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The Physical Energy Demands Of The Actor · The Aligned Actor

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to The Aligned Actor Podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Amy Schloerb, your friendly fellow actor and mindset coach.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: And this is the podcast where I offer practical mindfulness tools and mindset shifts
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: to help us all thrive in our full actor lives.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because we need to stay aligned.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: We need to stay aligned with who we are as actors,
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: what we want as actors, and most importantly, why we choose to be actors.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because staying aligned with those ideas is what will keep us nourished
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: on our journey throughout the perilous and often treacherous entertainment industry.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because the entertainment industry likes to wreak havoc on actor nervous systems.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: And actor life is a stressful, relentless rollercoaster.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: It is full of ups and downs, twists and turns, highs and lows and everything in between.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: There's uncertainty.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's constant rejection.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: There's unpredictable urgency.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: And all of that wreaks havoc on a nervous system.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: And all of that will constantly test us and make us question, why am I doing this?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of on the daily.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so the only way that we will survive in this profession long term is
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: if we understand that,
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: we come to accept that and not let that throw us,
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: and we find effective ways to handle all of that,
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: and we find effective ways to manage our stress and all the stress
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  SPEAKER_01: that is just baked into actor life.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: So today is our final clip from my conversation with Brian Zane.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Brian is an actor and a teacher and host of the amazing podcast,
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  SPEAKER_01: The Actor's Nervous System, which you can find anywhere that you find your podcasts.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: And in this clip,
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: we discuss the physical energy demands of the actor,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: like what it physically takes in terms of energy to be an actor playing a character,
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then how we care for ourselves within our work.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we talk about what to do with the extra energy of the post-show high.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about the idea of casting off the character so that we don't continue
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: to carry their emotions with us.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just a great conversation overall because we don't actually,
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: on The Aligned Actor,
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: we don't actually talk as much about the inner craft of acting and what
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: that feels like on a body.
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  SPEAKER_01: And so this was just a really fascinating moment in our conversation
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  SPEAKER_01: where we were talking about the actual physical demands of the actor's instrument
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  SPEAKER_01: in terms of when we are actually engaged in the craft of acting.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was very, very fun and interesting.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that you enjoy today's episode.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And if you want to experience our full conversation,
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: you can find the full interview on Brian's podcast, The Actor's Nervous System.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you can find that linked up below in the substack, or you can find it in my show notes.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: You can find it probably, I mean, you can find it anywhere that you find your podcasts.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And just look for my name on Brian's podcast, The Actor's Nervous System.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that you enjoyed today's episode.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, energy is such an important thing for actors to think about.
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  SPEAKER_00: Partly because what we were talking about before,
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: we're doing these really heightened circumstances.
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  SPEAKER_00: We're doing these things where our body goes into alert mode all the time.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like we get a dopamine rush.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: We get really high highs and really low lows.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's the hardest thing is when we keep going up and down like this.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And like Demidov has in his book something about like after opening night of a show,
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: the actor has so much energy and we just feel like high and you want to go out
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: and drink and party with the cast and everything.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And Demidov says like, but that energy that you feel is for your next show.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to bottle that energy, go home, sleep.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then you don't have to worry the next show because that energy is already there.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I think he was like really hinting at this kind of how
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: to use your dopamine rather than like letting it go.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because like then if you go out and expend all your energy and your drinking
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: and everything, what's going to happen when you wake up the next morning?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And be like crashing.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's like, oh, shit, I have to do this.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: I have to do Death of a Salesman again.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or whatever it is.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: I have to do it all over again.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah,
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  SPEAKER_00: I just think – and he also has something called character accumulation
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  SPEAKER_00: where you're kind of just sitting and allowing the character to,
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: like, wash over you into your subconscious.
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  SPEAKER_00: And you're just kind of, like,
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: meditating with the character and – And I really do find that that's effective
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: because every time I'm,
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: especially in theater,
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  SPEAKER_00: like every time I'm doing rehearsal or a performance,
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: like I'm expending creative energy.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So like, how do you get that back?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: So interesting that you bring up the idea of like, yeah, that post-show high, right?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it made me think that I've recently been hearing more and more people talk
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: about not just doing a warm-up, But doing a warm down, right?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: So like, you know, you did the thing and you're so excited.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: You're like, yeah, this is great.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go to the bar and drink and all this stuff.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it's because you're so excited and everything.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it can, though, too.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can't just go to sleep.
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  SPEAKER_01: Like you do need to.
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  SPEAKER_00: You need something.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like because your nervous system is like up here and.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know,
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: you're not,
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: you're probably not out of your window of capacity, um, to use fancy terms.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, can you say what that means?
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Window of capacity.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: So window of capacity, uh, it's part of the, like the vagal, um, stuff.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think, you know, quote me on this.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Don't come after me people.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but so like the idea of a window of capacity is that,
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: uh, so we can be, we can, there's like fight or flight is above the window.
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  SPEAKER_01: Freeze is below the window, like shut down, basically.
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  SPEAKER_01: And then within the window, you can be totally calm and relaxed.
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  SPEAKER_01: And towards the bottom of it,
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: it might be that you're still and relaxed, but you're not shut down, right?
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  SPEAKER_01: And then towards the top, you might be engaged and active.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: But relaxed.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So they'll talk about it with like sports, right?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: So like sports is a place where you're
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: excited and like it's exciting and social
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  SPEAKER_01: and it's nearing, it's,
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
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  SPEAKER_01: It can look like fight or flight or stress or whatever because,
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: you know, hey,
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: we're competing against each other and we're really excited
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  SPEAKER_01: and we're running around this soccer field and we're kicking the ball
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  SPEAKER_01: and we're doing all this stuff and all the things.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: But you're actually, you're not out of your window.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's still, you're still online.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: You're still engaging with other humans.
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  SPEAKER_01: You're still able to be social.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, like,
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like at the end of that night,
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, after opening night, you're at the top of that window.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're engaged, you're excited.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it's very hard to then just shut down, like go to sleep.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And but that there are so many things that we can do in terms of like warm down
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: to like, OK,
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to like first off,
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: I would just start by like,
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  SPEAKER_01: OK, I'm acknowledging that like I am so amped up right now.
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  SPEAKER_01: And then start using whatever tools I have that I know work for me in terms of,
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: okay,
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: how do I bring my body,
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: you know,
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  SPEAKER_01: how do I kind of manipulate,
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: manipulate might be the wrong word,
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: but how do I bring myself back into sort of calm presence and not in this sort
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: of heightened state that is not necessarily sustainable?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think it relates.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
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  SPEAKER_01: I might've taken it on a huge tangent around some stuff.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: It totally relates.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And, uh,
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes me think
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: of something Demidoff has called like casting off your character.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I like that.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't stay with you.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So like you're done with the performance and then just like physically going like,
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: okay,
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Willy Loman, okay,
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: like gone, like be gone and like leave Willy Loman in the space, like physically.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Be like, this is where he belongs.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'll have you back tomorrow night.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And doing that physical thing with a breath really helps be like, okay.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of times we'll also carry the emotions
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: of whatever our character was feeling at the end of the play or the end of
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: the shoot.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, why do I feel like this?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, oh, well, maybe part of that is the character.
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  SPEAKER_00: So like acknowledging that and letting it go really helps.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: And for me also,
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I find like stretching,
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: like doing some stretching and breathing after a show as well,
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: just like calming down my whole body.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, that's that's always very helpful.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for joining me today.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you found this content helpful and inspiring,
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: I'd be so honored if you would leave a comment,
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: share it with your actor pals, check out my offerings below.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: And also, you can find out more about Brian Zane on his website, brianzane.com.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And you can also find his podcast,
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: The Actor's Nervous System,
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: here on Substack or pretty much anywhere that you like to listen to your podcasts.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: And you can also find clips of the podcast on Instagram and TikTok.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, and I'll see you next time.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Bye!