Jon Kabat-Zinn is the Bomb Diggety

So, first off, I was super excited about the 'raisin' exercise because I've done it before, and found it to be a really great exercise about mindfulness if the person is open to acknowledging how unique something as random as a raisin (or in our case an almond) can be. I actually practice mindfulness when I eat really often, because taking a moment to look at, smell, examine, thoroughly chew, taste, and experience the swallowing of your food is described in no better way than orgasmic. I tell you, you go to Louies, and you get some potatoes and you just sit there for  like, thirty minutes. Just revel. You don't have anywhere to be, you don't need to talk to anyone, and eating is not just about fuel ( obviously if you're eating potatoes, that's just starch you silly goose)-- but I guarantee, you do that, you look at those potatoes and smell them and chew them bit by bit, and you're not gonna forget how amazing those potatoes were for like, a week!

Besides the joys of food, which of course to me are very important, Jon Kabat-Zinn's approach to mindfulness has less of the monk like meditation you would expect, and is more comparable to a child-like wonder about the things we don't normally pay attention to. There's an exercise on his website ( and on the app he has if you're interested in that) where all you do is focus on your hands, and their purposes. If you're open and mindful truly to the experience, it's almost heart warming, because your hands to do a lot of amazing things. And they're beautiful, and unique. Just as much as looking at and tasting something dear to you can make you feel warm and safe, stopping to examine the hands you use every day to accomplish your goals can give you a real confidence boost about your capabilities.

I think that Jon-Kabat-Zinn's work with mindfulness is so useful to an actor because it allows for there to be a consistent method to a new discovery every time. Tim mentioned it really beautifully in class when it comes to people (and in an actor's sense, characters). If you assume when you're examining a text that after reading it twice you know not only who your character is, but who all the other characters are than you close yourself off from the in the moment discoveries you may have and that you can react to from your partner. Walking into a rehearsal and expecting a "raisin" but being open to finding an "almond" in your partner, and understanding how the raisin and almond are different in this person's interpretation allows for something so repetitive as rehearsals to be a new and thrilling experiencing every time.

It also drags a person out of the "first circle" mentality, which can be very very healthy for people who have turbulent emotions. I personally have suffered from anxiety since my late teens, and while I had thought I had it under control, college's challenges brought on a whole new gang of stressors with which for me to sufficiently freak the fuck out all the time over. So, after some things that if you'd like to know about them you should ask me personally, I decided that I needed therapy. And I was recommended to a group that essentially specialized in practicing mindfulness which allows a person who is suffering from anxiousness and stress to briefly focus on something else entirely, discover it, attend to it, and then when they are more calm because they're not running a hamster wheel over their problems in their head, they can come back and figure out a plan of action.

Now, this post, is long. But I think that this is important for me to say, because let's be real, this is so applicable to life, and I am really passionate about it. If you ask anyone who knows me pretty well, last semester I spent a lot of time in Louies, alone or otherwise, and food and focus and relaxation and mindfulness all played a part in me keeping my shit together last semester. Now also, I'm like, 30 lbs heavier (I should've found comfort in salads some how) but am I a calmer, more prepared person? Oh hell yeah.

So yeah, now you know quite a bit about me. And what mindfulness means to me.


Feeling all tingly and emotionally connected yet?

Rio

" She's Got It/ She Hasn't Got It"

I think it's an interesting and realistic approach to say that there's something wrong with saying that " It" is something nonspecific for an actor. The Second Circle idea allows an actor to have some reality and grounding in the kind of ambiguous ideas of how to be a good actor versus a bad actor. I mean personally, I always have doubt about the idea of being a good actor because there is no distinctive method or goal as far I understand. The whole "everyone's different" lark is extremely discouraging when you're a student since that freedom of your own method leads me (at least) to wonder where to begin. Sure there are techniques we're taught and trained in, but at the end of the day anyone I've talked to says that there just has to be a 'youness' when you walk into a room to audition that is ambiguous and intimidating to consider. The first-second-third circle concept allows a student to assess themselves about where they are as an actor, and have a list of qualities on where they want to be to improve.

I appreciate that there are reasons why the first and third circles are useful, but that their risks or difficulties are clearly laid out. In my limited experience of actors and acting, there's always been a difficulty in my mind about what says an actor is good or bad unless it is blatantly bad (shouting,over gesturing, obnoxious) or blatantly good (moving and convincing, which isn't hard to convince me in because I am both gullible and emotional).

The video and reading really grounded the concepts for me and made this kind of generalized idea of how to be an open, responsive actor more categorized. I think that having an assessment or a method of figuring out where you lie on that spectrum would be really useful to young, aspiring actors and allow them to always have a goal towards the center, to be open, reactionary, considering the outside while processing within.

Over all, I'm really intrigued. Lately in my classes there has been a lot of 'build your theatre library' talk, about books that are worth having and reading over and over throughout one's theatrical career. This is definitely one I would like to invest in. I need to buy a bookshelf, honestly. After all, that's a pretty wholesome goal as well, building a theatre library. You've got all these great voices that we're taught about but not really delved into like Bogart, or Brecht ( I mean if you wanna look at Brecht that's something you gotta dedicate more than a semester's time to) and it seems to be Rodenburg is one of those voices that Tim is touching on for us, to give us some perspective and a place to start improving ourselves and our techniques, but who is worth investigating beyond the classroom criteria.

This is kinda long now-- long story short, too long didn't read, I found that having a spectrum and some guidelines made the idea of acting more tangible to me than just some dream where people either have it or don't. That it can be practiced, improved on, and gauged beyond the obvious.


Cool stuff, right?


Rio

First-to-Second Circle Kind of Person

So today we talked about the Second Circle, which I think is such a cool concept. This is totally applicable to life, to social situations, to relationships and to communication- being too internal or too external is a difficult balance. I think personally I'm pretty internal about some things- when I took my acting coarse with Addie she told me I would make a better film actor for this reason, that I do a lot of my acting internally. Now I am realizing that that was not a compliment! But I definitely also find it really exciting to engage with others, so I think I can certainly work to step in the right direction. The exercise where we looked into each other's eyes and gestured to our hearts certainly gave me really good feelings, and it's another exercise ( along with the stick exercise) that I think we should throw in every week or so. I think that's relevant because Tim mentioned that this Second Circle work is something you have to practice at, in life and on stage. Just doing it once isn't enough for me. I want to feel that connection again and again! I thought I'd pop in before I have to go to work to say this stuff before I forget it, but after I'll probably post again about the reading.


XOXO


Rio

Let's Have More Interesting Titles Than the Date

So today was just an introduction day, nothing particularly special to be said about that-- it's the usual stuff. A lot of the people in the class I know, which is a nice feeling, building friendships in class is normally the most effective way to become closer friends in college. You'd think it'd be different from high school like that, but it's not haha. We did an exercise with sticks and balancing them on our fingertips, which was both fun and challenging- it'd be interesting to do it again at the end of the year and see how much each of us have improved with our focus and finding our center of balance.

Mindfulness is a super cool exercise, so I'm excited that this class is about something I already know well but need to practice more. I meditate and practice mindfulness with food most of the time ( you'd be surprised how mindlessly we eat things) and now using it to become a well rounded actor with some solid fundamental skills in mindfulness is pretty great.

Honestly the thing I'm hoping to get out of this class is the balls to try and get into acting. I've wanted to for a long time, but I'm such a chicken-shit about it, like; what if I'm not good enough to act? What if it's just not my thing? Needless to say, I love the idea of it. I love building characters and making stories as a hobby ( I write. A lot.) so I imagine I'd at least be OKAY at it, but who knows? It's a multi-faceted art just like any other.

I mean, I just need to get over that, dragging myself backward about shit. Like. I've been drawing for 11 ish years, still think I'm not a very good artist. If I keep this mindset, I'll never get the courage up to act, regardless of my classes and a degree and any other opportunity put in my path.

It would also be nice to tone up a bit; build some muscles with those yoga moves Tim is planning. I really should exercise more.

That's all.

Rio Jsanea