https://www.thealignedactor.com/workshops actor is not for the faint of heart.
The delicious high of booking your first co-star!
The agonizing low of being left on the cutting room floor after you’ve told all your friends and family “your episode” is airing tonight!
The delightful twist of getting a straight-offer because you’re a recommendation of a casting director who loves your work.
The devastating turn of being told hours before your call time that your role has been cut and you can kiss that pay check goodbye.
Choosing an acting career is like getting on a roller coaster that’s being built as you ride it.
Strap in. Hold on. Enjoy the ride?
Yeah, right…
Who can “enjoy” getting released from two pins in the same week?
How do you say “weeeeeee” when a certified letter arrives in the mail saying your agent has dropped you?
Then again, there’s nothing like the feeling of locking in with your scene partner and immersing yourself so deeply in the world of your character that hearing the word “cut” catches you completely off guard.
I don’t know about you, but I’m never getting off the roller coaster.
But I’m done feeling sick to my stomach.
And this is where mindfulness comes in.
Mindfulness is like dramamine for The Actor Roller Coaster.
I still experience all the ups and downs, all the twists and turns, but a regular practice of mindfulness meditation allows me to find peace and calm in the midst of all the chaos.
Remember, mindfulness is incredibly simple:
Mindfulness is a special way of paying attention to the present moment with curiosity instead of judgment.
In mindfulness mediation we practice focusing on our breath and noticing whatever we notice both within us and around us — thoughts, emotions, sensations, sounds, etc.
How Mindfulness helps us make peace with The Actor Roller Coaster…
Breathing is one of the fastest ways to influence the physiological state of the body. If we intentionally breathe really fast, our heart rate goes up, and we start to feel what we might perceive as “excitement” or “anxiety.” If we intentionally slow down our breathing, our heart rate decreases and we start to feel the physical sensations of what we might perceive as “calm” or “relaxation.”
When we practice mindfulness meditation, we tend to slow down our breathing and this produces a natural calming effect on our body. From this calmer physical state, we practice noticing (but not engaging with) the thoughts and emotions present within us, and even uncomfortable thoughts and emotions start to lose their sharp edges.
Sure, being cut out of “my episode” still stings…
…being released from two pins in the same week still sucks…
…the slow times are still frustrating…
…but I now can sit with all the thoughts and feelings associated with those experiences from a place of calm, non-judgmental neutrality and self-nurturing, rather than heaping anger and judgement toward myself or the entertainment industry.
A Case Study…
I was in an episode of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story. I read the verdict in the Dominique Dunne case, where the jury finds her ex-boyfriend guilty of manslaughter instead of murder, and this causes her father Dominick Dunne (played by Nathan Lane) to have an emotional outburst in the courtroom.
Unless you know my voice, you’d never know I was in the scene. You never see me speaking, and only sort of see my blurry figure at one point in a wide shot of the judge.
When I watched the scene, I was incredibly disappointed and sad. I had been expecting to get great footage of myself in a scene with Nathan Lane! I’m grateful for the great credit, but it sucks that I can’t share my work in the way I had been hoping.
But because of practicing mindfulness, I approached my disappointment and sadness cleanly, as just natural, human, emotional reactions to something not going the way I had wanted it to go.
I didn’t heap those feelings onto myself — “Oh, I must have been awful and they had to cut around me.”
I didn’t heap them on the production team — “Those jerks! How dare they rob me of my moment!”
The cumulative effects of mindfulness — meaning the effects that add up over time and help us even when we’re not actively engaged in meditation — help me roll with the unpredictability of the entertainment industry without becoming bitter, jaded, or overly self-critical.
Without mindfulness, I might burn out and quit acting altogether.
Mindfulness is the way I ride The Actor Roller Coaster without throwing up or deciding I want to get off the ride.
I want the same for you. I want you HERE, in the entertainment industry, being an actor for the long haul. And I want you to feel as cool and as “it is what it is” with The Actor Roller Coaster as you can.
Let’s do a mindfulness meditation together so that you can practice accessing that place of calm, non-judgmental curiosity and awareness that will help you so much in your career as an actor.
If you’re driving, be safe and skip this part.
Here’s the practice for today…
As you’re enjoying the afterglow of that little mindfulness session, I want to let you know about an upcoming opportunity to learn even more about mindfulness in a workshop with me.
I’m hosting two mindfulness and mindset workshops in December and calling it…
The December Double Feature!
It’s two AWESOME Zoom workshops in ONE bundled offer, so you can feel calm and confident going into The New Year!
If you found this post helpful or inspiring, I’d be honored if you’d leave a comment, share it with a pal, buy me a coffee, or consider becoming a paid subscriber.
bye
