In HxH, the explanation of Gyo is divided between two different arcs. So must it be in my improv blog series. Gyo is first described as a way to see Nen. In improv, we equate this to paying attention to expectations you share with your scene partners. HxH later explains more deeply: Gyo isn't just about seeing Nen. It's about focusing your Nen in a specific part of your body, and you can see Nen if you focus it in your eyes. You can only pay attention to so many things at once. In improv, we have to keep dozens of plates spinning at once. Characters, objects, forms, stagecraft. It's a lot, and when you're new, you can't do it all at once. You have to offload most of them to your subconscious before you stand a chance of doing them all at once, which takes lots and lots of practice. Everything requires attention. Listening requires attention, talking requires attention, so it's hard to talk and listen at the same time. Thinking of what to say next requires attention, which comes out of the same budget. Worrying about being cringe requires attention, that comes out of the budget too. In improv, we must first stop wasting our Yen. Our attention. Stop wasting it on planning and being defensive. Then, we have to stop spending it all. Until we get the rules and forms into our bones, we won't have Yen to spend on anything else. Once we're not wasting our Yen, and we're not spending it all remembering how to "do improv right", we finally have some spending money. That's when the fun really begins. That's when we get to start allocating.
In HxH, Ryu is the ability to use Gyo from a state of Ken. Nen users need Ryu to switch between attack and defense in the blink of an eye.
In improv, Ryu is the ability to be solid and changeable.
Improv theorists Billy Merritt and Will Hines identified this in Pirate Robot Ninja: An Improv Fable where, in discussing their concept of the Ninja, they say:
To be unbeatable, you must be like smoke, then like steel.
With Gyo, you can allocate your Yen to different parts of yourself. With Ken, you can lock in those allocations to make predictable, identifiable characters. The next step is to learn Ryu: The ability to rapidly adjust and switch between those allocations.
Say you used Gyo to emphasize the part of you that feels anger, and then used Ken to make that choice firm, so your scene partners can play off of it. Then, your characters get into an argument. Your character is angry. They wouldn’t back down. They don’t, and the scene stalls. This can be avoided by learning Ryu. In this case, Ryu could be used to shift Yen aura from anger to sadness, or suspicion, or anything else.
Ryu is also essential to rapidly switching between characters. If you’ve ever seen a show where one or two improvisers play a whole roomful of characters, and somehow they remain distinct the entire time, you know what Ryu mastery looks like.
Master Ryu, so you too can be a population unto yourself, so you can be reactive without being defenseless, so you can always be the right character in the right place at the right time.