Witnessing the Self By Adorning - Day 2

As a part of the ritual I have set for myself,  I adorned both Zaba and Bhootham today. After yesterday's disastrous experience I decided to adorn a quality/emotion today and not the character. I chose Empathy for Bhootham and Play for Zaba. 

Before I adorned myself, I engaged in a few exercises that Augustus Boal advocates for actors to embody their roles. While identifying the primacy of emotion, Boal concedes how hard it is for an actor to move away from his personal 'Self' and to emote like the character being played. ( Even harder for someone like me who has no theatre experience.) 

Boal enlists a set of activities -  Muscular exercises, Sensory exercises, Memory exercises, Imagination exercises and Emotion exercises to manifest emotions freely throughout the actors body. 

Today, to manifest empathy I chose to  remember people with whom I have experienced this emotion. It was fascinating to see how my body reacted to these memories, the mask and the act dissolved at this point, what stayed with me was the primacy of the emotions I felt. 

Take a look at my practice - 





After this act was complete I analysed my state of being as follows - 

At the end of Day 2, I revealed a little more. My fear and vulnerabilities did not bother me. I did not conceal the emotions of empathy and play even to myself, I experienced them with honesty. I feel more confident today.