IN THIS EPISODE, we talk about how Fay's method, The Lucid Body, is really human training disguised as acting training, developing compassion in the face of turmoil and trauma, the "shadow" and working with it, how chakras apply to everyone (actors and otherwise!) way more practically than their woo-woo associations imply, how to forgive and develop compassion and why it's essential, and SO MUCH MORE.
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Fay Simpson is a celebrated and visionary artistic director, acting teacher, and the founder of The Lucid Body. Informed by her 20-year career in dance and theatre, Fay created The Lucid Body as a process of introspection, exertion, and mental challenge which empowers actors to express their fullest potential. She conducts private classes and training workshops for other teachers at her Manhattan studio, The Lucid Body House. She is currently writing the 2nd edition of her book The Lucid Body; A Guide for the Physical Actor which has been hailed as “one of the ten most essential books for the actor.”
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An award-winning performer and writer, Fay is currently an Associate Arts Professor in the NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program, Fay has taught at The Yale School of Drama, The New School, Michael Howard Studios, The Studio/NY, Marymount Manhattan College, and the Actor’s Center. She is also the Artistic Director of the not-for-profit Impact Theatre, which she co-founded in 1990 as a collective of physical theatre artists devising work with a social bite.
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Show notes:
Three-week The Lucid Body intensive in Bali (co-led by Fay)
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This episode is sponsored by Let [A Podcast] Out. Wanna start your own podcast but don’t know where to begin? Let [A Podcast] Out is a comprehensive workshop for anyone looking to host, produce, and launch a podcast of their own. This 8 module workshop is designed to answer every question you have about podcasting. Former WANTcast guest Katie Dalebout is the OG of podcasting and the person I go to when I’m feeling lost or alone in this crazy podcasting world. Her goal is to make the whole pod process easier to navigate, and to help you dial down the logistics so you can focus on crafting the best content.
Head over to LetAPodcastOut.club and Use code WANT for $25 off the course.
Christen is a feminist, an activist, a self-defense instructor, and co-founder of She’s the First, a non-profit that fights gender inequality through education.
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She's the First began as a grassroots movement in 2009, and has since grown into a worldwide movement with programs in 21 countries. STF partners with local organizations to support programming for girls, including training and grants for capacity building; the organization also trains students on more than 200 high schools and universities in 10 countries to be gender activists.
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Christen has spearheaded change by leading focus groups on uncovering reasons for high drop-out rates in West Africa, creating a framework for understanding community priorities in rural Nepal, and consulting on pregnancy policies in Uganda. Above all else, Christen works to ensure that girls' voices are heard first.
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In this episode, we talk about how to find your change-making sweet spot and direction, the power of providing education, examining privilege and using it for good, misconceptions around how to make an impact (I learned a new word: voluntourism!) and so much more.
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SHOW NOTES:
She's The First
STF on Instagram
Christen's website
@cjbrandt on Instagram
@cjbrandt on Twitter
@nowhitesaviors on Instagram
The Center for Anti-Violence Education
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This episode is sponsored by Let [A Podcast] Out. Wanna start your own podcast but don’t know where to begin? Let [A Podcast] Out is a comprehensive workshop for anyone looking to host, produce, and launch a podcast of their own. This 8 module workshop is designed to answer every question you have about podcasting. Former WANTcast guest Katie Dalebout is the OG of podcasting and the person I go to when I’m feeling lost or alone in this crazy podcasting world. Her goal is to make the whole pod process easier to navigate, and to help you dial down the logistics so you can focus on crafting the best content.
Head over to LetAPodcastOut.club and Use code WANT for $25 off the course.
Friendship, just like any relationship, is a risk. Will they like me? Will I fit in? And while certain aspects of adulthood make friend-finding more challenging, there's a self-awareness we have as adults that lends itself to some of the most important, fulfilling connections of our lives. That self-awareness can also be our biggest enemy.
In today's episode, we talk about finding female friends that are your SOUL friends, and finding communities in which you feel like you truly BELONG. What holds us back from being in the types of communities and friendships we long for, and how to take steps to create the kinds of bonds that are fulfilling, rich, and real.
SHOW NOTES:
New York Times article - Why Is It Hard To Make Friends Over 30?
WSJ article - The Science Of Making Friends
WANT post - It's Not About The Bestie
Sign up for The (Good) Word, our monthly email digest
Check out She's The First, this season's spotlight
Let's be friends on Instagram!
Like this episode? Take a screenshot + share on social, leave a review on iTunes, share it on Facebook, tweet it out on Twitter, or post it on Instagram. Be sure to use the hashtags #WANTcast and #womenagainstnegativetalk!
Orthorexia nervosa is a sickly ironic twist on healthy eating, a laugh in the face of nutrition facts. It’s what used to be called an EDNOS: Eating Disorder Not Specified. The term “orthorexia” was coined circa 1997 by a doctor who suffered from the condition himself: there was no name for this condition, therefore there was no research. And since there was no research, it was just deemed a vague, disordered set of habits. Still, 20 years later, the information about Orthorexia out in the world – and by the world, meaning The Internet, of course – is mostly the same words regurgitated over and over. Speculation. Haziness.
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The worst part? Orthorexia is still not recognized by some doctors as a “real” eating disorder.
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I mean, what?
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Isn’t any form of an eating disorder a “real” eating disorder?
Orthorexia and other EDsNOS don’t always result in extreme weight loss. For me, it did. But even in my healing process, my weight fluctuated up and down – it was never a true indication of whether I’d moved forward or not.
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So how do you know that you or a loved one might be on the orthorexic path – or developing disordered eating habits? Here’s some signs you might need to intervene, and some things that worked for me when I was at my all-time low and decided I’d had enough.
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SHOW NOTES:
The Recovery Myth on WANT
NEDA
National Alliances On Mental Illnesses
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Like this episode? Leave a review on iTunes, share it on Facebook, tweet it out on Twitter, or post it on Instagram. Be sure to use the hashtags #WANTcast, #womenagainstnegativetalk, and/or #WANTyourself!
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Today’s episode is sponsored by Marie Forleo’s B-School, an 8-week online course for creative entrepreneurs that gives you the tools, strategies, clarity, and guidance to create the business you’ve always wanted to see in the world. Sign up at http://share.marieforleobschool.com/WANT (I’ll be doing it again this year, so we’ll be schoolmates!)