Actors and Self Coaching
Why should I coach myself?
In this post, we'll go over the premise of self coaching, and give you some ideas for how coaching can work for you.
As with directors, there are as many approaches to coaching as there are individuals. This is great news because there is a path for everyone, no matter your preferences.
Some people prefer a little (or a lot) of tough love.
Some actors prefer hand holding.
Some want to relate to their coach.
Some need help coaxing out their vulnerabilities.
Some want Results Now!!
It's all good.
Because you can learn to Coach Yourself.
The ActorSelfCoach philosophy looks at why we feel the way we do. This work is not about band-aids, which temporarily help but don't solve problems.
With these tools, you will know when you are getting results you want in your life, and when you aren't. Learning to coach yourself means that no matter what life 'throws at you', you have a place to start so you can circumvent the feeling of overwhelm or indecision.
Because who really loves feeling those?
So. Back to why actors should learn to coach themselves.
We are often on the road.
Our work involves rejection. Sometimes repeatedly.
We do not have job security in most cases.
We are often starting a new job, with new colleagues, new issues, new locations, new stresses.
We are creatures who are adept at emotional capture. We can, often quickly, access emotions in order to do our work. Or we can craft the appearance that we have, and create the journey for our audiences.
This same gift can be a liability in our lives outside of work.
Our brains learn that this is what we do - we jump from emotion to emotion, from scene to scene. Our brain experiences the cycle of life and death, highs and lows, in some performances to the extreme.
And here's something you may not know.
Our brain doesn't always know the difference, when the body is in an emotional state, between a 'real' emotion and a 'staged' emotion.
You may be familiar with the acting technique in which you adopt the physical attributes of an emotion in order to create a shortcut to get there.
For example, you start shortening your breath on purpose, and heaving your shoulders, to get to a place of stress and anxiety. The body picks up this cue, and starts the chemical path that allows us to access the emotion and play the scene.
Not everyone works this way, of course. And not for every role, every scene.
But many of you are familiar with how this works. It is similar to adopting the walk, or the laugh of a character in order to start feeling them in your body.
No matter what your approach to your work, know that your primitive brain doesn't always know the difference. ..
Do you ever go into a break during rehearsal and make a phone call or hear a voice mail? You may realize that you are more or less affected by the news/message in proportion to the scene you just played. This is because your brain, even though you intellectually know the difference between the scene and the break, has been processing the emotion for the scene as if it was real. Your emotional response may be heightened or dulled accordingly.
Most actors have 'taken their work home'.
Reacted abruptly with a person outside work because of something they are still carrying in their body.
That is not always a sore body part from strenuous dance work or movement.
It can be psychic.
You can carry the exhaustion home, of inhabiting the emotional journey of your character, or the high or low places you have traveled along the way. The people you come home to may not be able to match (nor should they) the feelings you have gone through, including the emotions generated by hearing applause and laughter.
Unless you get standing ovations at home. Or they laugh at every joke.
Not happening in my home.
Ok, maybe once.
Knowing the difference, becoming aware of how your brain (actually, just our primitive brain in this case) is functioning can truly open up your understanding of how you relate to the world.
We dive into our acting work, and no one is reliably there to help lift us back up. We can be on fire with adrenaline, or depleted and vulnerable.
If we are fortunate to have an understanding partner or available friend, that helps.
But if you learn the skills to coach yourself, you will always have a starting place.
Coaching is not therapy.
Coaching is not a replacement for medically advised therapy or medication.
Here's the tough one.
Coaching is not 'your friend'.
Your friend will likely commiserate. Give you ideas for immediate, reactive action to 'fix things'.
Friends say things.
'That's terrible!'
'Let's get a drink!'
'I can't believe that!'
Friends are amazing.
Coaching is about understanding your thoughts. So you can grow and move in the direction that serves you. Coaching is about removing denial. Addressing your negative emotions.
Coaching could ask
'Why is that terrible?'
'Can we think about this now and have a drink tomorrow?'
'It happened. Why is that a problem?'
'Now what?'
There is no rush here. There are only your decisions.
The coaching ActorSelfCoach offers to support you is causal, and forward facing.
We acknowledge past events, but spend the majority of time looking forward to the rest of your life, not backwards to untangle every event.
Looking backwards for your life is great for nostalgia.
Which can be so very lovely, but not incredibly motivating.
Looking backwards at all your perceived and rational 'wrongs' can also keep you in a cycle of resentment and blame.
Not a place for your best life.
The great news about this is,
no matter what your past is...
No matter the jobs you did or didn't have, the relationships flourishing or fading, the dreams realized or deferred, (thank you, Langston Hughes!) you can evolve to the life you want.
ActorSelfCoach offers you the tools to coach yourself.
You can learn what drives your actions, whether your primitive brain or your adult prefrontal brain.
You will get comfortable with discomfort as a natural part of your human life.
You can learn the way to identify things you are avoiding.
And start addressing them.
You always have access to professional private coaching, to work on specific issues, or get faster results.
This is all about you. Your work. Your brain. Your Life.
