For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by, even obsessed with words. As a child, I refused to go to bed without a book. In junior high, I cut school to go to the library. Putting aside my dalliance with truancy, I enrolled in college and grad school, accumulating about twenty-one years of schooling, primarily in reading and analyzing texts, and learning foreign languages. For me, words are magical, majestic, mysterious; every word counts, carries its own weight, and has its own particular valence.

But how exactly do words acquire charge? In reality, words are neutral. It’s the context (who’s speaking, to whom, where, how, when, why), and the energy behind the words that matter. It’s the feeling with which words are written or spoken that imbues them with force. Energy, more than content, is what persuades, dissuades, convinces, evinces, disheartens or uplifts. If you’ve ever seen a great speaker, leader, actor, kindergarten teacher or the dog whisperer in action, you have a sense of what I mean. Children and animals, especially, are adept at sensing congruence or contradiction between your words and your vibe. If your energy is congruent, it’s easier to put others at ease and command respect.

This, I decided, was Nelly Odessa’s secret. The first thing I noticed about Nelly was her vibrant physical presence and energy. Week after week, she came to the Acting for Non-Actors workshop pumped up, and got her students enthused and excited (not a small feat considering the class was held on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m.). How did she do it? How did she get a group of rational adults to not only jump up and down on one leg, croak like a frog, and pretend to interact with imaginary objects, but to love doing so? Over the course of the 6-week workshop, I began observing and thinking about energy: what it is, how to get it, how to change it, how to direct it.

These are some of my observations:

• Energy is primarily physical – action-driven – not mood-driven
• Energy is fluid, not innate or static (you can change your energy at any time)
• Energy begets more energy (the more you put in, the more you get back)
• Energy is relational (you can derive energy from or impart energy to your surroundings)
• Energy is transferable (the dominant energy in a room will affect everyone else’s energy)
• Energy is always authentic (the content of your message isn’t as important as its vibe, and how it makes others feel around you)

Of these concepts, the two that most profoundly changed (because they challenged) my beliefs and behavior are 1) taking action is the most effective way of managing your energy, and 2) energy never lies. Your energy may be influenced by thoughts and feelings, but even if you don’t feel like doing something, or think you can do it, acting in spite of your dominant mood can change your mood. Many of us came to class tired and distracted, and went home more animated and present-focused. Like other things I love doing – teaching French, running, practicing martial arts – acting left me more energized, not less, even if I went into it lethargic and apprehensive.

I initially signed up for Nelly’s workshop thinking it would help me get more in touch with my emotions. What I discovered was that my emotions weren’t something to be passively accessed, but could be created and changed through my behavior. I also believed that greater emotional intuition would to lead to more authentic self-expression. I still think this is true, but I came to realize that authenticity in expression doesn’t come from finding the perfect words to express a set of feelings, but from the intention behind your message. It’s the energy – your energy – not necessarily the specific content of your words that people respond to. In acting class, we focused not on memorizing lines perfectly, but on getting the energy of a scene right. That energy came through engaging in action – gestures, small and large, movement, voice modulation, and so forth – and through achieving a certain tension between action and emotional resonance.

            I am grateful to Nelly and my fellow acting students for sharing their energy with me, and for reminding me of the joy of pure play. But above all, I am grateful for the sense of empowerment gained through acting: Just as emotion can determine energy, energy can determine emotion; just as beliefs can influence behavior, behavior can influence beliefs; you can let your actions be guided by your emotional energy, or transform your energy through your actions. We are not slaves to our emotions, beliefs or biology. We can control and change our energy states, and consequently, our impact. Just act.

Written by: Diana King

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Bio

Diana is an aspiring comparative literature scholar. She grew up in New York watching nature documentaries, Woody Allen and Ingmar Bergman films, and 80s cartoons.