[NoHo Arts District, CA] – This month’s Soaring Solo blog focuses on “The Stories Your Body Tells.”
“The body is very wise. It knows how to heal itself.” -Louise Hay
As a solo theatre coach and director, I often try to help my clients by creating interesting writing prompts to generate compelling material.
My prompts often ask the solo artist to bravely dig deep into their past, honestly examine their present circumstances and boldly imagine their way into the future. Solo theatre can be very cathartic, especially when it is autobiographical in nature. As we write about our lives, we revisit memories, decisions, people, places and times that elicit strong emotions and sometimes even physical reactions.
With that in mind, in today’s blog, I want to offer an outside-of-the-box perspective that I hope will help to provide an inspiring point of view from which to write. Today we will tap into the wisdom and stories that our bodies reveal.
To support me in this exploration, I’d like to enlist the work of Louise Hay who was a self-help pioneer and guru, professional speaker and author of several New Thought self-help books, such as You Can Heal Your Life. Hay lived to be 90 years old before passing away in her sleep. She believed in the transformative power of thought. Hay claimed that she was diagnosed with “incurable” vaginal cancer in the late 70s, and it was her belief that by holding on to her bitterness about her childhood abuse and rape she had aided in its onset. Hay also said she refused conventional medical treatment and instead opted to begin a regime of forgiveness, therapy, nutrition, reflexology, and even colonic enemas. Her proclamation was that she eventually rid herself of the cancer by this approach.
Regardless of your personal opinions about Hay’s belief system, I hope you will go on today’s journey with me and see what content comes forth. You just might be surprised by what material manifests on the page if you are willing to consider your own body an entity where powerful stories, messages and truths are held.
I personally suffer from scoliosis and was curious to see what Hay would say about that condition. In one excerpt of her work, I discovered that scoliosis is related to carrying the burdens of life and feeling helpless and hopeless. From this assessment, I would ask myself, “When in my life do or did I feel helpless and hopeless? When do or did the burdens of life weigh me down?” After that, I would set my timer for 15 minutes and just freewrite about whatever came up.
I could take this a step further and allow my spine to become a character and talk about these moments in my life from its point of view. Personification is a powerful device and often brings out opportunities for comedy, dynamic character work, and can be an effective distancing device from traumatic or challenging content.
For example, in Naturally Tan, a solo show I was honored to develop and direct, written and performed by the beautiful and talented Tanya Thomas, we implemented this exact device by bringing her breasts to life as personified characters. The themes of Tanya’s One Woman Show center around body dysmorphia, and an overall lack of self love and self acceptance. Over the course of the show, Tanya learns through interactions with many characters (all portrayed by her) to see the beauty within and without. Through the portrayal of her breasts as characters with their own vantage point and opinions, she was able to express her own discomfort with their size, the judgment from people around her, and the societal pressures placed upon her to have desirable measurements.
I also had the pleasure of working with Janice Creneti on her solo show My Year of Saying No. This plot centers around Janice realizing she is mostly overextended in her life. Upon the arrival of the pandemic, she was finally able to start looking at her life and realizing the things she wanted to say no to and the things she wanted to say yes to. Her Body is featured as a character in the show who wants to be heard, respected and cared for. Through the insights and guidance of the body as a character, Janice finds a path to self care and authenticity.
Using these body/life correlations below that have been drawn from the work of Louise Hay, imagine what stories you might feel motivated to write about based on their application to your own physicality. Give yourself 15 minutes and freewrite. You may consider writing from the perspective of the body part affected by the ailment as well.
- Acne: Not accepting the self. Dislike of the self.
If you suffered from acne now or in the past, ask yourself is there anything about yourself you dislike or do not accept now or in the past? What stories come up surrounding this?
- Bladder Problems: Anxiety. Holding on to old ideas. Fear of letting go. Being “pissed off.”
Have you ever had any sort of bladder problem? If so, can you think of a time past or present where you felt anxious, holding on to hold ideas, felt pissed off or had a fear of letting go?
- Dry eyes: Angry eyes. Refusing to see with love. Would rather die than forgive. Being spiteful.
Are dry eyes something you have experienced before? If so, can you relate it to a moment in your life when you felt angry and refused to see a person or situation with eyes of love? Perhaps you felt blocked from offering forgiveness or felt spiteful.
- Ear issues: Represents the capacity to hear. – Ache: Anger. Not wanting to hear. Too much turmoil. Household arguing.
Have you ever had any issues with your ears? If so, can you call to mind a time you could not hear what was being said to you? Has there been a thread of anger, turmoil or arguing in your life at any point?
- Insomnia: Fear. Not trusting the process of life. Guilt.
Do you have trouble sleeping now or in the past? If so, ask yourself if you struggle to trust the process of life or if you feel afraid of life. Do you grapple with guilt?
There are many, many, many more examples like this from Louise Hay’s work that you can look into. Hopefully, today’s small slice of her teachings will help you to consider how intelligent our bodies are and what messages they might offer us in life and in art.
I trust that today’s blog has given you a new way into some stories you might have otherwise not thought of. Know that you have a wealth of intriguing stories to share from your lived experience as you continue to create and share your One Person Play.
Please continue to persist along on your solo journey. It may not be easy, but it is so worth it!
Jessica Lynn Johnson
Founder & CEO of Soaring Solo LLC
SoaringSoloArtist@gmail.com
www.SoaringSoloStudios.com
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