I had my second meeting with Rachelle the sound healer yesterday.
We had arranged that she would put together a brief taster session for me, so I could see what could be utilised in a workshop the most effectively.
We discussed how we would tailor this session to the actor looking to unblock their creativity. This session would be about unlocking and exploring my unique voice of creativity, why it was I trained to be an actress and what this means to me.
The session started with a 45-minute sound bath and drumming session, something I have never experienced before. It was incredible!
As these sounds washed over me I felt energy centres in my body start to shift and clear. At several points I felt extreme heat running through my body. I drifted off to various landscapes – some of which I recognised and some which I had never seen before.
The sound bath was incredibly hard to describe as it is so intrinsically experiential - much like acting in itself
Healing
The frequencies from singing bowls and drumming alter the brain state. It allows us to access the deepest parts of ourselves and to find those answers we are looking for. Much like Reiki healing, it allows the body to start to heal itself in those areas which need healing.
I started to get clear images and messages from a deeper part of myself about my creative potential and journey. Clarity began to emerge about what it is that makes me feel fulfilled creatively and what also holds me back. It is something incredibly hard to describe as it is so intrinsically experiential - much like acting in itself.
After the session we discussed what I had experienced, as well as what could be used in a workshop. Considerations included the type of space to use, and Rachelle’s travel arrangements as she has a fair bit of equipment.
I started to put together a rough idea of what bits of the sound work we could use and how. The idea came to me to intersperse these intense meditations with theatre games and physical exercises. This way we remain within the comfort zone of most actors and break up the day
We then had a brief toning session, looking at toning and over-toning (including Mongolian over-toning). I was pleasantly surprised to see the overlaps with the vocal and facial warm ups one does as an actor. A good place of familiarity to start from then.
The toning work is profoundly stimulating. It allows the person to start to really connect to the voice and sound one can create, so that sound is coming out from every part of the body.
Through this process one starts to create sounds you never knew you could. Through doing that one starts to find your own unique sound, including a particular density and clarity of pitch.
I remember drama school talking about “finding your centre”. As well as my struggle with releasing the tension I hold in the lower half of my body, something that from time to time affects my voice. Over the years I have tried everything from yoga to the Alexander technique to working with some great voice coaches.
All have helped but none of them allowed me to get in touch so profoundly with the source of that block and then start to shift it as this toning work. The over-toning was harder to get to grips with in a short space of time but it was still fascinating and a real work out for the mouth and tongue, which is no bad thing for diction!
We then went through using toning in a group or couple situation. As I sat opposite Rachelle and we toned to each other something remarkable happened. The sound that was coming out of me started to shift according to the energy between us.
The closest way I can describe it is the Meisner “Repetition Exercise” where during the course of the exercise the actors discover how to allow the moments to just happen and to not force anything. They find true connection with their fellow performer.
This seemed like such a simple, purely experiential way of doing this in a rehearsal room. Where there is a block in a scene or with another actor ( and it happens) rather than discuss it or use acting techniques from decades past one could do something that was about letting the inner self of the performers start to speak.
Ego is left behind and with it, insecurities. It worked for me in that moment - why could it not for others?
I left feeling energised and excited by what I had discovered. Now I need to start to formulate what elements of this work I can use in a taster workshop.
The outline of the workshop(s) will depend on who I want to pitch to: theatres, drama schools, actors who feel blocked and directors looking for a unique way to run their rehearsal process.
