Acting - 24/11/21

24th November 2021

Today in acting class we covered Workdays 8 and 9 of Linklater’s ‘Freeing the Natural Voice’.
We mostly focused on spinal work by connecting our voices to our spines and vertebrae, but also
on working with the tailbone. The tailbone is actually an essential part of our breathing, as it sits
at the base of the spine which connects to the diaphragm through the ribcage. It ever so slightly
moves forwards as we breathe in, and backwards as we breathe out. We took our bodies into a
gentle spine roll and then moved onto the ground. From there, we stretched out our spines with a
diagonal stretch and by using cat and cow poses, which is important as a rigid spine would cause
tension in the body and a lessened feeling of the tailbone, spine and ribcage moving as we
breathe.

Something I felt today that I had not felt before was a deep breathing feeling in both of my hip
sockets, although I am still carrying some tensions in the shoulders. I practised again at home,
and by using some gentle, calm music and relaxing my body, I was able to feel this breathing
feeling even deeper in my hips towards the bottom half of my body. My tailbone, which usually
causes me some pain when I lie directly on it, felt softer under my body and I didn’t carry as
much tension in my hips after rocking back and forward from cat and cow pose a few times.

One aspect of the class I had not expected to resound with me as much as it did was the mental
aspect. I almost always leave our class on Wednesdays with a calm feeling, but this week I had a
deeper awareness of my breathing and the space I was breathing in. I also felt as though my
voice was sounding more resonant and I could feel the vibrations as they moved from my
stomach, to my chest and finally to my head. Previously I had felt vibrations in all of these
places, but never at these deep and extensive levels. My mind felt at ease and I had a clear
picture in my mind of the shape of these vibrations, which in my mind are circular and full. They
had this new, warm feeling and moved evenly in the space around me.
This newfound awareness of the coccyx’s position and the connection it has with my body was
probably the most interesting part of this class, and I look forward to working on it more in my
warm ups and self-practice at home.