Stop.\u00a0Right now. Drop your shoulders. Drop them again — they will let go even more.\u00a0 Lengthen the back of your neck. Let your jaw release and your mouth hang open.\u00a0Uncross your legs. Let your belly release.\u00a0 Let your body sink into your chair.\u00a0Let your lungs fill with air.\u00a0 What do you feel? What do you hear? What do you sense?<\/p>\n
Even on my most relaxed summer days, I find it easy to stay braced against the world.\u00a0 My mind is whirling with things to do, ideas to examine, words, words, words.\u00a0 Do I stop to breathe the world in?\u00a0 Can I see and hear and smell and taste and touch the beauty of each day?\u00a0 Can I experience my non-words self? Can I fully experience others?
\n\u00a0\u00a0
\nI\u2019ve been thinking a lot about the essence of theater training and how to incorporate it into helping people exercise leadership. Theater training for leadership usually centers around creating charismatic speakers. It\u2019s a mistake, however, to imagine that charisma can provide the depth and facility that true leadership demands. \u00a0<\/p>\n
A good actor hopes to listen with all senses open. This isn\u2019t a simple task. The multiple times an actor says the same words and responds to the same lines can cause her brain to go on automatic pilot. Interchanges become mechanical repetitions, neither person hearing the other\u2019s words. If the actor is unsure of her lines, her only concern may be calling up the words, cutting off any ability to hear what\u2019s coming in.\u00a0 The actor\u2019s mind may be also distracted by questions, concerns, fears, mistakes, self-judgments, or irrelevant observations so that it cannot stay focused on anything else. What do actors do to bring listening back to a lively and present state?<\/p>\n
Stop.\u00a0 Drop your shoulders.\u00a0 Release your belly.\u00a0 Let your jaw go.\u00a0 Allow a big breath to expand your ribcage.<\/p>\n
In life, we are often too busy judging the content of what someone is saying, or framing a fantastic response, to really hear what\u2019s being said. We might even be holding our breath to better focus on our own thinking, which keeps the body defended against really hearing. <\/p>\n
A full breath expands our sensory awareness.\u00a0 Listening the actor\u2019s way gives us a chance to hear \u201cthe song beneath the words,\u201d allowing the sub-text (the intent or emotion behind the words) to be perceived. We can learn to listen more fully by learning to breathe more fully. We are literally breathing each other in by taking in the air around us.<\/p>\n
But then a problem arises. Actors are taught to respond spontaneously with their instinctual selves. If an actor pauses to reflect, she may be told, \u201cDon\u2019t decide how to say the line, just say the line.\u201d This unfiltered response may be a liability in exercising leadership. \u00a0<\/p>\n
A full breath can access a trustworthy physical response. We must learn to recognize that impulsive reaction, mentally investigate the loyalties that prompted it, negotiate with those loyalties, and then choose the most appropriate words and tone.\u00a0 Most of us err on the side of the actor, causing us to speak words that we might later regret.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
How do we train to be both present with others and available to ourselves?\u00a0 How do we learn to listen fully, investigate our reactions, and then choose the text and manner of delivery that will move our leadership work forward? Breathing is the first step. Taking at least one deep breath between reaction and action gives us that essential moment of contemplation.<\/p>\n
Again, drop your shoulders.\u00a0 Let your hands be soft.\u00a0 Let go of your belly.\u00a0 Soften your lips and your brow.\u00a0 Soften your eyes.\u00a0 Let your jaw drop and allow the air to fill your back.\u00a0 What do you sense behind you?<\/p>\n
Performing in a play is like a long moving meditation, where the mind is focused on the immediate present. Worrying about what\u2019s next or lingering on what just happened is a distraction. Actors bring their performance energy to this one task:\u00a0 existing moment-to-moment within the confines of their role. This mindful presence is a wonderful skill and breathing is at its center.<\/p>\n
Unlike a performer, however, in the exercise of leadership one must try to see as much of the picture as possible. If an actor thinks in this way, she may be accused of having a director\u2019s mind. The successful stage director quickly, easily and frequently traverses the gap between action and observation, moving from intimate conversation with each actor to seeing a broad view of the production.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Leadership action needs to combine both actors\u2019 and directors\u2019 skills: to be focused and present, yet able to see behind the scenes.\u00a0 She can then perceive what factions are in play, what\u2019s at stake for each faction, and who is allied with whom. Director Robert Woodruff calls this kind of mindfulness \u201chaving soft eyes.\u201d\u00a0 Breathing in the world around us is the core.<\/p>\n
Do it now. \u00a0Breathe. \u00a0Feel the back of your neck open. \u00a0Feel your feet on the floor. Breathe. \u00a0Can \u00a0you feel your awareness expand as your body expands?<\/p>\n
Revealing oneself in public night after night is a high-risk activity. Every actor has a personal ritual of transformation prior to performance to manage this risk.\u00a0 Some do a physical or vocal warm-up. Others may listen to music or review the text as they slowly change into costume.\u00a0 Some do a set of push-ups or joke around with the crew.\u00a0 A small sacred space separates the concerns of daily life from the events to come onstage.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
In leadership, this bulwark is often missing. We run from one meeting to another, prepare a talk on the fly, react to events without thinking, letting the stress of leading take a toll on both body and mind. This is where the nitty-gritty of actor training can really assist in act of leading: the body can be prepared, the mind cleared, and the focus reset on the tasks to come.\u00a0 And it all comes down to taking time to breathe.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t need to be in the hurly-burly of my professional life to do this.\u00a0 I don\u2019t need to be teaching or leading or performing.\u00a0 I can practice this daily.\u00a0 It\u2019s not hard. <\/p>\n
I can stop.\u00a0 Notice my tensions.\u00a0 Let them go. Watch my mind\u2019s distractions disappear as I come back to the present.\u00a0 See the world around me. Breathe it in.\u00a0 Experience me.\u00a0 Experience the sky and the wind and my husband.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Be in the garden.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Breathe.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stop.\u00a0Right now. Drop your shoulders. Drop them again — they will let go even more.\u00a0 Lengthen the back of your neck. Let your jaw release and your mouth hang open.\u00a0Uncross your legs. Let your belly release.\u00a0 Let your body sink into your chair.\u00a0Let your lungs fill with air.\u00a0 What do you feel? What do you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171,"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nancyhoufek.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}