This page includes your 10 Day Calendar, along with recommendations for each of the 5 daily activities. Print out the Calendar and post it so it’s visible. You choose each day’s activities from in the instructions (or create your own!), then write them in the Calendar. You make the schedule. This is your commitment to yourself. And just for fun, we’ll offer a focus every day in our Audios; something we want you to think about letting go.
Ok, here's how it works
Download the 10 Day Challenge Calendar and put it in a place that is easily visible as it will be your touchstone. Planning is key for this journey so use the calendar and plan ahead!
Listed below are the 5 daily tasks. We recommend that you read the instructions for each activity, place each activity on your 10 Day calendar accordingly, and prepare any resources you might need to complete your activites.
Follow your calendar and complete each activity! Use the daily audio clip to help you work through your Meditation and Writing activities. And remember, you should be completing 5 activities every day:
Meditation - Writing - Movement - Acting - Giving
Where does artistry start? It starts inside of you. You are unique to the universe and the expression of your unique emotional experience is what acting is all about. But before you can express that fully, you have to have a clear sense of who you are, of how you’re unique. When you know yourself, when you walk into an audition room, on set or on stage with true self-knowing, you become like a rooted tree. Yes the winds of the business will blow and you’ll sway one way or the other, but you’ll remain rooted. “Bad feedback” won’t wreck you. You’ll be excited about the possibility of booking but you won’t obsess over it.
Every day of our 10 day Meditation journey will start with a guided meditation and then we will sit in silent contemplation. We will gently increase our silent time over the course of our 10 days together. All you need is a quiet, comfortable place, a device with which to listen, and headphones, preferably ones that help keep out any distractions and help focus you inward.
Writing is an essential part of an actor’s life. It’s an amazing form of creative expression that only requires yourself (and a pen and paper). It’s a form of meditation. It can clarify your thoughts, allow for deep-self reflection, and when structured in certain ways, can lead to scripts and scenes that offer an actor creative and financial opportunity.
For your daily writing, you’ll need a journal and pen. No keyboards or iPad typing here. Find a place where you can write undisturbed, perhaps in or close to your designated meditation spot. You’ll write for a few minutes, increasing the time over the course of the 10 days. So, go to the Meditation and Writing Audio page every day, click that day’s audio link, and you’re on your way (or listen to the audio for that day if you have chosen to download the files). It’s best to go in order.
You are your instrument. All of you. Body and mind. To do what you want to do creatively and professionally your mind and body have to work together. While going to the gym and lifting weights or running on a treadmill are fine, often our bodies and minds aren’t working together. Often we’re working out for vanity or to achieve some sort of physical ideal that reveals that we’re not happy with who we are. In that state, our minds and bodies are disconnected. For at least 30 minutes a day for 10 days you’re going to move with mindfulness to achieve balance, wholeness, and good health (all of which lead to beauty). What connects your body and mind when you’re moving is breath. Breath is the key. So, pick one of the following for each day of the 10 Day Actor’s Challenge or come up with your own. Write them down on your Artistic Calendar so you can plan to do each one each day for 10 days. Yes, you can do the same exercise on two or more days. But try to switch it up. Move with mindfulness. Move with breath. Lose yourself, look inside, discover what the movement does to your mind, your body, your spirit.
It’s what you do. It’s who you are. And yet very few actors actually make a point of staying in the kind of practice required to achieve their creative and professional goals. Very few actors act every day. Many don’t do it every week. You’re going to act every day for 10 days. In one form or another, you will engage in your acting life daily. Exercises, scenes, explorations, observations. You’re going to do it! Pick one for each day of the 10 Day Actor’s Challenge or come up with one of your own. A few of your choices may require some planning so do just that. Write them on your Calendar so you can plan to do one each day, every day, for 10 days. Here are some recommendations:
The practice of giving without hope of reward kills bitterness and narcissism. It gets you out of your own way and puts you in the practice of truly seeing outside of yourself so that you can really take in the reader in an audition or your scene partner on set or on stage. The practice of giving allows you to walk into any room, focused on what you need, and then give to the reader, as opposed to focusing on what you can do to book the job or protect your own feelings, etc. Giving helps you let go of money attachment, leaving room for money to come in. Some options are below. Choose one for each day of the 10 Day Challenge or come up with your own. Write them down on your Calendar so you can plan to do one each day, every day, for 10 days. And remember, in all of this, never expect anything in return.
Remember to plan ahead, try your absolute best to complete each day, and most importantly HAVE FUN!!
Now get out of here and begin your journey!!
Join the BGB 10 Day Actor’s Challenge Facebook Group to stay connected. Share your experiences and discoveries with us at:
FB Group Here
Any Challenge questions? Email info@bramongarciabraun.com or call 818-755-9500 (On weekends it’s best to email.) Please remember that these pages are confidential.