Do you want to stop slumping? When you see people who are very slumped, what do they convey?
Likely, it is not a sense of confidence. Unfortunately when we collapse, we often don’t even know what we’re doing it so it can be very hard to change.
As an actor, do you want to learn how to avoid bringing your own physical attributes to a role without even knowing that you are doing it?
If either is the case, the Alexander Technique can help.
With the Alexander Technique you will increase your body awareness so that you can easily identify your postural habits and find a balanced and healthy alignment.
I recently worked with an actor who was playing a very extroverted character. The actor is a very tall person and tends to hunch his shoulders to make himself smaller. He was unaware of the habit. Since this posture did not serve the character, we worked on releasing the tension that made him narrow his shoulders. One very strong habit that we discovered was his tendency to tighten his armpits and pull his arms into his ribs. Once he began to release that tension, he began to be able to widen his upper body and stop pulling his shoulders down. This not only helped him assume the physicality of the role, but also allowed him to be less tense so he could be freer and more present in his performance.
Many of us could use this body awareness and freedom in our daily lives.
If you are interested in finding out more about your habits – whether for your acting or in your daily life, take a lesson with me, join a class!
