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Presence is vital to improvisation. Improvisation is largely about being in the moment, in one's body, and completely present. Improvisation has a significant temporal aspects — it involves solving problems in the moment. It is participating, organizing, processing, and performing, all at once. It involves taking in information, making sense of it, continually assessing where you came from, where you are, and where to go next, and adjusting to meet the next moment. All of this is done rapidly and usually tacitly. This requires that we stay focused, in our body, and not too much in our heads. It requires us to be cautious about routines and habits.
Improvisation is strengthened and deepened as we become more aware of others' goals, values, communication styles. When aware of these signals, we can better support collaboration / group interactions and meet others' needs. Groups that collectively improvise tend to work cooperatively with one another. Another part of receptivity is actively synthesizing the inputs we receive. This involves not only being aware of what is coming through our senses (what we see, hear, feel), but making sense of these inputs and incorporating these continual information sources or goals while continuing to "perform."
Any performance has indeterminate factors. In improvising, one must learn to accept uncertainty, perhaps even embrace it. Embracing uncertainty involves "going with the flow," not letting fear hinder our work, and accepting when situations or others' actions do not match our expectations or assumptions. Another aspect of uncertainty is finding joy within this truth — the fact that things are at times uncertain makes for humorous moments, serendipitous situations, and excitement. Imagine how boring things would be if everything were certain and predictable! A third aspect is accepting oneself, not imposing unnecessary constraints or limits upon one's work or processes, developing an aesthetic of imperfection, which paradoxically leads to better performances.
Flexibility involves considering multiple perspectives, options and categories, and not getting "stuck" in categories or habitual ways of doing things. Flexibility is fostered by attending to the present moment to assess the goals, needs, resources, and constraints, rather than assuming that these things are constant or making assumptions about what they are.
These broad activity systems are not mutually exclusive — there is overlap and they build on each other. In most improvisational moments, several or all of these skills come into play. They are parts of an integrated whole: being present and in the moment supports acceptance, flexibility, and receptivity. The more we accept uncertainty, the more flexible we can be in dealing with uncertainties. As we adopt a more flexible approach to our work, we are more alert and receptive to various inputs. As we become more flexible, we may have more mental space for inputs, and these inputs are more useful to us because we can flex and accommodate them better. When we are not present, we fail to respond to the present situation as it is. When we deny or discount uncertainties, or try to convince ourselves things are completely certain or controllable, we remain both rigid and unreceptive.