Some breathing drills for actors and storytellers and those who want healthy bodies and minds.

 Chi Kung practitioners claim that the mind can control and manipulate the flow of energy which one can create through proper breathing. Nobody has yet invented a way to stop the wear and tear of time. But the practice of daily breathing drills can certainly enhance our ability to lead a more healthy and creative life. The key is the circulation of energy, too often blocked by emotional crisis, stress or diverse forms of self denial. Here are a number of simple drills which, if practiced daily, can not only keep body and mind alive with adequate flow of energy; they can also enhance creativity and therefore are of great use for actors and storytellers.

 

The first step is to realize that, as Thomas Hanna, has said: "When one looks at another person’s body, one must realize that he is observing the moving process of that person’s mind." That is, the essence of life is movement.There is an integrated relationship between breathing, movement, speech, song, love, everything we do is inter-related and glued together by breathing. Consider what happens to your breathing when you feel panic, when you talk to your loved one, when the bass chews you out...The exercises we present here are only a brief sample. Some, but not all, are based on Chi Kung. For more information, consult specialists.

 

1. Stand with you feet separated the height of your shoulders, relax you breathing, then begin to  gently slap arms, legs, face, back, legs, feet, belly and head.

 

2. Stand with you feet separated at the hight of your shoulders (the basic starting position). Let your hands fall to your sides, your fingers open enough to allow energy to flow among them. Relax your body and mind by "laughing" slightly inside and out. Breath from your center of energy--called the chi in China, located about an inch below your belly button. Then bring the tips of your fingers together and, as you inhale, raise your arms to shoulder height. Exhale as you allow your arms and fingers to return to the original position. Repeat the exercise nine times.

 

3. Repeat the same exercise, but as you inhale bring your fingers in a arch above your head, keeping the finger tips of each hand pointing at those of the other, then bring your fingers down towards your sides and as you expulse the last drop of air point your fingers at each other behind the small of your back. In these exercises it is important to not force the entry or exit of air.

 

4. From the starting position, raise your fingers in front of your chest, at shoulder length, finger tips pointing to finger tips, and breath in and out regularly, from the chi. Then as you inhale spread your arms as far back left and right as you can; returning to the innitial position as you exhale.

 

5. From the starting position, very gently allow your body to drop towards the floor, as you exhale. You should bend your knees just slightly. When your hands touch or nearly touch the floor, inhale and exhale nine times, making sure you use take the air from the chi. Now inhale as you spread your arms to the sides and raise them together with your torso to shoulder length; exhale as you return to the starting position. Repeat nine times.

 

6. Assume the starting position. Form your mouth to express only with the expulsion of air the following: tha, the tho, thu. It is important to push the air from the chi position, not from the chest, and to expulse all of the air inside you. Carefully notice the position of the tongue for each one of these drills.

 

7. Walk around the space you have available, or on the street or in the park, in the following way: inhale deeply with one step, exhale with the next. You may do this increasing the count: for example, inhale on two counts, exhale on two counts; inhale on three, four...or 10, and exhale on the same number of counts. As a variation, you may use a sound, for example, a vowel, for each step.

 

8. Point your body--your fingers, head, shoulder, etc--towards some object near you, or a part of your body. Freeze in that position, holding the air inside you. Then as you expulse the air return to a relaxed neutral position. Repeat several times.

 

(We will add more drills to this list. What is important is to repeat your routine every day, at the same time and place, so that it becomes a sort of ritual)