By Spiritual Psychology of Acting creator / director of Awakened State Productions, John Osborne Hughes

Over a 30 year international career as a director and acting coach, I’ve experimented with lots of different teachings and techniques in search of the very best training to offer my student actors and performers.

By far the most useful of all of these has been the inclusion within the Spiritual Psychology of Acting training of the regular practice of meditation.

Whilst the many benefits of meditation were well known to ancient civilisations, in modern times the benefits of its regular practice have now been confirmed through countless scientific studies.

Meditation works on many levels, providing benefits to the body, mind and spirit. It has been repeatedly shown to effectively reduce stress, provide greater clarity and insight, regulate emotions, increase energy, compassion and empathy, and generally improves one’s level of health and happiness.

But what are the specific benefits for actors and performers?

Having developed a simple meditation practice for actors, and then having had the privilege of sharing it with my students from around the world, I can speak from years of experience when I say its regular practice has proven to be the most effective starting point for an actor (or any artist) to prepare for creative, practical work.

So here are some of the direct benefits that meditation provides to actors –

1) Meditation is the best means of relaxation

It’s not without a good reason that Stanislavsky placed so much emphasis on relaxation. His famous system (which was originally inspired by a book he read on Yoga), starts with the relaxation of the body and mind. Relaxation through meditation helps us to let go of our own acquired tensions, so we can more effectively adopt the physical tensions arising from the impulses of the character.

2) Meditation trains our attention

Essentially, to act well is to literally think the characters thoughts and thereby feel the characters emotions… That’s no mean feat, especially given the actors personal desires and internal pressure to succeed, not to mention the doubts, demands and distractions of everyday life!

Meditation has been found to be the most effective means of training the actors attention. Its regular practice allows us to think what we choose to think, instead of being a slave to the past and our unconscious desires.

3) Meditation increases our awareness

One of the most important qualities of an actor is awareness; the ability to watch one’s own thoughts. As I like to tell my students, every one of us is a walking laboratory for the study of the human psyche. All of its universal properties exist within each of us.

By learning to watch our own thoughts we collect details and moments to add to our character creations. This helps us to avoid shallow interpretations and also frees us from our biggest creative enemy; the dreaded pitfall of cliche!

Meditation is the simplest way to quieten the mind and increase awareness. With a quiet mind our own thoughts become more visible. This helps us to let go of whatever isn’t serving our process and also provides us with lots of uniquely observed material from which to build our character creations.

4) Meditation dissolves egotistic attachment

Apart from a lack of practical knowledge and reliable technique, the biggest obstacle to good acting turns out to be the actor’s own ego, which continually draws attention to the actor and distracts from the character. By slowing down mental activity, meditation not only puts the ego in check, it puts us in touch with our true, deeper self – the ultimate source of all creativity and happiness.

5) Meditation makes us shine on stage, on screen and in life

We often speak of great actors and performers as being ‘stars’. Put simply, a star is one who shines brightly.

In meditation the mind falls still and we come to rest in our own being. At this point we experience a deeper peace and, as if by magic, the level of internal light increases.This light is not the same as the light of the sun or electrical light. It is the light of consciousness, the light of your own real, universal being; the silent, unchanging witness within.

When the universal light of the actor shines through his or her character creation, we call the ‘charisma’. When the mind and being of the actor has been trained to be fully present, we call this stage / screen presence.

In summary, meditation is rather like when we, as actors, go backstage. We withdraw from the play for a while; to wipe the dust off our costumes and refresh our part… and keeping ourselves fresh is the key to having a healthy, progressive and inspired career.

If you’d like to find out more about meditation for actors and receive a free short meditation MP3, shoot me an email at hello@awakenedstate.co.uk

John will be offering a practical master class at the Expo on Imagination and the Actor How to embody any character, using the Spiritual Psychology of Acting.

 To find out about The Spiritual Psychology of Acting and how it can help you fulfil your potential as an actor, check out the website.