At the end of February, I sang the praises of an app that makes mileage tracking easy.
Today, I have another new app crush for you. This one is arguably less practical, and yet more important.
Being an actor is an emotional rollercoaster. We alternate between being heaped with praise and buried in rejection (or worse, apathy.) We're constantly doing double duty, trying to stay vulnerable for the sake of the work and simultaneously trying to stay strong for the sake of our emotional well-being. Many actors find themselves seeking some kind of grounding, centering influence to make it easier to weather the extremes.
I've tried a few different ways of finding that center, and one of the most effective for me is meditation. Yet I've struggled to be consistent with it, and had been away from it for a while. Recently, I heard about an app that helps users get into the groove of a daily meditation habit in a very low-commitment, user-friendly way, so I decided to give it a try... and I'm smitten. It's called Headspace.
If meditation is a new idea for you, here's a little info. It has nothing to do with religion or believing in anything, so whether you consider yourself religious or spiritual or not, you can keep right on being whatever that is. It also has nothing to do with hypnosis or any kind of suggestion that could have you barking like a dog when someone says a trigger word. It's basically about taking a few minutes each day to unplug from the outside world and check in with yourself in a simple, present way.
Headspace offers a free trial, which consists of an easy, ten-minute guided meditation each day for ten days. If you like it, you can buy a subscription, which I did after day three, but you don't have to. (The Headspace people don't know I'm saying nice things about them, and I don't get anything if you sign up. I just think it's great.) I've completed seven days, and already feel more relaxed, more centered, and am sleeping better. Not bad for ten pleasant minutes a day.
I think meditation is a good idea for anyone, but for actors, I can't recommend it enough. If you decide to give Headspace a try, I'd love to hear what you think.