The Spiritual Psychology of Acting has it's roots in the system of the great stage director and teacher, Constantine Stanislavski.

 

Interestingly, Stanislavski’s original inspiration came from a book on Hatha Yoga (postures and breathing exercises), a fact that I find both astonishing and assuring…

 

Although the knowledge he had access to at that time was limited compared to the knowledge I’ve been fortunate enough to have access to (this was long before the 1960’s, when the pure knowledge of the Yoga teachings first began to reach the plains of Europe and America), the essence and main principles of his system are as valuable today as they were when he first established them.

 

So, I thought it would be useful to share one of my favourite quotes from the great man himself. It holds the key to understanding the process of acting and still stands steady and strong today as one of the fundamental principles of the Spiritual Psychology of Acting

 

As an actor, I hope it inspires you as much as it has inspired and continues to inspire me… It would be great to hear your thoughts!

 

Here it is - 

  

‘Through conscious technique, we pave the way to subconscious creativity' - Stanislavski

 

What does it mean? 

 

Stanislavski understood that what we all want as actors is that wonderful feeling that everything on set or stage is happening naturally and spontaneously. Where we are organically thinking the characters thoughts and thereby feeling the characters feelings.

 

However, he also understood that to arrive at this state requires preparation and a whole host of internal choices and decisions about the character; their past, their desires, likes and dislikes, etc.

 

This is conscious technique. It uses logic, combined with intuition and imagination to select and establish the main building blocks of the characters psyche.

 

Having made these essential decisions we can then begin to bring them into active imagination, in order to embed them in the mind and fully embody them…

 

 

Let go, let flow…

 

But then, once the stage lights dim or the director shouts, “action!”, it’s time to get out of the way and allow the animating powers of nature to kick in… As I love to tell my students, we simply let go, let flow… and let the subconscious creativity take over and do it’s thing.

 

It’s a paradoxical synergy between one-pointed attention and complete surrender, and when we find the right balance, the character and the acting becomes natural, truthful and fully alive.

 

 It’s like flying, only much better. 

 

If you’d like to find out more about The Spiritual Psychology of Acting and how to take your acting to a whole new level, here’s an open letter to all actors.

 

Or better still, join me for one of my free online intro seminars and find out for yourself why Eddie Marsan calls it ’The Cutting-edge of actor training available in the world today’. He has appeared in 130 films since he graduated from the course and was recently awarded an OBE for services to drama...

 

Your deeper adventure as an actor awaits...