Hello friends!

It’s time to practice mindfulness, again. I want to demystify mindfulness and make engaging in a regular practice as easy as possible for you.

As a reminder, my definition of mindfulness is incredibly simple:

Mindfulness is a special way of paying attention to the present moment with curiosity instead of judgment.

You tune into your breath and just notice whatever you notice both within you and around you — thoughts, emotions, sensations, sounds, etc.

If you notice that your mind wanders completely away from the present moment — back into the past or forward into the future — no big deal. It happens to all of us. Just kindly and gently guide your focus back to your breath. No need to curse yourself out or berate your wandering mind. Just gently guide your focus to the present moment.

Simple. Gentle. Rinse and repeat as many times as needed in the session.

One of my favorite things about mindfulness is that it lays a beautiful foundation for any personal development or mindset work we want to do.

At its core, mindfulness is awareness, and awareness equals choices.

The more we practice becoming aware of our thoughts and emotions during mindfulness meditation, the easier it becomes to notice them throughout our day and adjust our focus as needed.

We can choose to keep replaying “that audition” and questioning the performance we were so proud of only hours before, or we can choose to kindly and gently guide our focus back to our initial positive thoughts and feelings about our work. We can even choose to affirm for ourselves, “I did my work. My work is done. I’m moving on with my day.”

The mindful awareness of our unhelpful, self-critical thoughts about the audition is the first step to deciding to make new choices that serve us and our mindset much better. If we don’t notice, “Hey, I’m torturing myself over this audition. Do I want to keep doing this?” we stay stuck in the icky angst of self-tape self-doubt.

Let’s go ahead and practice together now. If you are driving or doing something that requires your full attention in order to be safe, please come back to this at a later time.

This is the mindfulness practice…

As we’re all enjoying the afterglow of that little mindfulness session, remember:

There are so many great benefits of mindfulness. I gave the example earlier about becoming more aware of thoughts and emotions throughout your day and how that can give you the choice to adjust as you see fit.

Practicing mindfulness, observing the present moment with curiosity instead of judgment while you breathe, can also help you…

* Relieve tension and stress from your body and mind.

* Calm your nerves and go to a neutral place with your instrument before filming that big scene.

* Stay more present in your craft, really listening and reacting moment to moment.

* Get out of your head in auditions and stay focused on what your character wants.

* Notice when your Inner Critic is being really mean to you, so you can practice being kinder to yourself.

* Become less judgmental of yourself and others.

* Start to gently question if some of your dominant thoughts are actually limiting beliefs holding you back in your acting career or life in general.

The benefits of mindfulness are immediate and cumulative, meaning regular practice, even just 10 minutes a day, will make all of these benefits more and more accessible to you over time.

It just takes practice, which is why we do this.

Speaking of Mindfulness! Get my Pre-Audition Focusing Meditation 🎧

I’ve created a free meditation to help you get out of your head and into your character so that you can rock your next audition.

It’s going to help you calm your nerves, let go of distracting thoughts — “How can I book this? What do they want?” — and focus in on what your character wants, what’s going on in the scene, so that you can present your best work every time.

Let’s chat! ☕️

If you’re ready to transform your actor mindset, let’s connect in a complimentary session.

Rest assured, this is not a “sales call.” I’m not Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. In my world ABC means “Always Be Celebrating!” 🥳

This is a chance for us to connect and for you to walk away with some specific, actionable ideas that you can start applying right away to shift and strengthen your actor mindset.

Think of it like an audition where you are the production team. I’ll show you what I do in the role of “coach” by actually coaching you, and then you get to decide, “Does my production need a mindset coach right now, and is Amy right for this role?” Sounds fun, right?

Super Stressed? I got you! 💖

Accessing Calm is my ebook of super simple, fun mindfulness life hacks I use every day to calm down quickly when stress is high.

These are the tools that help me release tension from my body and keep my mind from spinning out of control with worry and frustration. 😭 ➡️ ☺️

They help me get through the morning rush, calm down before a big audition, and deal with all the stress of the world in general.

It’s a quick read that includes video demonstrations of all tools and some bonus mindfulness meditations — all for just $7!

Upcoming Workshops

I’m hosting online mindfulness workshops in October and November exclusively for members of the SAG-AFTRA LA Conservatory!

Mindfulness 101: Empower Your Craft and Your Career With Your Presence

Come learn about mindfulness and the many advantages it offers performers. Experience a guided mindfulness meditation, explore the benefits of developing a daily mindfulness practice, and learn some quick centering tools to use in auditions and on set.

If you are a member of the SAG-AFTRA LA Conservatory, head to the calendar on the website to sign up. If you’re not a member, I encourage you to join, it’s $45 for a full year of workshops and classes.

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