Characterization exercise

My character was found on a advertisement, it was a picture of a man covered in big snakes one on each arm and one hanging from his neck and he seemed to be trying to get them off but he was too afraid to grab them. I came to the conclusion that someone must have put the snakes on him.
Physical Characterization: Wringing - slow - indirect

Gesture: wringing of the arms, legs, and torso in a slow motions

"They're crawling all over me"

View Points

One thing I liked about view points was utilizing my soft focus. Being able to look in one place but at the same time being aware of all of the things that surround me was really interesting. I found that even though i may have not been looking at a person I could see and interpret their movements. The moments that felt particularly alive for me were when we had to work as a group to create different formations. When we all came together and allowed ourselves to feel each others energy, we worked well as a unit. For instance, we had to make two circles to lines, and two clusters as a group. The clusters were the easiest to form because it was easy to notice when people were gathering together. At times it was difficult to decipher whether or not my other classmates were bunching up or creating a circle. Sometimes a third of the group would start forming a cluster or a circle but only a few people caught on and would participate. I noticed if a group of students started to create a formation, sometimes we would hurry and it make the exercise seemed rushed and forced, rather than us coming together naturally.

Body Learning Part II

Primary control: 

 "There is a primary control of the use of the self which governs the working of all mechanisms and so renders the control of the complex human organism relatively simple"

• The relationship of the head, neck, and torso is of primary importance in deterring the level of functioning and in organizing the reactions into a coordinated whole. This is how the phrase "primary control" was coined. The head is also the locus of the two main balancing mechanisms, the optical and vestibular. This is all a result from evolution. The upright posture is the result of millions of years of development and advancement. 

Unreliable sensory appreciation:

"Everyone wants to be right but no one stops to consider if their idea of right is right"

• Since kinesthetic information is a deterring factor in our perception of use it follows that any interference with kinesthetic functioning will have a distorting effect on our awareness of ourselves. kinesthetic sense can be describe as the habitual misuse which adversely affects the reliability of kinesthetic sense and that most startling of all, the feelings of rightness in an action. Another practical example concerns out inaccurate understanding go the amount of muscle tension or energy needed to perform even the simplest of movements. 

Inhibition:

"The right thing does itself"

• The ability to stop, to delay our response until we are adequately prepared to make it, is inhibition. Alexander discovered that the importance of inhibition is human behavior paralleled a similar discover in neurology. Inhibition is an integrative element in the consolidation of the animal mechanism to a unity. It is the central function of a nervous system.

Direction:

"The conscious mind must be quickened"

• Alexander would consciously project a psychological pattern that can be described in words as allow  the neck to be free to let the head go forward and up so that the back may lengthen and widen taking care to inhibit the translation of these directions into habitual muscular action. The elements of the new pattern were to be projected sequentially and simultaneously

Ends and Means:

"When you've got it, be prepared to throw it away...throw it away and get it again."

• Alexander always emphasized the process of attaining his goal, rather than a narrow focus on the goal itself an approach which differs from tat ordinarily taken in dealing with the material world. Alexander calls the indirect method of change the "the means whereby approach" which can be defined as "awareness of conditions present, a reasoned consideration of their causes, inhibition of reoccurring responses and consciously guided performance of the indirect series of steps require to gain the "end".

Reflection:

One thing i found interesting about the reading is that i discovered that evolution had a big influence on the the primary control of a mechanism. I found that Unreliable sensory appreciation is something people deal with every day, and not just in performance. I get into debates with my friends all the time, and I realize that our conversations always turn into debates because either of us are trying to see another version of what is right. We constantly try to prove our point, and end up getting know where. 

Body Learning

Frederik Matthias Alexander was born at Wynyard on the northwest coast of Tasmania, Australia. He was the oldest of eight children. He suffered from respiratory difficulties. Later he moved to Melbourne, where he trained in drama and music. he was taught by the best teachers, visited theaters, concerts, and art galleries and decided to form is own dramatic company. He became frequently ill which resulted in him having a violent temper. Because of this, it was difficult for him to find a job when money ran out from the theater company. He dedicated his life as an actor and reciter performing concert and private engagements. His health issues had a harsh effect on his voice. He created an technique that aids the functioning of the human body which and help examine and solve s particular problem. He was known to be very hard to work with because he was not a social person. He was an individual who was never content to follow the crowd.

The most valuable Knowledge we can possess is of the use and functioning of the self. Alexander recounts his attempts to take full command of the use of something by the power to choose. He realized that choice directly affects function, and influences other choices. He describes the word use as "the process of control over something."

"...the so-called 'mental' and 'physical' are not separate entities...all training...must be based on the indivisible unity of the human organism."

The Whole person is described as a whole and is more than the sum of its parts. Alexander argues that all training of whatever kind must be based on the understanding that the human organism always functions as a whole and can only be chained fundamentally as a whole. with the alexander technique one must not focus just on one particular part of the body they must consider the body from all aspects.

Alexander Technique

When no one can help you, use self-observation. Self observation is watching yourself whereas self absorption if self preoccupation. If concerned about yourself you're worried about yourself. Self observation is to watch everything in you and around you as if it were happening to someone else. We suffer because we identify with them. What you judge you can not understand. The statement "I am not my depression, i am not my joy ect." I believe this statement to be very powerful. I personally have dealt with depression and that was basically what I had to tell myself everyday to help myself through it.

When experience fear, stress, and anxiety we shorten in stature, we narrow in size, we pull our head down, compress ourselves as a survival mechanism. The alexander techniques enables us to choose a different response and also allows us to be more appropriate in our response to our circumstances. Nature would prefer us to be in balance, to share our body weight evenly between both feet. Three points of contact in the foot are the base of the big toe, the base of the little toe and the heel. The three hinges in our legs are the ankles, the knees, and the hips. The hips are a third of the way from our pubic bone, close to the bathing suit line. Allow the pelvis to be heavy like an anchor. The top of the spine is between the ears behind the eyes.

Reflection:

In my opinion the connection between your mind and body is how well you are engaged with both of them at one particular time, or a series of moments. I would describe the connection between my mind and body, based on how i connect and relate with myself, will determine how I connect and relate to the world around me.

Mindfullness

Mindfullness
1) He says mindfulness is a ways with connecting with your life. it involves a lot of cultivating attention. He describes it has paying attention, on purpose in the present moment, non judgmentally as if your life depended it.

2) Our life depends of mindfulness because attention is the faculty that allows us to navigate our lives to actually know that me know whats happening or know that we don't know whats happening.

3) It doesn't matter what you pay attention to, it is the attending itself that is important. Starting to pay attention to whether or not your paying attention to something causes the mind to be all over the place.

4) Mindfullness is not a technique it is more of a way of being

Andy Puddicombe
1) we should take 10 minutes to do nothing. Those 10 minutes should consists of clearing our minds from the distractions of the world.

2) our minds are lost in thought at least 47% of the time

3) Mindfullness is not about controlling our thoughts and feelings, its about being with our thoughts and feelings as well as with other peoples.

4) The juggling of the three red balls are similar to the activity we did in class balancing sticks because it while we walked around the classroom we had to be mindful of the other students walking around balacing their sticks. To balance the stick while walking around with 20 other students doing the same thing (or juggling the balls while talking to a crowd of people) we must we have a relaxed and focused mind.

Second Post

1. Patsy Rodenburg defines Presence as the moments when a persons energy fully connects them to the world and them fully receiving energy back from that connection.

2. One way that Presence is lost is when your scene partner is one who likes to be in control and rejects your presence. Another way Presence is lost is when a person is thinking more about the own personal life rather than what is happening in the moment. I personally feel a loss of Presence when someone stumbles over a line on stage and we must "go with the flow"

3. The first Circle is the circle of self and withdrawal. A time where I usually find myself in third circle is when im having a lot of personal issues im dealing with and I tend to stray away from social activity. Another time where i find myself in first circle is when im around people I do not Know.

4. Third circle is the circle of bluff and force. A time when i have experienced myself in third circle was when I was the host of "Open Mic Night". I had to be overly vivacious and loquacious to keep the audience intrigued at all times; especially during act changes.

5. Second circle is the circle of the Energy of connecting. One personal experience when I have been in second circle was when I played basketball and the team would come together as one and play with chemistry. It was like a chain reaction, one person would send positive energy to another player and it would continue the cycle.