Acting Techniques - Part 4

Shakespeare for Self-Knowledge

 

 

 

"To be or not to be: that is the question"

 

It's an intense, gratifying process that makes us grow, makes us better people and is liberating.

 

Thought is power but even greater power is speech, who doesn't have power in Shakespeare's plays doesn't speak, but as people, not characters, speaking Shakespeare is great power.

 

 

Shakespeare creates "people", he gives them life and all that comes with it: fight for (or conflict with) power, love, insecurities, doubts, image, mask, ego, internal and external conflicts... In my opinion, it's impossible to say Shakespeare writes about only one theme, unless you simply say: Shakespeare writes about the human condition.

 

Shakespeare makes us believe in the appearances to show the reality.

 

Shakespeare holds the human condition responsible, with compassion, exposes it but doesn't blame it.

 

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players."

 

Come find out more about you and the meaning of "To be or not to be", by acting Shakespeare. 

(No acting experience required)

 

 

 

by Francisca Duarte

 

 

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Acthing Techniques - Part 3

You Are What You Speak

 

Our voice is our biggest instrument.

You can tell almost everything from a person by her voice, it's important for our everyday life, shows our strong points, our fragilities, our origins, points of view, interest, etc..., in fact, words become almost superficial in a face-to-face talk, because you understand the meaning of the speech by the voice, hence sarcasm, irony, etc.

In our society, we create a vocal mask, that allows us to fit in and survive, but also creates a lot of tension points.

 

That mask creates the quality of the sound (meaning the way, it occupies the space) and the resonator (meaning the place where is amplified in the body).

 

Our body is the place where our voice is amplified, with nothing more than air and the vibration of our vocal chords, so everything in our body (e.g: our posture, the way we relate with the air and articulation, some points of tension can prevent the vibration of the vocal chords, etc.) affects our voice.

 

by Francisca Duarte

 

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The Truth

Truth resides in the feelings that you draw from the past

It lies in the feelings that you choose not to experience right now

Truth exists in the feelings that you hope and strive to cultivate while breathing 

That is truth 

How you act upon it, defines all                                                                                                                                                      




                                                 

Sofia Naik 

                                                                                                                        

From Math to your Life - A discussion on Perspective

Daily life imposes situations to every person.

Decisions have to be made and they gravelly impact our health, our peace, our emotional status. 

In making choices all of the following aspects are crucial:

• how we face a situation and then proceed to evaluate it
• the decisions that we take in order to address the situation
• how we define what is important to us
• how we establish the goal that reflects a good outcome when facing an issue in life
• the action plan that we construct to reach this goal
• how we manage the fact that there is no predefined path from where we stand towards a good outcome
• the work ethics and practice that we follow regarding the action plan
• the way in which we compromise with the plan, with the goal, with ourselves
• the clarity that we apply when evaluating our work towards the goal
• the inner learning that we obtain from this work process

All of us have heard or read about concepts that ground our ability to face, address, solve situations, questions, issues in life. Concepts such as: perspective in decision processes, keeping aware, being conscious of the path that exists between making a choice and reaching its desired outcome, being flexible in reasoning, being clear in thought, being structured while working towards the goal that was set, being conscious about expectation. 

The point here is: what do these concepts actually mean? How can a person see in real and simple terms their effectiveness?

At Life Mentoring Group^® we believe that Science, Mathematics in particular, can show you how these ideas work in issue solving, how important they are in daily life. 

Furthermore, we believe that Math provides you with a personal, inner structure that will empower you to apply these concepts whenever an issue arises. 

Perspective is defined as the way in which objects appear to the eye. Let us apply a simple exercise in order to explore the importance of  perspective in decision making. 

Image1

Consider the gambling cube, pictured on Image1. Our point is the following: the position that you hold with respect to this object, determines that you can only see 3 of the cube's 6 faces. This means that your knowledge on this object's characteristics is limited to one-half! As an immediate consequence of where you stand, the information that you get on this issue is impaired, you have compromised therefore your reasoning on the matter and your decision making as well. 

Let us proceed with Image 2 in order to show you that perspective can lead you to even more severe loss of information on any life situation.

Image2

Notice that you can only see one face of the cube's 6 faces: 5 out of the 6 characteristics of the question are beyond your grasp, due to perspective. Second, remark that the object in  Image 2 could be a square instead of a cube. This means that your position is not allowing you to be sure about the nature of the object involved: a cube is an object with volume, a square is flat like a piece of paper. 
From this simple example we conclude that the position in which you stand with respect to an issue is fundamental in perspective. In fact, the information that you get while looking at a simple object (a gambling cube!) can be significantly impaired, damaged due to  your positioning. 
We want to keep you aware that perspective, understanding of a question and decision making is  largely dependent on your effort to observe a situation from all possible angles. 
Finally, notice that often we have communication difficulties with others because their perspective is different from ours. It could be a matter of upbringing, of culture, of language, their emotional state, their memories … Step into the other person’s position, because that movement will bring you knowledge of what they are seeing and consequently will help you understand them.                                                                                                                                                                                                     
This is how Math is applied to Science and Life  Mentoring^® A final note: whenever you are in doubt about the meaning or relevance of perspective in your life, just remember about this simple game with a cube. It is so easy and (I surely hope so) fun.                                                                                                                                                                                           


Sofia Naik

CONTACTS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Dare to be a mind wrangler: Sarah Taylor at TEDxLaJolla - about meditation

Learn to meditate with us

Pedro Proff (teacher)

Life Mentoring Studio - Restelo - Lisbon - Portugal (contacts)

ART 4 ALL - earthlings' collective

'Be hUman and live as an ARTist.' - Proff


We are an artists' collective, with a strong component of artivism.

Artivism takes the common languages of music, dance, painting, etc. and pushes for life and social change. 

Artivism is where edges are pushed, imagination is freed, and a new language emerges altogether.

first exhibition soon

with the topic of "hUmanizing", several collective exhibitions will be made. 

the first will be with subtopic - hUmanize women

Art Mentoring by PROFF

The Art of being yourself!

The Art of being yourself!

learn more how to be yoUrself , with Us.

Contacts

Here's a thought about our physical body and change.

 There are two indisputable entities in Human Life: our physical body and change. Both share every single moment in our existence even when we stop breathing or we cease to love, to smile.

It clearly follows that we need to acknowledge change and our body as fundamental in our path. We need to work in order to understand how they interact with each other and also how they come to fully and extensively impact our life. 

Come to learn how with us in our Life Mentoring Institute,

Namascar,

Text : Sofia Naik

Photo: Francisca Duarte

Art: Proff

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Feeling lost? That's very good, actually!

Often we carry an inner discomfort: we feel loss and wonder if we are missing out on life.

There is no apparent reason for this. In fact, we cannot explain or rationalize. 

We just feel that something is amiss.

If you  relate, then that is very good!

You are doing very well because you are aware of this discomfort within, you are facing it together with all the difficult feelings it brings. 

This is the first, the most relevant, step in addressing an issue in life.

You are ready to move on. 

That means that you need to discover all skills, strengths, positive characteristics that you have: probably you have forgotten them while feeling lost. 

It is important that you feel renewal in your daily life. There are simple gestures, changes in your behavior that we can help you implement in a brief period of time. Engage in physical training with us: when our body acquires the ability to jump, run, move in ways that were impossible before there is a huge impact in our life. We realize then that behavior is a choice, that work leads to real change in life, that we can trust ourselves to feel better.

Bring creativity in your life through writing, eating and cooking in a new healthy way. Learn about body expression, how to improve communication with others. 

Accomplishing these actions will bring you the sense that you are learning, that you can do what you decide to do. 

We are about perceiving You. Helping you identify all that is positive, connecting with you in order to help you 

• understand what you need and want
• generate fresh ideas
• implement change, with joy 
• keep on track towards your goals

We are about awareness: your heart beating, your ability to breathe, to love are processes within you, that occur all the time and that are the embodiment of beauty, wonder, accomplishment. 

There is joy in these processes. As there is warmth all around us: find it in sunlight as much as in rain; see it in Nature, in somebody’s smile; acknowledge it when you walk; feel it when two strangers hug. 

At Life Mentoring Studio® we will engage in this journey with you. We rely on your ability to be who you need and want to be. It will be hard work but it will also be terribly fun.

Sofia Naik

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Acting Techniques - part 2

Neutral Mask Technique

It's a game, of impulsions, feelings, but it all comes from an inner peace.

The idea is to do with the body what we usually do with words. But if we don't know how to do it the body, we'll hardly know how to do it with words.

Persona = from where the sound comes = mask

The mask is the explosion of the face in the body. All the impulses are appropriate, economic and essential.

It's a state of becoming, following the three B's:

• Believe
• Behave
• Become

We move from an inner pace, nothing happens until then and before any action you follow the 3 seconds rule:

1. Think
2. Feel
3. Do

If it's a good idea, it'll still be after 3 seconds.

To find out more come work with us at Life Mentoring Studio.

By Francisca Duarte

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