Abstract

Over the last decade, developments of thinking within the field of consciousness studies include the position of embodied consciousness, understood to mean either that consciousness is not only related to the brain but that other parts of the body are involved in consciousness as well, or, in a more moderate form, that ‘embodied mental capacities are ones that depend on mental representations or processes that relate to the body’ (Prinz, 2008, p. 419).

Centuries ago, Indian Vedanta philosophy developed a thorough understanding of the intimate relationship of consciousness and body as ultimately not two separate entities, no matter how intimately related, or with one dominating the other, but quite literally as one and the same. In this chapter I explain this position and against that background I develop my argument for the importance of not only warm-up, but also cool-down for the actor’s professional achievement and personal well-being: warm-up allows the unity of consciousness and body to shift from the daily mode of functioning to the extra-daily mode of performance. According to Richard Schechner, the typical experience of acting in the theatre comprises seven more or less distinct elements: ‘training, workshops, rehearsals, warm-ups, performance, cool-down and aftermath’ (1985, p. 16). From among these seven elements, the chapter focuses on warm-up and cool-down in the context of embodied consciousness.