Optimal functionality as performers and as people requires the integration of mind and body: we are our instruments.
Stress, divided focus, and injury often lead to disconnection, which impacts our capacity for self-awareness and self-care. When this happens it can be difficult to practice and perform efficiently and to thrive as human beings.
It is essential that we each have a felt understanding of our own bodies and minds, rather than waiting on external "fixes" – that from within we know ways to repattern and proactively nurture ourselves – to reset our nervous systems, re-find balanced alignment, regain access to deeper breathing, and release tension in key areas of our anatomy.
This allows us to recover and enables us to make choices, revolutionizing our relationship with our instruments and our work and changing the ways in which we move through the world.
Optimal functionality as performers and as people requires the integration of mind and body: we are our instruments.
Stress, divided focus, and injury often lead to disconnection, which impacts our capacity for self-awareness and self-care. When this happens it can be difficult to practice and perform efficiently and to thrive as human beings.
It is essential that we each have a felt understanding of our own bodies and minds, rather than waiting on external "fixes" – that from within we know ways to repattern and proactively nurture ourselves – to reset our nervous systems, re-find balanced alignment, regain access to deeper breathing, and release tension in key areas of our anatomy.
This allows us to recover and enables us to make choices, revolutionizing our relationship with our instruments and our work and changing the ways in which we move through the world.
To hone your awareness and increase your agency, several group opportunities are available –
- Singing with Ease™ course:
six weeks of vocal fundamentals classes (alignment, breathing, phonation, resonance, articulation, registration) that constitute the core of my systematic approach to the voice, influenced by mind+body modalities - Sounding the Voice Within™ guest workshop series:
mind/body workshops in collaboration with trusted colleagues, including mindfulness, movement therapy & somatics, sound healing, and more - Vocal Freedom for Life™ series:
continuing education options, including Franklin Method® embodied anatomy and Dynamic Neurocognitive Imagery™ classes & workshops, Technique Topups™, and a video library
Read my article "Complementary Modalities in the Voice Studio," Inter Nos, spring 2022, a publication of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
N.B.
- Although many of these practices are less familiar in the Western world, they have been interwoven significantly in indigenous cultures and in Eastern practices for centuries.
- In my experience, STOTT PILATES®-trained instructors are those that have been the most anatomically aware and able to make modifications to accommodate a variety of experience levels.
N.B.
- Although many of these practices are less familiar in the Western world, they have been interwoven significantly in indigenous cultures and in Eastern practices for centuries.
- In my experience, STOTT PILATES®-trained instructors are those that have been the most anatomically aware and able to make modifications to accommodate a variety of experience levels.
Dr. Stacey Mastrian, soprano, voice teacher, functional anatomy facilitator, and performance coach, focuses on holistic wellness connecting mind, body, breath, and voice. Currently based on the west coast of the U.S. and working virtually worldwide, she offers client-centered experiences that facilitate self-awareness and expressive communication in performance and in life.
TRAINING that has informed my mind+body work:
The Alba Method (acting teaching apprenticeship in progress)
Alexander Technique
Anatomy in 3D
Auditioning for the Camera
Body Mapping
Feldenkrais Method
The Franklin Method
Linklater Voice work
Meditation
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Pilates (Balanced Body, Classical, and Stott)
Self-Compassion work
Singing Bowls/Sound Therapy
Speech and Singing Voice Rehabilitation
Tai Chi
Trauma and Resiliency work
Vocal Sound Healing
Yamuna
Yoga
For links to resources on these modalities, visit www.mastrianstudio.com/resources.
TRAINING that has informed my mind+body work:
The Alba Method (acting teaching apprenticeship in progress)
Alexander Technique
Anatomy in 3D
Auditioning for the Camera
Body Mapping
Feldenkrais Method
The Franklin Method
Linklater Voice work
Meditation
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Pilates (Balanced Body, Classical, and Stott)
Self-Compassion work
Singing Bowls/Sound Therapy
Speech and Singing Voice Rehabilitation
Tai Chi
Trauma and Resiliency work
Vocal Sound Healing
Yamuna
Yoga
For links to resources on these modalities, visit www.mastrianstudio.com/resources.
"The template of natural exchange is the breath, the autonomic giving and receiving that forms the basis and the measure of life itself.
We are rested when we are a living exchange between what lies inside and what lies outside,
when we are an intriguing conversation between the potential that lies in our imagination and the possibilities for making that internal image real in the world;
we are rested when we let things alone and let ourselves alone, to do what we do best,
breathe as the body intended us to breathe, to walk as we were meant to walk. { . . . }"
- David Whyte, excerpt from 'REST'
We are rested when we are a living exchange between what lies inside and what lies outside,
when we are an intriguing conversation between the potential that lies in our imagination and the possibilities for making that internal image real in the world;
we are rested when we let things alone and let ourselves alone, to do what we do best,
breathe as the body intended us to breathe, to walk as we were meant to walk. { . . . }"
- David Whyte, excerpt from 'REST'