10.30,08

After Thursday's class, I am still wondering what the purpose is of the substance activity. I am hoping that we will find out or discover the purpose of it soon! I am struggling a little bit with this activity. Like Professor Polanco said, I need to buy into the fact that I am really touching this substance. I did not really believe that I was feeling a substance when I was in front of the class. I thought it was a lot easier when we paired up. I guess I felt more comfortable because I was not up in front of the class by myself. I was actually thinking that there was a substance between my partner and me. I can't wait to see what Tuesday's class has in store for us and this substance.

substance abuse

Class Thursday seemed kind of slow paced. Maybe it was because of the beginning we were talking about the final project. Speaking of, Teddy, if you read this, I am your partner and I have your paper to memorize my Thursday. Anyway, after that when we were doing the manipulating the substance it seemed very relaxed. Nobody really could say anything because whose to say that you were manipulating the stuff wrong. It seemed like people just were doing what they thought they should. Maybe we were all still zonked out from Tuesday's meditation but we all just seemed not up to our best. maybe that's just me. Maybe next time we get to find out what the substance is... rotten jello perhaps

A matter of time

One of the things that I am having problems with when ever i do any exercise is dealing with how long it should take me to do any one action. As a musician I am trained to do things for a certain amount of time and then move on to the next thing. It is weird to 1. decided for myself how long I am going to do something and 2. make that decision based on how something feels. I thought that maybe I needed to concentrate more and pay more attention to what I was doing, but the more I analyze what I am doing the worse it gets. I'm guessing I need to do the reverse and just react without thinking , but that is really, really hard for me.

The Substance

The exercise we did on Tuesday was very interesting. I actually found myself feeling very relaxed and even a bit loopy after. I feel like the whole idea of this exercise is to be very aware of your body while you are moving on stage. If you can get your mind to this place while acting, your acting will become more relaxed naturally. Also, this exercise helped to focus my mind a lot. I am interested to see where this exercise will take us.

relaxation

in class on tuesday when we did that relaxation and visualization exercise , it helped me out alot., because once a year our team does that just to clear our head. this exercise helps me out so much. you can actually feel like you are falling into the floor. i do that everyday before i wake up four about 10 minutes, and it helps me with what i have to do that day. i think everyone should do that at least once a week because most people get to stressed out with homework and stuff and then end up getting sick and other stuff. this is a big release and helps alot.

I was not in class on Tue. because I was sick but it sounded like most of you enjoyed the exercise and thought it really interesting. I wish I could have been a part of it because I have been very stressed this week! I hope we do something as Interesting today in class!

relax exercise

For the exercise on Tuesday, I thought it was exciting that an instructor use a mediation tactic to have the class be aware of the situation or environment. I was tired and seemed sleepy for the first part of class but after doing this exercise I felt relaxed and less stress with a little kick in my step. Usually I do something like this by myself with no one around; it was quite different (not just one’s own energy but several others energy) with the whole class. Looking forward and curious to what he has to say on this exercise and how we can use this in class. Peace,
Juan

Sleep Exercise

So I would have to say Bill was right on his post. The exercise actually made me more tired than relaxed... I was trying to stay awake for the most part until he said "not to try to resist it." I thought it was weird imagining that my body was losing the tension to the floor. I guess for us black and white accounting people that becomes difficult. I have no idea what this has to do with acting other than maybe being more used to your surroundings.

I agree with Ryan Yoder's post. I have also done exercises similar to this but never experienced "the substance." I have no idea how we are going to incorporate the substance in to our next class period but it should be pretty interesting. Overall I liked the exercise we did in class...it was relaxing for most of the time but after a while my butt and lower back started to hurt from laying on the floor, and I know I was supposed to be pushing the tension away but clearly I was doing it wrong becaus eit still hurt lol. However, I did feel pretty loose and relaxed when it was over and we were walking around the room.

I didn't really like the exercise that we did on Tuesday. It just made me more tired than relaxed. The exercise made almost made me fall asleep. It made me so tired that by the time we had to stand up, I was about to sleep. Once we stood up I had a hard time standing because I was so tired. But I do think it's not a bad technique to relax. I think it only works when you are stress. Which is why I think it didn't work for me. When we started, I was pretty relaxed. I wasn't stressed at all. So I wonder how it works when I'm stressed.

the substance

I suppose I liked the progressive relaxation and visualization we did on Tuesday, I've done things like it before and it's very calming. I'm pretty interested to see what we do with this 'substance' thing, it seems kind of weird and abstract to me but that might mean it will end up being fun to do. I just don't know what to make of that yet, I have never heard of it before.

Meditation

I really enjoyed the meditation exercise we did in class. I have learned about this technique but i have never actually done it. I feel that the exercise worked for me but it could have been better if i was not sick, laying down flat like that i was having a hard time breathing. But besides that it relaxed me. At first i felt a little awkward doing the exercise but as time went on i got more comfortable with it. Now that I am aware of how well this technique works I'm going to use it in times of major stress, such as finals week, to take mind off everything and start fresh.

tuesday's floortime activities

The meditation exercise on Tuesday I think worked for me to a point, I felt the things I was supposed to I think. I did see and understand the weird spacey thing in front of me, but somewhere in the middle I got lost. I lost some of my focus when I was visualizing the place and person that was supposed to be with me. I think I lost focus because I over thought the situation. I think at the end I felt the pressure of the matter-substance-thing in front of me but told myself it was just because I was dizzy from being on the floor. I felt asleep even when I got up and couldn't get back into the normal pattern of things. I had a strange kinda feeling for a few hours afterward. I can't say whether or not I liked the meditation, I'm just not sure.

meditation

I loved the meditation/relaxation exercise we did on Tuesday!!! even tho i kinda fell asleep i was so relaxed and it took my mind off everything i was worried about that day.. which was a lot.  i feel like this is a great exercise not only for sport related activities but for acting purposes because it helps you to be completely one with your body and enables you to move your body in a way that is not forced.

Traped with no way out

I had to be trapped in a large jack-o-lantern and I had no idea what to do. I invisioned that i was in one i just could not imagine it actually happening. I just pushed on the walls and tried to get out through the eyes and mouth. I had to do it a few times but each time i did not feel that i did anybetter. I do not know why I could not do good but i just could not imagine it happening. I know that if i was in a play the writer could write this happening but i would have more time to practice making it look real. I could also maybe learn more about the texture and the way it would feel to be inside a pumpkin. I thought that everyoen else did well and I did not even think that I would get something like that to do.

Relax

At first I thought today's exercise was not going to be that hard for me. I have insomnia, and I do progressive muscle relaxation almost every night. The first part of the class, the relaxation part, was not that difficult. But then we got to the visualization part and i began to have problems. It was not that I could not see the things I was suppossed to see. I did see them. But because I knew logically that they were not real, i sort of pulled away from it and pulled myself out of the exercise from time to time.
I was still fairly successful at visualizing things. When we were asked to open our eyes, it seemed weird that we were still in a classroom and there were other people around because in my mind I was not in a classroom and there were no other people around. For a few hours after class was over I still had this weird floating feeling. I know this is not normal because I do relaxation/meditation stuff fairly regularly. I would be interested to know what part of the exercise effected me this way.

I think that the reason we did the relaxation activity today in class was in order to get in-tune with our body and mind. I think that this activity opened our minds and enabled us to imagine so deeply that we actually put ourselves into different situations. Instead of pretending we were somewhere, our body and mind actually believed that we were there. For example, standing on the beach and walking through a thick substance.

Personally, this activity put me out of my comfort zone. I can think of a couple different reasons why. First, I think that I was uncomfortable because the actions I was doing were things that I do not normally do. Even something as simple as laying on my back on the floor was something that I felt uncomfortable with. Secondly, I am usually in charge of my own body. I am not used to not having complete control. When we were being told what to do it was a different experience for me. I actually did a shorter version of this activity in yogalates class once and also felt uncomfortable then. It is ironic how these activities are suppose to be relaxing because even though my muscles feel relaxed, there is still something inside of me that is tense due to me being uncomfortable.

Relaxation

I am not sure why we did the relaxation activity in class today. I was trying to figure out the purpose of the activity while we were doing it (I know I was not supposed to be thinking!), but I could not figure out the reason behind it. The one thing I did notice is that focus was very important for this exercise. When I was totally focused on the activity I could visualize the images Professor Polanco was saying. When my mind would drift off and I became unfocused, that is when I began to question why we were doing that activity. I have no idea what the point of the exercise was or what we will be doing on Thursday, but I am interested!

Relaxation and substances

Class today was very interesting to say the least. It took me a while to focus, to really concentrate on breathing and just being still. However, once I was able to focus, I was totally relaxed and was able to visualize what was going on. When I stood up and opened my eyes, it was much harder to still see the substance; but I think that was just because I hit the boundary of my comfort zone. I was surprised that I was able to relax so much, because I am the type of person that is always worried about stuff. I am very interested to see where this exercise goes on Thursday. I haven't yet figured out the reason for the exercise, but not knowing will drive me crazy.

Trapped Exercise

I really enjoyed this exercise. I was really able to think about this one because I can be a bit claustrophobic at times. I have a problem with small spaces and being stuck it one would make things ten times worse for me. This helped me react to the situation better because I just thought about how scary it is to be stuck in a small space.