"Decidedly more supple, agile and expressive."

I have been reading "An Actor Prepares" by Constantin Stanislavski. To my surprise he has a chapter on "Relaxation of Muscles". His method calls for the development in actors of a "sort of control; an observer, as it were. This observer must, under all circumstances, see that at no point shall there be an extra amount of contraction. This process of self observation and removal of unnecessary tenseness should be developed to the point where it becomes a subconscious, mechanical habit. Nor is that sufficient. It must be a normal habit and a natural necessity, not only during the quieter parts of your role, but especially at times of the greatest nervous and physical lift." This level of observation of the body reminded me of the skills developed in yoga practice. Later in the chapter the acting students are asked to raise their right arms, " Their arms were slowly raised like the bars at a grade crossing. As they did it Rakhmanov felt their muscles and made comments: 'Not right, relax your neck and back. Your whole arm is tense" - and so on." This reminds me of yoga class and urdva hastasana. How a simple action can "throw the whole body off in the opposite direction from the raised arm, to compensate for the movement." Stanislavski goes on to instruct about cultivating the ability to isolate one group of muscles from another and use only those that are required for the action and relax the rest. After the lesson the student said, "The impression that remains with me from today's lesson is that the Director took us all apart , like so much machinery, unscrewed, sorted out every little bone, oiled, reassembled and screwed us all together again. Since that process I feel myself decidedly more supple, agile and expressive." Just the way we hope to feel after a good yoga practice. The key is to do this for ourselves in our own practice.