yoga

Sweet Relief: An Exercise for Releasing Heat

July 27, 2017July 27, 2017 By Mairin2 Comments

What a ride this summer has been! I can’t believe that August is almost upon us. ???? It’s been a whirlwind these past few weeks, between coaching, teaching and presenting at events! I’m so grateful for everyone who came out to practice with me at the Toronto Fringe, Hillside and Gerrard Art Space. It’s been great to connect with you and I’m excited to continue to share this work with you. While it’s all been very exciting, at times it has also felt overstimulating and I often leave events feeling like I’m buzzing on the inside from all the energy that was created (sound familiar?). Along with buzzing, I also often experience this excess energy as heat. My face gets red, I sweat more and my skin feels hot to the touch. While it seems like I’ve just been out in the sun for a while, this happens even when I present inside or in a cool space. This heat is not generated from...

Where in the World is Mairin this Summer?

June 28, 2017June 27, 2017 By MairinNo Comments

Well, it’s true! Summer is finally upon us. Yay! The sun (and even the rain), the long days and all the plants in bloom having been calling me outdoors every chance I get. Weekend hiking and road trips have been refreshing, and the chance to work on my back patio has helped me stay focused during the week, even though all I really want to do is run off to the beach (can you relate?). ;) In the midst of all this wanderlust, there’s been a lot of activity at Five Winds! Recently, an article of mine, Leaving Troubling Characters on the Stage, was published in Intermission Magazine. This article has been several months in the making and features interviews with a psychotherapist and professor on the psychology of performing and post-performance recovery. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, click here. I’m also excited to be taking my Five Winds work out on the road! I’ll be presenting and teaching...

Onstage Zen: My Recent Feature in Elephant Journal!

June 5, 2017June 5, 2017 By MairinNo Comments

Exciting news! Yesterday, an article of mine on meditation and performing was featured on Elephant Journal. Yay! This piece was a bit of a personal one, exploring one of the main reasons I've struggled so much as a performer for most of my adult life. But beyond the struggle, it also talks about one of the biggest game-changers in my life over the past few years: meditation. If you've been reading my blog or following my work, it's probably no surprise to you that I love meditation and that I see it as an important (if not fundamental) tool for performers. But I didn't always feel that way. In fact, for a large part of my life, I didn't think that I would ever be able to meditate. In order to be a meditator, I thought you had to be a certain "type" of person: an already zen, quiet and undramatic person (in my mind, not a performer). But all this changed for...

Instant Calm: An Exercise

May 18, 2017May 18, 2017 By MairinNo Comments

I remember clearly the first time I had a panic attack on stage. I was in high school, performing a play in drama competition. It was a two-person show; just me and another actor in front of the audience for 45 minutes. While I had acted in a similar style piece before, this felt much more high-stakes. It had been years since my school had made it this far in the competition and I took this responsibility both seriously and personally. We were the second show of our night. Before us had been a lively and intense piece with a large cast. Now, as I stepped out on stage, that entire cast was sitting in the first two rows of the audience staring up at me. They were buzzed from their performance, with too much energy to sit still. They chatted amongst themselves, so loudly that I could hear them clearly on stage. Thank goodness this was the time before cell phones....

Post-Performance Recovery: An Introduction + Exercise

April 27, 2017April 27, 2017 By MairinNo Comments

If you’ve been clicking around my website or following me on social media at all, you’ve probably seen the term post-performance recovery come up a *few times (*read, a lot). It’s a pretty catchy phrase, and seems pretty easy to understand. But since I talk about it so much, I thought it might be useful to explain what I actually mean by it. So… Post-Performance Recovery. What the heck is it? In many ways, it is exactly what it sounds like: A process to assists artists in releasing their performance experiences and rebalancing their energy, so they can transition back into their everyday lives. This is a fancy way of saying it’s a “cool down”. Think of sports. Before an athlete competes in an event, they go through a warm up routine to prepare themselves. Afterwards, they follow a cool down routine to help their body recuperate from all the energy the just exerted. Many performers follow a similar routine, except for one thing: most...

Updates: Workshops, E-Books, Design and More!

April 6, 2017 By MairinNo Comments

Wow! It’s been about two months since the launch of this blog and website, and a lot has been happening at Five Winds! Between writing blog posts, I’ve been working hard at moving forward a bunch of other projects. Busy (but also fun) times! So in light of this, I thought it would be a good idea to update you on what I’ve been up to. So check it out below! There’s even some things for you to participate in too. :) Workshop: Earth, Water, Sun – Restorative Yoga for Spring First off, I’m excited to announce that I will be offering a restorative yoga workshop at Gerrard Art Space in May. Come relax with me in this beautiful gallery and community space. If you haven’t had the chance to practice while surrounded by a collection of stunning visual art, I highly recommend it! There's a maximum of 10 participants, so if you’re interested, sign up early! Sunday, May 7, 2017 7:00pm – 9:00pm Gerrard...

Performance Energy – Part 1: Good Vibrations

February 3, 2017March 1, 2017 By MairinNo Comments

We all know there’s an extra special something that happens when we perform. We’ve all felt it. But how do you quantify it? How do you describe that lift you get from the audience watching you, that jolt you feel when they respond to your performance? What do you call that magic that transpires between you and your fellow performers when you put on an amazing show? We often call it “energy”. But what does this really mean? Energy is one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot. We talk about good energy and bad energy, how we get energy from the food we eat, that we have no energy left when we’re exhausted and that we feel energized by a new idea. We use the same word, “energy”, to describe all of these different “states of being”. But if we ask ourselves what we mean by the word “energy” in all of these examples, I think many of...

What’s this all about? – The Who’s and What’s of Act(ing) Mindfully

January 26, 2017March 1, 2017 By MairinNo Comments

Hello! Welcome to Act(ing) Mindfully. I’m so glad you’re here and that you’re interested in exploring along with me. So what’s this blog all about? Being a performer is a rewarding, ever-changing and often challenging life choice. Beyond the everyday mental and physical rigor it requires of us to keep our skills in shape, it also demands a lot from us emotionally and energetically. Unlike many other careers, performing requires us to fully commit our whole selves to it: body, mind, emotions and spirit. It can be incredibly invigorating, but at the same time it can be incredibly draining. Many of us find ourselves caught in this constant flux of energy, unable to keep ourselves grounded both on and off stage (or camera). But is it possible to be a great performer and live a balanced life? Yes! That’s what we’ll explore here. Who am I? My name is Mairin Smit and I’m a theatre and movement artist, teacher and artist wellness coach. Artist wellness coach? Yes,...