2.4 Meditation and Contemporary Theatre

The mystical experience can be induced through two separate pathways: lowered or 'trophotropic' arousal, which includes relaxation and meditation; and heightened or 'ergotropic' arousal, characterised by absorption in physical movement or activity. In this section two particular disciplines shall be explored which can induce a mystical experience from a trophotropic or ergotropic pathway, respectively. Practitioners from both disciplines are the subjects of this research. A particular form of meditation within the Tantra Yoga tradition shall be explored as a trophotropic pathway to the mystical state whilst, contemporary theatre in the Grotowski and Barba traditions shall be discussed as an ergotropic pathway to altered levels of consciousness. The role of attention, as essential in both studies of mysticism and WM will be highlighted.

Tantra Yoga has its origins 5000BC in Eastern India. The term tantra means 'liberation through expansion' and yoga can be translated as the 'union of a human soul with a divine soul' (Abhidhyan Yoga Institute, 1997). The discipline uses both physical and mental faculties to arrive to its spiritual aims. The most common means, which are often practised conjointly to reach spiritual enlightenment, are hatha, or 'physical' yoga, and sadhana or 'meditation', which literally means 'effort'. Hatha yoga prepares the body for the spiritual path via physical and breathing exercises. It is the most superficial component of Tantra yoga for it merely prepares and conditions the body so that the individual can practice meditation with fewer obstacles. The main components of hatha yoga are the postures or asanas. The word 'asana' means 'comfortable, stable poise' (Abhidhyan Yoga Institute, 1997). The aim of the asanas is for the meditator to learn to control his or her breathing.

A particular asana, the 'lotus', is considered to be the best posture for meditation. In lotus, the spine locks in a straight position and the posture can be maintained for a long time without breaks in concentration. Maintaining a straight spine is important for meditation since the poise permits the rising of kundalini, or 'spiritual energy,' from the lowest chakra at the base of the spine to the highest at the crown of the head (Abhidhyan Yoga Institute, 1997). According to tantrik teachings, 'chakras' are energy centres located in various parts of the body, through which spiritual energy can flow. The rising of kundalini during meditation marks the onset of a mystical experience.

'Sadhana' or tantrik meditation involves concentrating on a particular object or thought, such as a candle flame, image of a deity or a mantra, for a stretch of time, which can take from less than 30 minutes to long hours. One of the commonest forms of meditation, which is also used by meditators studied in this dissertation, is focusing on a 'mantra'. 'Mantra' literally means 'that which liberates the mind' (Acarya, 1990). The mantra is often a word in Sanskrit, which is given in secret by a spiritual master to a disciple. Each meditator has his or her particular mantra to concentrate upon during meditation.

Meditation almost invariably induces relaxation, and a feeling of inner peace, as it reduces the stream of thoughts coming to mind. These characteristics are inherent to the trophotropic pathway to a mystical experience.

Whilst few sceptics would negate that meditation has the potential of leading to a mystical experience, since the practice has been commonly linked to the esoteric, it might not be immediately obvious why contemporary theatre has been chosen as a discipline characterised by ergotropic arousal. In the following section, literature pertaining to a particular branch of contemporary theatre, that inspired by Grotowski and Barba, will be explored as a potential means of achieving an altered state of consciousness.

2.4.2 Ergotropic discipline: Grotowski's Contemporary Theatre

Marowitz (1978) described contemporary theatre as "a theatre that induces trance, as the dances of the dervishes induce trance" (p.100). But whilst the Dervish spins to reach the altered state, the actor enters into an altered state for the sake of his or her art. Marowitz (1978) strengthens his argument by showing how the theatre itself can be compared to a religious ritual, with its darkened room, communal presence, intense concentration and the evocation of non-existent people and events. It is not surprising that acting has been described as a "transcendent art" (Braun, 1987 p. 194) and a "quasi religious testimony" (Schechner, 1985, p. 255). Indeed in the classical traditions of Asian theatres, the continuity between the theatrical performances and ceremonial or meditative practices is so normal that their respective languages often intermix (Barba, 1995).

Both Grotowski and Barba have worked to distil from performances and religious rituals around the world the elements in common which are objective, that is, which are based on physiological and/or archetypal systems and therefore touch the deepest realities in the self (Schechner, 1985). The heartbeat; breathing patterns; certain pitches and precise progressions of sound; certain facial displays; body and hand positions; and body movements constitute for Grotowski an intercultural or universal performative system. His aim was to identify, isolate and then teach performers these elements separate from their religious/ideological content These objective elements are mainly preserved in the world's various liturgical and ritualistic performances. (Schechner, 1985).

Grotowski has worked on this project in distinct phases called: the Poor Theatre (1959-1969), the Theatre of Participation (1969-1976), the Theatre of Sources (1976-1982), and Objective Drama (1983-1986). His earliest phase was born by establishing a small, experimental theatre company in his homeland Poland, which he called Laboratory Theatre (Braun, 1987). During the second phase, Grotowski and his actors stopped producing public performances altogether and focused instead on perfecting their training. Grotowski's later phases have been characterised by a stronger focus on distilling elements from the training process, by bringing together masters from various performance traditions to study the common elements in their disciplines (Schechner, 1985).

Barba has been greatly influenced by Grotowski ever since he worked on the Poor Theatre project. His collaboration with Grotowski continued since Barba himself was interested in 'theatre anthropology,' or the study of common elements in performance training around the world. Barba established the Odin Teatret, which continues to produce new and exciting works. Unlike Grotowski, Barba has remained in the theatre and is recognised today as a major director, theorist and pedagogue (Watson, 1995).

When Grotowski started his Laboratory Theatre its aim was to offer a small group of actors the possibility of working in absolute concentration over unlimited time (Brook, 1981). The intention was not to train the actor in a collection of skills. Rather Grotowski focused the actors' training on developing 'pychophysical techniques', that is, techniques which engaged totally the actor's mind and body in the moment (Zarrilli, 1995). This is concordant with the prerequisites for ergotropic arousal: full attention on the physical process currently engaged in.

The aim of Grotowski's training was to guide the actor to achieve appropriate attention. However, though the process itself depended to some extent on being concentrated, Grotowski (1981) believed that "the requisite state of mind is a passive readiness ... a state in which one does not want to do that but rather resigns from not doing it" (p. 17). This is the process Grotowski calls via negativa, where the actor eliminates blocks to his creativity which come from self-consciousness (Braun, 1987). By being solely concentrated on the actual exercises, like the meditator who focuses on the mantra, the via negativa creates a passive readiness for the mystical experience to be induced.

The training method itself was often rigorous and required not only physical dexterity and stamina but also mental perseverance, as it often took long hours, several days a week. Marijnen (1981) describes the following characteristics of Grotowski's training regimen:

• absolute silence from all present in the room;

• exclusion of all thoughts from the mind;

• full engagement of the whole body in all the exercises, including the vocal ones;

• intense concentration accompanying each movement, together with complete control of the body and respiration. Most of the exercises were based on the principles of hatha yoga.

Lendra (1995), a Balinese performer, who participated in Grotowski's Objective Drama project recalls that these exercises often altered his consciousness, producing a trance-like quality which he had previously witnessed in Balinese religious practices and performing arts. He describes a particularly intense physical exercise, called the Motions, whose aim was to awake the "innate physical power... which the Hindu tradition refers to as the sleeping energy at the bottom of the spine" (Lendra, 1995, p. 153). This is a similar to the aim of tantrik meditation, where the meditators strive to arise their sleeping energy, kundalini.

Similarly, members of Barba's Odin Teatret, like Grotowski's Laboratory Theatre, train for long hours several times a week. Their training is also very physically demanding and rigorous, and has been influenced by performance techniques from different cultures. Indeed, an Odin physical training session, like the training sessions of the contemporary theatre group being studied in this dissertation, with their emphasis on improvisation, seem to be more like arbitrary displays of physical exercises, than classical theatre rehearsals. There are no teachers; no clearly identifiable skills being learned; the actors are not doing scenes from the play, nor do they seem to be exploring characterisation. Despite the fact that people are together in a room, each is focused on his or her work. But the performers' attention is focused, and even in the simplest of sequences most of them sweat profusely, suggesting that they are working very hard even in the most undemanding tasks (Watson, 1995). The actors repeat the same sequence of actions in every session, indicating that the improvised exercises are not as arbitrary as they seem to be, but are rather based on specific techniques (Watson, 1995).

Barba (1995) describes the term 'technique' as a particular use of the body. He differentiates between normal 'daily techniques,' which generally follow the principle of minimum effort, that is, obtaining a maximum result with a minimum expenditure of energy; and 'extra-daily techniques', which pertain to the performance arts, and are based, on the wasting of energy. Barba (1995) notes that extra-daily techniques follow an opposite principle to that of daily techniques: maximum commitment of energy for a minimal result. This is concordant with ergotropic arousal since maximum energy can only be propelled in an activity if there is maximal attention.

A common element in both meditation and contemporary theatre is the intense concentration, which characterises both activities. This makes both disciplines likely candidates for inducing a mystical experience. Both disciplines can therefore be studied empirically to explore whether the process of attention employed in them is influencing the practitioners' working memory.

2.5 Conclusion

This dissertation is striving to probe on new ground. As far as I have been able to ascertain, no research has as yet been undertaken, which explores Baars' (1988) Global Workspace theory of consciousness from the viewpoint of altered consciousness. Nor has any work been done to explore the possible effect of repeated attention exercises on working memory.

The role of attention in baseline consciousness, mystical consciousness, working memory and in the disciplines explored in this study, has been especially highlighted. Indeed attention has been presented as the fine thread which can bridge two seemingly opposite ends of a continuum of psychology fields: the highly subjective and experiential mystical experience, stemming from the realm of theology and the psychology of religion; to the highly objective and empirically-based concept of working memory, branching from cognitive psychology and the neurosciences.

The main aims of the literature review were to provide an adequate balance of the ingredients of consciousness studies, mysticism, working memory, meditation and contemporary theatre, whilst highlighting the role of attention in each. All throughout an effort has been made to illustrate clearly and concisely the most salient points of these constructs which shed further light on this study. The synthesis they offer also prepares a fertile ground to explore the methodology of the research which will be discussed in the next chapter.