Retirement

The science of doing nothing is quite interesting. In ordinary walking around life I forget to truly relax, and 'do nothing.' At the beginning of a swim training session doing 'nothing' is a great boon because relaxed muscles made gradually to work, work better. Last Saturday at the East LA HS swimming pool I was the only swimmer doing laps in the 50 meter pool. By the end I'd completed 3,000 meters, less tired than when I began. I have a strong hunch that deep relaxation helps one achieve a longer life than one might otherwise enjoy.

"Professional relaxation" is a phrase used by Actors Studio co-founder Lee Strasberg. I was first exposed to the concept in about 1961 in Lee's acting class in the Capitol Theater building on Broadway - up the hill a bit, toward 57th street. The Method was hot in those days so luminaries, such as Marilyn Monroe showed up, albeit not for long. A bit later, in the same class, moved to the 10th floor of Carnegie Hall actually on 57th street, I had begun to surrender to the idea that relaxation can be willed through close self-examination accompanied by slow, exploratory movements. The next step in the process, in Lee's class, was to test whether the muscles associated with speech and singing are in lock step with muscles in the rest of the body. An exercize undertaken by each member of the class, separately, was to stand erect in front of the class and 'sing' a song making each syllable separately and explosively loud while keeping the rest of the body still, all the while making eye contact with the seated class. **

On one occasion a young actress (Actor, female) did quite well, boldly, but midway through her 'song' she inexplicably reached up to pull her sweater down to cover her exposed waist. Oh wow! Lee launched into a 20 minute harrangue on the utter absurdity of her extraneous, involuntary motion with her left hand. It was as if he were accusing her of fearing he, Lee, might be interested in that part of her anatomy. He didn't say that, but to me it seemed implied. Lee was good at implications. Point: if the brain doesn't know what the body is doing, or if the body has a separate life of its own, how can the actor ever perform what the actor intends to perform?

The same is true for athletes. The golfer addressing the ball almost visibly seems to be doing an inventory of what he/she is about to do: You can almost see Tiger, or whoever, letting go, lifting a foot perhaps to ease involuntary tension, then repositioning the foot.

In retirement I've continued learning to relax, in the pool, in bed (and wow that's where it really truly pays off! Lee once said that women actors in his class had thanked him for their finally being able to conceive! He said, "There's no extra charge") or even when horsing around. Tomorrow, if I can find it, I'll 'Enter' my mini essay published in a retirement periodical, called How To Kill A Fly with your bare hands.

** A variation of this 'still' version of the exercize was to make rhythmic movements involving the entire body then at will make the same explosively loud 'sung' sounds unattached to any movement of the body: object, to free the vocal muscles to do their job, and the motor muscles to do their different job. I liked that one more than I did the still version. While wildly moving you could forget about being observed. In ordinary life we fidget to shake off being observed. Notice how many great actors, especially on screen, could stay still and remain marvellously expressive.

Barry