An improvisational violinist and the author of the classic work Free Play, Stephen Nachmanovitch, PhD, performs and teaches internationally at the intersections of multimedia, performing arts, ecology, and philosophy
"In an age of standardized packages and constrained choices,
Stephen Nachmanovitch gives us The Art of Is, a refreshing
encounter with how to improvise and be fully alive in the face of
deadening habits of mind. The author is a musician and a teacher
who has an uncanny ability to see and listen and help others do
likewise. We are verbs, not nouns, he tells us, because we are ever
in motion -- open to change and surprise. Like musicians who
improvise together, human beings can break barriers: teaching,
playing, creating, and being present to one another. In clear
prose, Nachmanovitch effortlessly shows how people discover -- in
themselves -- the sheer power to relate and endlessly adapt."
-- Jerry Brown, governor of California 1975-1982
and 2011-2018
"A beautiful book, full of power, full of life, written from the
deep experience of an artist and a wise person."
-- Joan Halifax, abbot, Upaya Zen Center
"The Art of Is IS real ART! It is so lucid, grand, kind,
easygoing, and deeply helpful, I could not stop reading it, even in
time I did not 'have'! It is full of surprises, gems, and
open-ended inspirations. It starts from the moment of Mahalia
Jackson's startling outburst to MLK Jr., catapulting his "I have a
dream" speech into the improvisation of a soaring liberation of the
spirit that it was. Stephen Nachmanovitch takes us with him on his
life-walk of love in music all over the world. He delivers us to a
place of new vitality in our own lives where we more fully
recognize the harmonies at hand. This is a lovely guidebook for our
own journeys, helping us appreciate ourselves and each other as the
precious human beings endowed with liberty and opportunity that we
are!"
-- Robert Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of
Buddhist Studies, Columbia University, co-founder of Tibet
House
"Stephen Nachmanovitch brings forty years of practicing improv to
the page and offers a rich trove, hard-won and long-pondered. In
graceful prose that reflects not only his talking the talk but
walking the walk, he explores the art of being present. You'll
finish the book enriched by his experiences studying under Zen
masters and his mentor, the great polymath Gregory Bateson, and
teaching aspiring improvisers all over the world."
-- Randy Fertel, author of A Taste for Chaos:
The Art of Literary Improvisation
"Stephen Nachmanovitch beautifully reveals a world of communication
and co-creation that is both new and ancient. To play in this realm
of improvisation is to recognize the tenderness with which
interdependence knows aloneness, and the way silence defines sound.
The stories he tells show us that the complexity and simplicity of
life itself exist in our interrelationships. These findings are
laid out in this book with grace, humor, and careful articulation.
Nachmanovitch makes it clear that the art of being human now is
acutely tied into an improvisational way of being: making sense of
ourselves, each other, and the natural world in ways that find new
offerings within old patterns. It is to feel anew."
-- Nora Bateson, filmmaker, International Bateson
Institute
"The Art of Is gives us a precious philosophical
prescription for engaging the creative opportunities of our life as
the greatest work of art."
-- Alex Grey, artist
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