of non-self (14:06). The pair mention how identities can

Monster Baby #102 The Joy of Collective Imagination: A Conversation with Dan Klein

Oct 31 2022 55 mins  
It’s so fun to make stuff up together! That’s one of the truths that Ted and Lisa uncover in conversation with their dear friend, Dan Klein, master teacher of improvisation in the drama, Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Platner Institute for Design (“d.school”) at Stanford University. (He’s also the same Dan perilously mentioned in Monster Baby episode #58, “T

Monster Baby #101 RE: Relaxation

Aug 17 2022 58 mins  
What if we put relaxation first? Inspired by mindfulness practitioner Bill Morgan’s book, “The Meditator’s Dilemma,” Ted and Lisa explore the value of putting relaxation in front of other forms of meditation, improv included. They start by musing about Lisa’s recent time in Paris and the value of French croissants (2:06), after which Lisa acknowledges that her days of jet

Monster Baby #100 Celebrating the 100th Episode!

May 18 2022 60 mins  
Time for a celebration and retrospective—Monster Baby reaches 1oo episodes! Welcome to the party, people—Monster Baby has reached a milestone! In honor of this, the 100th episode of Ted and Lisa’s “curious romp through the worlds of mindfulness and improvisation,” the pair takes a look back to remember and to give thanks for the good times. They start with the fun of real

Monster Baby #99 Freestyle Life Supreme (A Conversation with Larry Dorsey, Jr.)

Mar 05 2022 98 mins  
Rhythm and improvised poetry can lift the highs and heal the lows. For Monster Baby Podcast episode #99, Ted and Lisa link up with San Francisco freestyler, improvisor, music-maker, comedian, actor, Larry martial artist, activist, spiritual practitioner, and all-around good guy, Larry Dorsey, Jr. Larry starts the conversation explaining the history behind the “Junior” in his n

Monster Baby #98 Coming Home

Dec 22 2021 59 mins  
What makes a home “home”? Sparked by Lisa’s move into a new apartment, she and Ted consider the many elements that go into feeling at home. The two warm up with a playful new spontaneity game called “A or B” that you can play right along with (1:35) and then explore what’s making Lisa’s new flat as homey as it is—and so quickly (9:07). Lisa wonders to what extent p