Chapter 1 - Physical awareness - the spine

First step to physical awareness is recognizing old habits and new

habits
Not what you are doing but HOW you are doing it

Relaxation is not synonymous with sleep - true relaxation should give

you new energy

The skeleton should not defy gravity and the muscles should hang free

Step 1 is about mentally connecting all of your bones and body parts

and pulling up out of your body

Step 2 is about feeling the difference between tension and relaxation in

select body parts

Step 3 is about combining the two previous steps and becoming a

mvoing skeleton
Step 4 is about discovering how your body responds to this new state

of relaxation
We did this exercise in Acting 2 before I read the chapter, which really

helped me to fully understand what the chapter was saying and asking
for when I did read it.
o
When we did Step 2 was the first time I ever felt myself truly
folding over a vertebrae at a time because of my hyperawareness
of my skeleton and the connections of my body.
Chapter 2 - Breathing awareness - freeing the breath
"There is no one way to breathe that is correct for all purposes"

o
This really resonates with me, because I have been trying to
connect all of the different breathing methods I've been taught in
the past and some of them just don't
It's important not to be goal oriented in these exercises and instead be

in it for pleasure
It is very difficult to regain control of your breathing mechanism,

because we are programmed to breathe automatically, without thought

or effort
Step 1 is about re-grounding your body and finding your previous

balance
Step 2 is about exploring the basic human need to breath for survival

and how those survival breaths differ from the breaths we would take
when running or preparing to sing
Step 3 is about finding your natural rhythm of breath

Truly relaxed breathing is simple and the need for oxygen is low

Step 4 is about focusing your breaths and finding the correct mouth

placement
Notice the difference between putting your breath somewhere and

feeling your breath somewhere

Step 5 is about feeding the need to sigh and where it should come

from
Humans and actors especially should find pleasure in sighing and

yawning

Step 6 is about taking your mind out of your breathing as we did in

Chapter 1 with our arms and hands
Step 7 is about using gravity as a tool in breathing
o
The beginning of this step is very similar to the Alexander
exercise we did in V&M with partners on the floor
Step 8 is about feeling the difference between your breathing laying
down and your breathing standing up and adjusting to make them as
similar as possible
It's important to let yourself be affected by the things that are
happening to you and to put those things into words, otherwise they will
not be as useful of a tool

Chapter 3 - The Touch of Sound: Internal Vibrations

Feeling your breath takes a great amount of imagination

Core consciousness is the state of being alive, alert, and aware

Imagery is the language of the body

Step 1 is about finding the state of relaxation introduced previously

and incorporating the new imagery

Step 2 is about feeling the place in your body where the huh comes

from through the image of the pool

The solar plexus is the emotion epicenter of our body and our breath

must come from there for the sounds we release to be emotionally

believable
The diaphragm is a dome shaped muscle that contracts and flattens

when breathing in and releases and resumes its dome shape when
breathing out
Being able to visualize the diaphragm helps with these exercises
Step 3 is about touching your diaphragm with the sound as you "huh"

Step 4 is about preparing your body for the steps that follow and

becoming familiar with various movements while still acknowledging the

relaxation from the previous chapters
Steps 5 through 8 are all about feeling sound in your body in different

places
As you practice these more and become comfortable with your

breathing, the pitch will begin to drop and settle

o
When you are relaxed, so are your vocal folds; therefore, they
are producing a lower pitch
Introduction
The major themes of Laban Movement Analysis are mobility/stability

(wings and roots of movement), function/expression (create meaning in

movement), exertion/recuperation (natural ebb and flow between work
and relaxation), and inner/outer (motivational aspects of movement)
The major concepts of Laban are Body (physical instrument), Effort

(manifestation of moment to moment impulses that relate to feelings or

emotions), Shape (emotional investment), Space (where the body moves
in relation to the environment), and Relationship (interplay among the
previous)

Chapter 1 - Breath: Inspiration for Creative Activity

Breath is the most important and basic step for all movement and

expression
Sound is formed by outgoing breath resonating off of the hard surfaces

of your throat and mouth and the vibrations of your vocal folds
The abdominal muscles work with the diaphragm in the process of

breathing
Impulse is needed in acting and an actor must act on their impulses

and, in the words of Shia Lebeouf "JUST DO IT"

Shape flow is the movement of your body as you breathe in various

positions, such as those outlined in the chapter

o
The movement (shrinking and growing) is called Cellular
Breathing