Emotional Presence

Emotional Presence

Some scientists believe that the heart has its own nervous system separate from the brain. When we receive information from the exterior field, the heart is the first responder, releasing information immediately to the brain which names and systematizes it. This is extraordinary news. As theatre artists, we learn to return to what I call First Response, our instinctive spontaneous response to stimuli. This first response, or heart response, is deeply connected to creative thinking. Training to access this First Response, to respond spontaneously from our deepest instincts, is key to creativity and innovation. Kinesthetic response–different from reactivity, its connected to reception, being able to tell what is an authentic impulse or instinct and what is a pattern or habit of learned autobiographical response.