Find a Body...Yours (Why Smoking is Killing your Soul)

Let us talk about health.

This is one of my favorite books on the craft:

An Acrobat of the Heart

If you haven't read it do and are interested in physical theatre, do.

We will touch upon one of the stories from the later chapters conveniently called A Stradivarius in the Rain

If your friend, the concert violinist, were to leave his precious instrument out on the porch during a rainstorm, what would you think? And what would you think if every time clouds gathered, he went out to the porch and put the violin there?

And a violin can be replaced. 

This story haunts me.
Because, as the author Stephen Wangh, later describes, there is a willful disregard for the only instrument an actor will ever own: their body.
It all comes back to this over and over again.
The willful choice to abuse one's body.
This can be done any number of ways.

( I won't say it.)

But it is actually foolish the way...I will say some...actors treat their bodies (I do not have PEW research to back up any numbers).
Because it all comes down to body.
Voice is a physical mechanism tied to the body.
Emotions are tied to neuro-chemicals in the brain.
Mind is made manifest by physical reactions and processes in the body.

Some may be familiar with this picture; it is a representation of data collected from subjects on where certain emotions manifest themselves in their bodies.

So what does this mean?
Voice stems from body, mind from body, emotion comes from it.
What happens when we maltreat our body?
What message are we sending to ourselves?

I find we often treat our bodies as separate, something to be contended with.
But over and over again I have found in my research our body manifests our psychic hindrances.
A person afraid for their mind has neck tension; someone shouldering the world has back issues.

Embrace the pain, live healthfully, and I guarantee you will find your art flourishing.
Too many of my teachers will say: I book more when I am in better shape.
We ascribe this to surface matters like aesthetics and beauty (which may play an important factor), but it is the deeper well of the mind and emotions that when taken care of, rewards us with their bounty.