OHM

I thought I'd take a moment and talk about one of my favorite acting disciplines. It's not directly found in any (American, at least) acting methodologies, and yet it has been a cornerstone in my training and development for the past few years. It's been admittedly my a secret weapon. So what, in my mind, is the main ingredient to good actor training? The practice of meditation.

Meditation is easy to learn, challenging to practice, and near impossible to master. Reminds me a bit of acting, or any other form of artistry to which one dedicates themselves. Now, there is no shortage of books on techniques and traditions, but I'll simply suggest two general practices that I use as consistently as my inconsistent human nature allows.

Any seated position will do, really, and you can explore all sorts of yogic poses, and benefits of each pose on your own if interested. But, for our purposes it is simple enough to sit up straight in a chair.

The first is a meditation that focuses on the breath, bringing awareness to the inhalation and exhalation. And if (or when) your mind becomes distracted by thoughts or sensations, you bring your mind gently back to the breath. This nurtures that one-pointed, laser-like focus that you see or perhaps sense from the really great actors on stage and in film.

Another method, which I find myself doing most often is a broader type of focus, or rather an opening of focus. You just sit and allow everything to 'be as it is', or, in other words, you allow your awareness to rest, or at first, jump to whatever or wherever it feels most engaged. Sometimes you awareness will rest on a bodily sensation...a sore foot or a knot in your back. Other times, the awareness will jump to a thought or pattern playing out in your mind. You simply allow all of it to be A-OK. This type of meditation seems to facilitate an aliveness and spontaneity to whatever happens in life, and on the stage.

At first the tendency is to get lost in the thought or sensation. Each little thought has an inherent stickiness, and once a thought gets sticky, it attracts other thoughts until it becomes of whirling, uncontrollable gob of glue.

The more you just allow yourself to sit and, well, do nothing really, your mind may begin to slow down. Our mind is most like a glass of water with some type of sediment, and it's constantly being shaken, so the water remains murky, cloudy. This type of meditation brings your awareness to the shaking glass and just by watching it, the glass begins to slow down a bit, allowing the sediment to settle on the bottom. Voila! Clear and clean water...and a taste of clarity.

The personal benefits of meditation are countless, but for me, it has also has increased that ability to maintain a fullness of presence on stage. And gets me closer to experiencing that 'actor' behind the costume that is 'me'. The me before any thought has a chance to define it.

Best to all.

Finding the Light

One major sinus-infection, one threat of financial collapse, and one whirlwind family visit later, Beautiful Dreamers is now open, and I couldn't be more proud of the great cast, the exceptionally hard-working crew, and both producing partners, the Irish and Classical Theatre and the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Hats off to Marty Giles, playwright and director. The feedback has been great, the show has major legs, and now we get to play it until the first of May. If you're in the area and interested you must come and check it out.

And the next show of the season, Othello, is quick on my heels. In the spirit of full disclosure I will admit that I have not quite learned the balance of preparing for one show while another is getting on it's feet. Lots of lower body extremity references here. I start rehearsing for Othello in less than 24 hours, so I have been dutifully pouring over the script whenever I have had the chance. I will play Roderigo, an unrequited suitor of Ms. Desdemona.

So that's the what's on my front-line. I wanna talk, now, just a bit about goal-setting. I have gone back and forth on goal-setting for a long time in my life, particulary because I have set goals and have not found the secret formula to keep myself focused on the desired outcomes. Repeat attempts can be discouraging. However, just a few days ago, I hit a stretch a days filled with unfocused, undirected, discouraging, blah what...energy, I suppose.. On top of that, I was feeling particularly vulnerable because of a bank error I made that put me in the red...the crimson red.

So I had a few credits for some audio books on a great site called audible.com, and downloaded a few inspirational business motivational books, which happens to be a particular weakness of mine. I was reaching for some positive and inspiring material, anywhere I could get it. So I somehow forced myself to do a little yoga, made some tea, and followed some specific directions of a Brian Tracy audio book entitled GOALS. So, I took my sore yoga'd butt to the coffee shop and, as advised, listed my top-ten short-term goals, personal, professional, and financial. And following the session, also as advised, I started writing my goals down, first thing each morning and last thing each night, WITHOUT referring to what I had previously written the day before. This allows you to find just the right wording and structure to make it powerful and real for you, and eliminate any goals to which you truly aren't committed.

As I said, I've done many goal exercises with middling success, but the simplicity and structure of these ideas started a super-charger in my mind and body. And in a few short days, I am feeling more powerful and optimistic again.

So this is my gift to you. This little exercise, and subsequent re-stating of goals. I love it. I think I'll keep it. And at some point in the not-so-distant future, when the goals come to fruition, I'll reveal them to you, and just how they came into being.

In the meantime, stay connected and stay inspired.