Relaxation:Relaxation is perhaps the most ignored and yet the most important aspect of acting. Lee Strasberg says that relaxation is the Occupational disease of the actor. It needs to be addressed and worked on each and everyday. Relaxation should be approached systematically, with focused work being done on both the muscles and the mind. The actor should spend time each day doing a relaxation exercise that includes isolating specific muscles in the body and then releasing their tension through vocal releases sounds. This is a process of mentally going through each part of the body tensing and relaxing each muscle systematically.

Mental relaxation is just as important as physical relaxation for it is here that tension blocks the story of the script from entering in to our understanding as well as impeding it from being transmitted to the audience.

Tension also loves to sabotage the audition process. Tension can make our dialogue sound wooden and our character seem flat.
The relaxed actor is the flexible actor who is able to handle a variety of material and who can present more fully complete characters.

Yoga, meditation, exercise and deep breathing are all useful exercises for the actor. Here are three steps to becoming a more relaxed actor.

1. Spend 20-30 minutes 3 times per week doing the Strasberg relaxation exercise.
2. Spend 10 minutes per day in meditation.
3. Spend 10 minutes per day doing deep breathing.

Developing ways to relax need to be a daily habit of the actor. One needs to in fact be hyper-vigilant about this because tension is all around us and it creeps into our mind and our muscles often without our awareness.

For more on relaxation go to http://www.theatrgroup.com/Method/relaxation.html Without relaxation a lot of things an actor may rightly want to do will be deformed as they enter his instrument, because the instrument itself sets up resistance through tension.

- From: Strasberg: At the Actors Studio, p. 89

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