What would happen if Jim Carrey and Eckhart Tolle had a baby?
Kyle Cease
Transformational Comedy
Leaving a successful stand-up comedian career, Kyle Cease entered the world of what he calls “Transformational Comedy.” The world of personal development and transformation workshops is full of big names like Tony Robbins, Byron Katie, and Eckhart Tolle. Are you ready for the next transformation? the next breakthrough moment? Transformation means moving from one state of being to another, like the caterpillar to the butterfly. Participants hope to leave the workshop a different person. “Transformational comedy” is a hybrid between stand-up comedy and the personal growth workshop.
Humor is Anesthesia
“When you are going to cut deep, use anesthesia.”
Kim Weitkamp, the talented storyteller, gave me this advice in a personal storytelling workshop. As a doctor, it took me a minute to get past the literal meaning. For the storyteller, the “anesthesia” is humor.
When stories want to “cut deep” to open the heart to a tender place, humor can be the “anesthesia” that allows stories to take you to that deep place. Some stories creates that juxtaposition where you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. (Think about books or movies that you’ve seen. Watch my story “The Teacher.”) Humor can be like a “breath of fresh air” when a story plunges you into the depths of emotion. It breaks the tension, and allows you to go under again into the depths. When we go too deep too fast and for too long, the heart closes down, emotion shuts down, we go numb. This is essentially what happens in traumatic emotional moments. It’s called “shock” when the mind-body-emotions go numb. For the storyteller, the purpose is not to shock or traumatize, but to ease the heart open to a healing story.
Comedy and Healing
“Comedy gets you into the moment. It makes it easy for transformational truth to be both heard and accessed inside of you because you are in such a good mood. You are in such a playful space.”
—Kyle Cease
Kyle Cease tells us that laughing and crying happen when the self has to open to become more. Why is a joke only funny the first time? Why does the story that drives us to tears, not bring us to tears the second time? The self has expanded to now include that story.
Watch some of his videos to see how comedy and transformation combine.
Kyle Cease – You’re Only Manipulating Yourself
Kyle Cease – Have an Open Relationship with Yourself
Kyle Cease – From Almost Homeless to Financially Abundant in 30 minutes
https://youtu.be/dcYsdAcjcjY
Thank you for posting Joel,,, love your newsletter, your intentions, and your light.