workout log #1

I will be honest, I wasnt able to do much actual workouts this past week, but I will state that I did walk around a lot as well as work- I work at starbucks- that the pumping action you get when working with the syrup bottles, you do do a lot of that there. Hopefully more working out will be done this next week :)

Reading Response: New Flute and Chap. 4

I did some experimentation with radiance this week. The electric feel makes me feel awesome and reminds me of MGMT. I'm having trouble connecting to the buoyancy, but no trouble with potency. It's easier to recognize the connection between my feet and the earth than my body and the air. As for the inter-involvement, I can't quite figure out how to make that feel different from the other sensations. I seem to be missing the fourth step.

I really dug the prologue for the New Flute. I totally agree with the hypothesis that mixing art forms can lead to better art in general. Acting has taught me more about writing than any writing course could have, and vice versa. I feel like I'm finally starting to put a lot of pieces together as a result of learning improv, stage combat, directing, and speaking voice: namely, how better to get out of my head when I have to perform, be it free-writing or getting up on stage.

Not that I can do it one hundred percent of the time. That damn jump-hop-jump had me in a bad way last week. But still, once I get more used to using my body in an artistic way that it'll be much easier to just slip into movement like I can slip into words.

So speaking of speaking voice, the bit in the appendix looks familiar yet-not-familiar. Can we go over that stuff in class? I'm quite curious about it. I've been doing vocal warm ups for about a year, and I'm amazed at what it's done to my voice. I have a higher range, a deeper lower range, and it did a whole hell of a lot for my self-esteem. It's totally awesomecrazygood.

Uh. I should probably get to bed. I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow. Happy moving......................Roberto

A sad entry in the work out log.

So, yeah, this is totally embarrassing.
I tried to do some upper-body exercises earlier in the week starting with some cheat-push-ups which put a major kink into my back. After consulting for advice, I tried to work the kink out on Wednesday only to make the pain so bad that I had trouble moving in any direction for fear of my muscles killing me with the power of mental thinking.

So I tried, but failed miserably. But on the bright side, the kinks are gone after some nice muscle relaxants. I think I'm going to stick to working on my core muscles for a while.

Reading Response

I really enjoyed reading the flute piece as I feel more at home with music and that type of art, not only because I feel that it helps me to relax, but I also have a connection to it because I myself play the violin. Many of the things that were talked about in the introduction are true too. For example, I did often wonder how such beautiful music could be made or be formed out of a composers head. Every time I would play a piece, I loved the way all the notes worked together to paint a masterpiece and i was happy to be a part of it. I also loved the beginning story of the flute player too.

Our other reading from body wisdom was a little harder for me to get intune with as im not much of a person to let myself float or even think about those types of things. However, I was reminded of our classroom exercises that we did with the four, but really three, non-derived primitive states. With the buoyancy section, I remembered how my arm felt after I had pushed it up against the wall for some time and then had a free floating up feeling to it. In the radiancy section, it made me also think of how my body felt during that exercise, how I felt like I was full of energy and almost ready to burst open. With the potency section, it was a little harder for me to get in tune with my body for that exercise for whatever reason, but I still can imagine how it could make a person feel when moving their body.

When they got to the exercise part of the book, and the buoyancy and the breathing and everything, I was reminded of how I feel whenever I am stretching and breathing deeply. When I am not fully relaxed, my body is tense and not "weightless." When I am stretching though, and I take a deep breath, and if I am lying on the floor, I do feel my arm or whatever body part I'm working on begin to feel light and "weightless" as I exhale. The same goes for when I am in a body of water. I have always found it amazing how light and free filling water can make a body feel, and reading the exercises I can see and feel and imagine how my body might feel and react as well.

Reading Response

I enjoyed the A New Flute story, however I had quite a bit of trouble getting into the Body Works reading. I felt as though the step by step "Now move your arm" and "Now do this" instructions defeated the point of being able to feel the different energies. I related that frustration I felt to A New Flute because all the while the flutist was following his regime so strictly he never truly experienced letting go and letting the music come from within him. I connect this to acting and singing as well, as I have often felt pressured to do so many things and learn so many techniques and somehow apply them to everything that it became more about that than about the art itself.

I am glad that we worked with the buoyant, radiant and potent energies in class because I have a hard time translating written step by step instruction into a physical feeling and more importantly a focused mental concentration and energy. I found that it was probably difficult to explain in writing and that is why the text is so wordy. It is truly something you just have to "feel" which of course applies to A New Flute and any type of artist who is perfecting their craft.

I have been trying to personify the energies and relate them to characters or animals. For example, buoyancy reminds me of a ballerina, radiancy reminds me of Peter Pan and potency makes me thing of Jafar from Aladdin. In imagining these characters and relating them to the instruction of the experiments in the book, it made it easier for me to take on the energies myself. For animals I also thought of a hippo as being buoyant, a bird being radiant and a snake being potent . . . doesn't Jafar turn into a snake at the end of the movie?

Responses

Like Rachel, I was also impressed by the reading.

I completely fell in love with "The New Flute" because I could relate to the flute players journey. Having lost my mom to cancer in 2007 I understand that life cannot truly begin until you have "released" yourself from previous heartache and give yourself the permission to move forward into greatness. You are the only one that set yourself free.

As artists we are called to "release" our inhibitions and trust the process, ourselves and each other. I find that, like the reading states, when we make a conscious effort not to employ our previous thought patterns and allow our true, pure and "God-like" essences to over-come us we cannot be anything but authentic. Authenticity leads to creative flow and, unlike the flute player, we do not have to wait until the conditions are prefect to make this change. The conditions within ourselves and the Universe are always perfect and always supportive.

I also enjoyed reading the Body Works reading. I practiced most of the demonstrations and found myself most at home being buoyant in the water. To get my hands to freely float in water I had to first "allow" them to - which made me think of the "The New Flute" because I was the one in control of wether or not my hands were going to float or not. When it came to my hands, my mind had to think of nothing else other than the fact my hands were going to float. I had freed my hands from my previous thoughts they weren't going to naturally float. I did have an easier time in the water because I grew up being on a swim team, my zodiac sign (cancer) is a water sign and I have always felt at ease in the water, thus my thought processes was supporting the fact I believed it was going to be easy for me, so it was.

Reactions to some deep reading...

I do have to say that I was very impressed with the reading that we had to do. There were two things in particular that really stood out to me. And fortunately, I was able to connect with one insight from each piece and kinda tie them together.

Reading "The New Flute" was very inspiring. I know that it seemed to focus on improvisation in life, but I like to think that it focused on the true sense of letting go and setting your heart free. Of course I loved the Japanese story about the flute player and how he didn't "get his wings" until he went through a life full of disappointment and despair. Then, he could truly appreciate his gift of flute playing and just "set it free" and become Godly. As a new actor, this concept is very hard for me to comprehend. Also, I am a perfectionist therefore it is very hard for me to "just let go." It inspired me to rethink how important theatre is to me and if I am willing to take that "leap of faith" and be prepared to splat on the ground. It is not until I peel myself off of the ground hundreds and hundreds of times, that I will finally get why I love theatre. I enjoy doing theatre and there is a sense of it "calling out to me." Now I just need to be prepared to take on the rigorous journey and look toward the day I can set my heart free. There was one part that I did disagree with though. The part where it states, "Finished artworks that we see and may love deeply are in a sense the relics or traces of a journey that has come and gone." Then a note is written that this cannot be done in theatre even if it is recorded. I think that every form of artwork has a journey and that journey is individual to the artist that brought it life. In theatre, the remains are the memories that are instilled in the mind from different shows or other theatrical experiences. We recall our growth. If we didn't, we would still be putting up the pageant plays we did in elementary school. It may not be apparent to the public, but the actor's journey is displayed in his progression to success. Shows come and go... acting classes come and go... singing lessons come and go but the point is that we move forward and learn. Each of these steps of learning are contributing to the "journey" and pave the way to our dreams. And that can be seen by others.

The body works reading was fun in that you can see which energy state you are stronger in. I loved reading about the buoyancy because that is where i feel I fall strongest. I love the feeling of being buoyant. I was a fish as a kid and competitively swam through high school. There is just a sense of relaxation and escape when I am in the water. I can't really describe it in words. The feeling you get when you are buoyant in water is just magical for me. I always wished I was a mermaid and still do! I completely change in the water, physically, mentally and emotionally.

I connect the feeling of being buoyant with the act of setting your heart free. I imagine for myself that that would be what it feels like when doing theatre. I just need to figure out how to do it! haha.