The Big Deal About Relaxation in Acting

You might be looking at learning objectives for our acting classes and wondering, what the big deal is about relaxation. Why do acting workshops bother spending time on relaxation and breathing exercises? Well, we're here to gladly enlighten you.

Imagination is the actor’s main tool. Everyone agrees, right? Great 👍

Let’s talk about imagination. What is it?

Our favorite explanation of imagination is that it is an image flow that goes through our mind and body when reacting to any stimuli.

If the imagination is a flow, then as any flow it needs a clear path. All sorts of tension, blocks and fears prevent this image flow from moving freely. This means that to allow the imagination to do its magic, an actor should be completely relaxed.

However, relaxation doesn’t mean standing on-scene blanked out of the situation. Instead, it is a beautiful balance of being relaxed yet alert and energetic. How exactly do you achieve that?

There are many exercises that we share during our workshops that help with this, and many of them are built around breathing. If you are physically tense you can't breathe as efficiently, and even the way you breathe could either relax or tense you up even more! So, breathing techniques help you relax, being relaxed allows your imagination to work its w