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EFT for actors: release stuff to be more embodied and free

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This post is for you if you have ever felt:

  • Unable to access certain emotions
  • A fear or lack of vulnerability
  • Frozen in moments that matter 
  • Like limiting beliefs are holding you back
  • Like you are constantly in your head
  • Like you tend to “push” in your scene work
  • An inability to “let go”
  • Like a perfectionist

There’s a really cool tool that not a lot of actors know about and I wanted to share it with you.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also known as tapping— is a powerful tool that can help you release old stuff that may be holding you back in your craft (and life!).

Recently, I had the privilege of tapping live on Instagram with Sera Heywood-Rakhimova from @actortoartist, and the experience was a little terrifying –and then ultimately very freeing.  I told Sera in the moment that it was like psychedelics without psychedelics 😉

What is EFT/Tapping?

EFT combines ancient Chinese acupuncture with modern psychology.  By tapping on specific acupoints while verbalizing what you are feeling, you can disarm emotional charges and restore balance to your system. Picture dissolving the gunk clogging up a pipe.

It’s like acupuncture with fingers instead of needles.  Sera guided me through a tapping session focused on “enoughness,” which came out of a conversation around actors “pushing” in their scenes.  (Plus, who couldn’t use a healthy extra dose of enoughness in their life?)

If you are physically tense or disconnected from your body, your emotional range narrows (check out my other blog post on how to connect with your body in acting- https://realactorslab.com/connecting-to-your-body-in-acting/ ). Tapping can help you release the stuff that may be creating tension and preventing you from allowing emotions to join you.  (Because emotions are spontaneous things that HAPPEN TO YOU, you can make them happen, only create the condition.) 

And of course it’s never just about acting, is it?  It’s about being a whole and happy human.

Your body is a gorgeous instrument—tune it.  Polish it up, get it nice and shiny, and unclog it’s pipes so it can make beautiful music

Tap along with me as Sera leads me through a session on “enoughness”. 

Powerful stuff!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7AFqXyyRkY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== 

EFT Tapping
card says "how to stop playing a caricature"

Why you need to stop playing a caricature and start creating a real character

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Sometimes when I’m watching a scene it feels like I’m watching an actor playing a caricature of a role vs having an experience of that character as a living, breathing, human in a specific set of circumstances.  Perhaps you’ve had this experience as well?  It’s usually a let down because as an audience we can’t drop into the story, we’re too aware of the acting and ultimately it doesn’t help tell the story on the page.

Let me clarify the idea here:  Playing the role as a “caricature” simply means that it feels like an imitation.  It may feel exaggerated to the audience, like the actor is playing at the idea of the role rather than living it. 

So, no doubt you want to avoid playing a caricature.  But how?

One easy way to unintentionally slip into imitation-mode is to take the character breakdown as a set of strict rules to follow.  Actors in this mode often attempt to capture the adjectives used to describe this person and start playing a caricature or imitation of those characteristics.  I see actors attempt to play characteristics like “bossy,” “uptight,” “wistful,” “full of life,” etc.  This can happen when reading what other characters may say about you in the text as well.  “She’s a total Type A.”

Use your understanding of the role as a jumping off point.  Then, get to work and make sure to listen to your instincts.  

Know what you want (objective) so that you feel it in your bones, build your POPE, use your imagination to create the world and build a strong point of view, rehearse with active verbs so that you’re doing something to the other person in the scene (rather than playing mood or story), find your stakes…Your process.   All of this must affect you in your body.

And you can use your own personal hooks.

What do I, the actor, personally understand about the emotional core of this scene for the role I’m playing?  Is this scene about loss of control?  About jealousy?  What can I use to hook into that when I rehearse?  Does it come from my imagination? Does it come from my real life?  Is it a combination of both?  If the audience’s experience of the role should indeed read as “bossy,” can I figure out why?  What’s my need to control really about?  What do I personally understand about wanting control? 

What can I do to the other person to get what I want moment-to-moment like, bulldoze, bully, steer, trap, etc. and can I rehearse with some of those offerings?

I once coached an actor playing an “uptight” role who had fallen into the trap of playing a caricature simply because of how easy it is to conjure up ideas of uptight people.  It quickly gives us images of up rigid posture, meticulous organization, perhaps even over-articulation, etc, all of which may end up being included in your rehearsal, but if you stop there, and there’s no internal undercurrent for your uptightness, if there’s no NEED under it, it doesn’t ring true. We, as the audience, don’t buy it and then the story is dead.  

Can you use your imagination to build a compelling reason for why you’re so uptight that truly stirs something powerful up in you?  Can you build why you feel such terror about it all falling apart? (stakes!).  

These are some ideas to help you avoid the caricature trap and help you build living, breathing humans that are compelling.How do you avoid playing AT a role?

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah:  What I think was a big shift also was thinking about how you’re connecting internally to something. I’m not sure if it was the way we were working or if it was something you were using to plug in, but it looked like something was making you emotional, or just stirring something up in you, there was something activated, and that was also helping you connect to the scene in a way that you got under it, so whatever that was was activating something in you, and that’s what you’re on the lookout for when you work, you’re always investigating to figure out, “what am I gonna use to hook myself in to the circumstances? How am I gonna get under it?”

Cuz otherwise we’re just trying to mimic and play at an idea of something rather than putting it through us. We’re putting these people into us. And trying to figure out how we bring our own juice into it, rather than try to pretend we are them.

card reads "HOW DO YOU GET OVER EMOTIONAL BLOCKS?"

How to stop getting stuck on emotional blocks in acting

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Do you know what your emotional blocks in acting are?

This is the stuff that prevents you from fully living a scene as the role. That’s what was happening at this particular moment in class.

When this comes up, think of it as your invitation to get into this very challenging (but essential) work to loosen the block’s grip on you. Identifying what your emotional blocks are can give you a place to start. 

Do you really struggle when it comes to standing up for yourself?  Do you shy away from heartbreak scenes?  Do you struggle with vulnerability?  That resistance is your guide.

Here are some ways you can work to dissolve resistance / emotional blocks:

  • Therapy (if you have access to it) is alway a fantastic option.  Some students are using BetterHelp.com and finding it helpful.  Some Blue Shield plans in CA offer it for free via TeleDoc.  Do some research about what your own insurance covers.
  • Write!  Set a timer and put pen to paper until it goes off. Stream of consciousness. It’s a purge.  When do you first remember feeling resistance in this area? When do you first remember feeling a particular related emotion? Are there any moments from your childhood that feel connected? Journal, journal, journal. When you’re done, burn it.  Write any “F-you” letters to people you may need to tell off.  Burn those, too.
  • Find a breathwork class near you or online. I hate doing it but it has been an incredibly powerful release for me.  Students often find themselves getting emotional during sessions, reminding them that it’s safe to do so.  I like Brittany Hatcher.
  • Get into class!  You may have a hard time knowing exactly what you are avoiding in the first place.  Plus, a good coach can help you come up with a plan to begin and will hold you accountable.  If you’re like me, you may want to run away fast from this work and put it off for years.  Don’t.  You will stay stuck.
  • Remember, it takes time to dismantle emotional blocks so keep at it and have patience with yourself.

I do have some excellent exercises that help you identify which action categories you may be avoiding which we can get into in class or private work so let us know if you need help. 

If this feels overwhelming, here’s your reminder that you’re right on time.  Take it one baby step at a time. You’ve got this.  Drop a comment here on the blog to let us know what your very first baby step will be!

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah:  There’s these little things that come up that prevent you from having your impulse… that get a little scary.  These are called emotional blocks in acting and I think this probably has something to do with the difficulty playing these strong actions. I don’t know. What do you think?

Student: I don’t know. It’s not even like…it’s not even like I feel like I’m doing it, it’s just my body is doing it’s own…

Sarah: I know, it’s not conscious, it’s just uncomfortable to do things that we don’t normally do. We’re not…the whole point of acting, right, is that we’re trying to not act. We’re trying to live these moments as if they’re really happening to us. And so we’re basically trying to trick our brains into believing that this is real life, and your subconscious, the subconscious Ashley is like, “Don’t do that! It’s not nice!” Right? It’s not safe and it’s not nice and it’s mean and it’s all these things. Which is good! That’s the part of you that protects you.

But part of what we have to do, and that’s part of what this breathwork would be for, is to help us undo some of that stuff, that keeps us stuck and safe. And lets us be more free in our responses, in our authenticity, in our instinct. To learn in your body that it’s okay to stand up and fight back.

card reads "having a hard time dropping in on camera?"

Worried about dropping in on camera? Hold up the mirror to the audience

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Do you ever feel like it’s hard to drop the mask and really play from that raw and present place on camera?  I have an idea that may help you with dropping in on camera (vs feel like you are holding back or hiding).

It can be so hard to let go of that pursuit of the mythical perfectly delivered performance, even when we know better, can’t it?

It makes total sense because in rehearsal you’re making choices and experimenting with rhythms and actions and connections and stakes and hooks and of course you really want all that stuff you worked on to show up in the scene, right?

This can cause a lot of fear and anxiety because you want the part or you want to do the story justice or you want to level up because you deeply don’t want anyone to judge you or criticize you.  Ooof, I get it.  I so, so get it. 

It’s so hard to truly allow yourself to be seen, especially on camera. 

If that resonates:

1) definitely check out the clip below for our conversation during class, and 2) can you shift how you think of the audience and/or camera? 

Rather than thinking of the camera as something to tune out or hide from, what if you think of it as a collaborator?  This works for a live audience as well.  I often tell actors to think of the camera as a highly sensitive portal that captures all your thoughts and feelings and delivers them to the world.  This helps tremendously for pushing as well, and makes dropping in on camera something you don’t have to struggle for.

We have a whole page of exercises that help actors let go, drop into their scenes and allow the camera in that’s available to students. If this is something you need help with, let us know!

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: Sometimes there’s stuff that’s hanging on a little bit, that’s keeping us from feeling like we can fully be safe.

Student: Right.

Sarah: In letting that stuff be seen again. But really, sometimes what helps is thinking about this communication that happens not only with the partner, but with the audience, and the audience being the camera, like we’ve been talking about. That you’re gonna allow yourself to be seen so that everybody can see themselves in you.

Student: Yeah.

Sarah: That there’s this shared experience. Sometimes that really helps you show up and take the layers off…of being, of holding the mirror up in that moment.

Student: Yeah.

Sarah: And sometimes that image, that moment, that idea, going into the work like that, can help you take the pressure off of: this is my performance and I have to get it right. That can take the pressure off in a way that helps you to be more naked, so to speak.

card reads "what to do if you’re losing motivation in acting"

How do you reignite your motivation in acting?

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If you decide to run a marathon and you’re not in shape, you definitely wouldn’t go out and run twenty miles the first day of training. That would be crazy, right? You’d likely start out with shorter distances so you could build endurance and momentum. The trickiest part, for many, is staying motivated long enough to keep training so you can go the full distance.

Acting is the same. I know I’m a bit of a broken record when it comes to thinking of your career as a marathon and not a sprint, but it’s true. And like any long journey, there will be moments when it’s hard to keep going — when you lose motivation in acting and suddenly a few weeks have gone by without working on anything, it can feel so hard to get back to work. So many actors relate to this.

So how do you get yourself going again after an acting slump? How do you reignite your motivation in acting?

I find that the key to getting fired up again is reconnecting to why you do this work.  Check out this conversation from class for an exercise you can do to help jump start your motivation in acting, and to take back control. You’ve got this!

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: There is one thing I want to throw—this bee I want to put in everyone’s bonnet for the week – around when you’re having a hard time motivating — I know we’ve talked about this theme, which is understandable, right — When you’re having a hard time motivating, try to sit down and write out why it’s important. Because again we know now, we have research that shows when we stay connected to why we do something, and then we give ourselves control, the area of motivation in our brain starts to light up and fire. And that’s what kicks in motivation.

So sitting down, when you’re dreading something, if you’re putting off rehearsing, if you’re putting off whatever the shit is that you need to do, it’s important because…I show up to do my acting work because…and you can write out all the things! Because I want to get this tape done, because I want to get better agents and managers, because I want to open more doors, because I want to do great work, whatever all that stuff is, all the whys, because I want to make some fuckin’ money, because I wanna…whatever, blah blah blah.

All that stuff’s valid, but just reconnect to it and then give yourself one thing that you can make yourself in control of. It feels like I have a choice. I have a choice in this. And that’s the part that fires the motivation part of your brain. And then maybe give yourself one thing that can help you be in control of, okay I’m going to…what’s gonna put me back in the driver’s seat? I’m in control of how long I wanna rehearse for. I’m gonna rehearse for 20 minutes. I’m gonna rehearse for 5 minutes right now! I’m gonna just read the scene again out loud.

Sometimes just getting that one thing I’m in control of, kicks us back, puts us back into the driver’s seat. So just see, just play around with that thought this week, of how I can reconnect to…and you can use this in any area of your life where you feel like you’re having a hard time. There’s things you need to be doing but you’re not motivated to do them because you know they’re important but you’re not…just keep connecting to the why again.

card reads "why you need to stop hiding from your emotions"

Are you ready to stop hiding from your emotions?

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I’ve written before about the importance of undoing the sh*t you were taught about hiding from your emotions. But this came up in class a while ago—the same issue from a slightly different angle. This time, the challenge wasn’t about the internal work of accessing emotion, but about the external side: is it okay to express those emotions? When is the time to stop hiding from your emotions?

I know firsthand how easy it is to worry about burdening others with my stuff, but I’m also learning that my hardest challenges usually turn out to be my biggest areas of growth and ultimately, big gifts…  Your “stuff” is what makes you different from every other actor, and what enriches your work and the stories you tell.  Being honest about where you are is vulnerable, but it’s everything.  Hiding from your emotions can feel safe, but vulnerability is your acting superpower.  And it takes focus and practice.  

I have seen so many actors struggle with allowing their honest, naked selves to show up. I used to be one of those actors.  When your real life emotions come up, don’t run.  (Easier said than done, I know!) Allow them, feel them. Don’t hang onto the story, but let it be felt as a pure physical experience.

Check out this conversation we had in class about finding a perspective shift on hiding from your emotions, especially tough ones.

 

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah:  This just came up. There’s an actor that I’ve been working with who has been through a lot of hard stuff in life. And he realized at some point that he had to express that stuff in order for him to be the best artist that he could be. He was sitting on a lot of pain and he was worried about showing that, about talking about it, because it felt like a burden to other people. Like I don’t want to be sad, I don’t want to make other people sad, I don’t want to bore anyone.

And the truth is that our hardest stuff as humans, our hardest stuff that we’ve been through, is our gift. That’s the stuff that’s gonna make us the best artist. So when we lean into that, and we allow it to be there, rather than try to pretend like everything is fine so that we can go live in a perfect Instagram feed (it’s not real)!

So when stuff comes up for you, not just now, but in general, let yourself feel what you feel, and lean into it, rather than try to keep it all together and perfectly buttoned up. Journal that stuff out, when stuff comes up. How you’re feeling, why you might be feeling it. Sometimes it helps to just take a bunch of blank papers and write out all this stuff that comes up and do a big emotional dump onto the pages, and then rip it up. Burn it. Say goodbye.

But purge it, get it out, don’t let it stay in. Because if you want to be an artist and express yourself, which I know you do, that stuff needs to get out. That’s the safest, healthiest thing that you could do.  Whatever it is.

card text reads: how to stop procrastinating acting

How do I stop procrastinating acting work?

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You know that feeling at the end of the day when you realize you didn’t get to any of the most (truly) important stuff ? The stuff that means something to you that will actually help you move the needle?

It’s the worst. 

Especially when that feeling pops up around your acting.  Life is busy and there are so many things that need to get done every day – and it can be easy for acting to fall to the bottom of the priority list. 

Guess what?  You deserve to prioritize your acting.

What would your life look like if you decided to stop procrastinating acting and truly made consistency and getting your craft work in every day one of the most important things on your calendar?  Actually, scratch that. Let’s start smaller. What would today look like? What about tomorrow? Next week?

I’d like to offer you a challenge:

Go to your calendar right now.  Find three slots of time, however small they need to be,in the next seven days and put ACTING WORK on the calendar. Now, set reminders. For reals, dudes.

And now for the hardest part: stick to it. It can be tempting to let that time slide, but experiment with treating it like an appointment you can’t cancel without rescheduling, like an appointment with your doctor.

After this first 3, schedule the next.  And then the next. If you fall off, get back on.  This consistency and commitment to yourself is the single best thing you can do for yourself as an actor. This is how you stop procrastinating acting.

You can do it!

Check out this conversation in class to get deeper–

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: The biggest win you could have in this next period of time would be for you to set an intention and a plan that you want to commit to that feels reasonable to you. It doesn’t have to be crazy. It just has to be intentional. Let me look at my week. Do I have more time, less time? When would be a good time for me to do that? And then you’re not in charge of the outcome of what happens at that rehearsal, but showing up and rehearsing and spending time in it is within your control. So let’s see what you can get intentional about.

That to me is the worst feeling. When I’m just letting life happen to me rather than deciding how I want things to go and then executing my plan. And then adapting if I need to! If all these things come up, then that’s okay. But it’s just when I’m kind of like, I’ll get to it, and then I don’t. Find your own way. Find your own way.

But I do believe that it exists when it’s on the calendar. If I learned one thing that I love from Larry Moss over the years, and I don’t even think I really understood it until I was older, was just self-discipline. He would say it all the time. Self-discipline is self-love. And I really think that’s true. It’s not about being…we can get really fulfilled (“fulfilled” is not the right word) by checking things off a to-do list. It feels like, oh, I was so productive! I cleared all these emails out of my inbox! And that feels like you did something. And then you can be like, well I don’t really have to…I did all that other stuff. I got that package in the mail and I, you know, got the clutter pile sorted and some of the bills paid, and oh, I was so productive.

And that’s the stuff we go to first. Because we can sort of get away with prioritizing it as the most important thing. When in fact, what would happen if we prioritized acting in that way? Because then it bleeds into everything you do. That confidence that comes from you showing up for yourself.

card title "undoing the sh*t you were taught about emotions"

Feeling your emotions to the fullest

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We don’t always realize it, but from a very young age, we’re often taught that our emotions are too much. Whether it’s a parent telling you not to cry, a teacher telling you to calm down, a friend who says you make too big a deal out of things, or even just being told to “cheer up”, the message is everywhere.

As actors, some of the most important you are tasked with is to undo this belief that may be operating unconsciously inside.  I’m too much.  It’s unsafe to be vulnerable.  Getting angry is bad.  I’m mean if I’m strong….  

We work on undoing this stuff in class and in our private sessions every day because it is vital to your work.  I have a ton of exercises I love, but I’d love to share one you can try and report back:

Think of a time you were given the message that your emotions were somehow inappropriate. Freewrite for as long as you want, maybe 10 or 15 minutes and try to get it all out on paper. You can also do this as a direct “F-you letter” to a person who shamed you, though you never have to shadow them.  And then? Burn it. Or shred it.  Just get rid of it. It’s a super cathartic, freeing way to release yourself and allow yourself to feel your emotions to the fullest. Give it a try and email me to let me know how it goes!

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: But it is amazing, I just wanna say very briefly, it is amazing the messages that we get from the world starting from a very very early age. You know, literally my three year old the other day said to me…what did she say? My husband and I both went, “What!?” She said, “I’m bad sometimes. I’m bad when I cry.” She said, “I’m bad, I’m bad.” And we said, “Why are you bad? What does that mean?” Like we’ve never even talked about people as being bad, you know, or we try not to, even people that we feel like are bad. And she said, “If I cry…?”

And so we just had to take this pause of, how do you even [have an idea of that as a concept], and where does that come from, and how do I talk through this? Because we’ve always tried to, especially with her, and we’re getting better and better, but the second time around where something will happen and she’s crying and it starts to feel like, oh my god, I want that crying to stop. I’d do anything for that crying to stop, but to try not to do that, and say, why don’t you go cry on the couch for a while?  And she’ll be like, okayyy.

But really from this early, early age we’re getting these messages from somewhere about our emotions, and probably also from, even parents who are trying really hard not to do that, where it just feels like too much when people are emoting all over the place.

Student: Yeah, it’s really hard to know what’s right and wrong, but no matter what, the world just sends us signals, whether it’s on tv or just like socially.

Sarah: Right, so no matter what, we’re gonna have to continue to look for opportunities and ways to allow ourselves to feel what we feel.

title reads "are you ready to call it quits on acting?"

When you’re ready to call it quits on your acting career

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What do William Jackson Harper, John Krasinski, Naomi Watts and Amy Adams have in common (besides being actors, of course)?  They were about to pack it up and quit acting when they got their big break.  (And by the way, the movie name I forgot in the class clip here re: Naomi Watts was the 2001 David Lynch film Mulholland Drive.)

The truth is, acting and mastery of any craft is hard.  Getting a meaningful career is not easy.  So how can you hang in there?

I don’t get into this here in this specific clip, but something I work with a lot of students on is helping you connect to WHY you act as well as creating measurable goals of things you do personally have control over.  This activates the center of motivation in your brain.

If you don’t know WHY you do it, it’s going to be very hard to keep going so ask yourself:  What lights a fire in my belly?  Is it my deeply held belief that powerful stories can change the world?  Am I compelled by my unique life experiences I wish to express in my work so others know they aren’t alone?  Is it that magical feeling of getting “in the zone” where I lose a sense of time and all I know is the world of the role I’m working on?  Great.  If you don’t know, keep asking.  Don’t settle for someone else’s reasons.  Know YOURS.

If you find out you want to act because, if you’re really being honest, you want to be famous, that’s ok because it’s true.  But a word of caution here:  it’s a fool’s errand.  Most people seek fame because they’re looking for love and validation and I promise, fame doesn’t give you that.  If this resonates, it’s time to dig deep in your personal growth work.

Why do YOU act??  Will you email me and let me know?  I promise I’ll read every response.

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Student: The way that John Krasinski got the role in The Office is crazy. Did I tell you about it before?

Sarah: I don’t know. I can’t remember.

Student: He was, um, to shorten it, he was in New York and he was doing acting for two years and he was trying to get roles and stuff, and he told his mom, it’s not working out, I’m gonna come back home. And then he went to go audition for The Office, and then he’s like, and I got that role. I was just about to give up on it cuz nothing was working out for me, I wasn’t getting anything. It’s like, that’s crazy to hear.

Sarah: You will be amazed at how many of those stories there are.

Student: Yeah, I feel like there would be a lot of them.

Sarah: There are a lot of them. There are a lot. Naomi Watts has another story like that, and she even had had, she was starting to already have a career, but it wasn’t until…oh gosh, what was the name of that movie? It was a long time ago now. I’m forgetting the name of the movie. It wasn’t until the really big breakout movie that she got, where she was packed up, done, like I’m done with acting, screw this. She was like, I’m sick of being broke, I’m sick of all this stuff, and then got this big thing. So it’s…I really believe in that, like being in it for the marathon of it, and knowing that this is not fast and that doing it because, really because you have to, because you love it, and you love storytelling, and you love working on yourself and trying to become better and all of that stuff, and becoming the best storyteller that you can be. And maybe that means for some people, finding their own ways to do that, in the meantime, you know.

flexing your rage muscles accessing anger as an actor

Can’t access anger in your acting?

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So many actors struggle to play anger.

It makes sense, though, right?  Throughout your life, you’ve internalized messages about how you’re supposed to handle anger and other big feelings.  So, when it comes to playing a role that asks this of you, you come smack up against your blocks and it’s a challenge to let go, especially if you’ve become a “pleaser” in order to cope.   

Even though it might be painful, lean in.  Work in therapy and with a great coach.  I promise even if it feels bad — the payoff is reallllllly good..

CLASS CLIP TRANSCRIPTION

Sarah: I can feel that part of you that holds back, and I have a feeling there’s some work for you to do around your rage. And maybe repressed rage, and some stuff that, maybe old stuff, and it could be, you know, doing some writing or thinking about moments when you made decisions around what rage meant, you know. Decisions from, examples you had of what anger and rage…mean. What it means to be like that. We often make, you know, early life decisions about how we want to be based on the information we got, you know.

Student: Yeah. Seeing my parents fight was so terrifying.

Sarah: Yeah, so terrifying. Yelling, rage, right, so some of us end up as the pleasers, you know. Wanting to be nice and people to like us. And then we have to kind of…a lot of this work in here is the undoing of some of that stuff, so that we can fully express and be fully human, and also just heal some of that stuff, you know. Those were the things that I…I think in my early twenties, I really wish that I had heard more, like knowing how much…and my acting teacher used to say, you know, Larry Moss always used to say, “People don’t get careers for two reasons, or three, really. Technical problems, emotional problems, or a combination of both.” And I really think that the emotional side of things doesn’t get worked through enough. Because we just, there’s stuff that we’ve become hard-wired to avoid. We don’t even know we’re doing it. So working in this way is so good. It’s gonna feel like shit and you’re gonna find a million excuses to do everything else. But it’s really good.

Student: It’s good.

Sarah: It’s good, it’s really really really really good.

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