Can an actor be calm, regulated, and still emotionally unavailable?

In this episode of The Actor’s Nervous System, I sit down with Alycia LaPonte — a licensed professional counselor and actress — to explore a distinction that can completely change the way actors think about nervous-system regulation.

Because what if “being regulated” isn’t the same thing as being available?

We talk about the ways actors can become disconnected while trying to stay composed, and the opposite problem: being highly activated while still completely available to the moment. We explore what happens when an actor is being watched, evaluated, or rejected — and how self-monitoring can pull attention away from the actual work.

Alycia brings her experience in both acting and counseling psychology to questions around psychological safety, audition anxiety, perfectionism, boundaries, identity, and the pressure actors put on themselves to get things “right.”

We also talk about Meisner’s “moment before,” protecting characters without judging them, grounding before and after stepping into character, and why learning to come back to yourself can matter just as much as learning to access emotion.

And we get practical: Alycia shares several tools actors can experiment with, including breath work, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and self-compassion practices.

At the center of the conversation is a question actors don't always ask:

Are you actually available to experience what is happening — or are you just good at staying composed?

The Actor’s Nervous System explores acting, embodiment, psychology, and the nervous system.

Podcast created, hosted, and edited by Brian Zane.

Follow @theactorsnervoussystem on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack.

If you'd like to support the show, you can buy me a coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/brianzane.

Learn more: https://brianzane.com

What if sexual energy and creative energy are connected?

I sit down with Josephine Lauer, an embodied leadership and sacred intimacy coach based in Chicago and host of Universal Intimacy, for a conversation that takes The Actor’s Nervous System somewhere new.

We explore embodiment, intuition, archetypes, surrender, presence, and Josephine’s perspective on the relationship between sexual and creative energy. She shares the personal journey that led her into somatic and tantric practice, and we talk about what actors might learn from approaches centered on becoming more fully expressed and available to experience.

I also reflect on connections I notice between Josephine’s ideas and experiences from my own acting training, including practices around emptying, releasing tension, conserving energy, and presence.

We close with a guided embodiment practice led by Josephine involving breath, sound, grounding, visualization, and awareness of the body.

The Actor’s Nervous System explores acting, embodiment, psychology, and the nervous system.

Podcast episode shot at Chicago Podcast Studio. Studio Engineer and Video Editor: Luke Bechtel.

Podcast created and hosted by Brian Zane.

Follow @theactorsnervoussystem on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack.

What happens when two podcast hosts exploring the same territory finally sit down and compare notes? I'm joined by Amy Schloerb, host of The Aligned Actor, for a conversation about mindfulness, presence, and what actually gets in the way of actors staying grounded. We talk about being comfortable "in the shit," why pretending you don't want something is usually a sign you want it badly, and why acknowledging a hard feeling is often the fastest way through it. We also try something new on the show — a live, unscripted improv exercise, right in the middle of the conversation — plus a demonstration of a technique for interrupting exhausting, repetitive thoughts.

The Actor's Nervous System explores acting, embodiment, psychology, and the nervous system.

Follow @theactorsnervoussystem on Instagram, TikTok, and Substack. If you'd like to support the show, you can buy me a coffee at buymeacoffee.com/brianzane.

Care harder. Try harder. Hold on tighter — that's what we're taught actors and artists need to do. What if it's exactly what's working against us? I sit down with DeAnna S. Wright — MFA-trained actor, director, and educator — for a conversation about letting go of gripping so tightly and trusting the circumstances to carry you, instead of carrying them yourself. DeAnna and I go back to our FSU/Asolo Conservatory days together, where she returned to teach text work and acting alongside Andrei Malaev-Babel — so this one's got real shared history behind it. We talk about caring less without caring less, the body as "a dress for the soul," nervous system tension in the solar plexus before an audition, and what it means to bring gratitude and intention into a rehearsal room.

The Actor's Nervous System explores acting, embodiment, and the nervous system. Follow @theactorsnervoussystem on Instagram and Substack — and we're now on TikTok too!

If you'd like to support the show, you can buy me a coffee at buymeacoffee.com/brianzane 🎙️

What does it actually mean to get out of your own way? I sit down with Andrew Bosworth — actor, teacher, and curator of Demidov Chicago — for a conversation that's both personal and professional. Andrew was one of the people who first introduced me to Demidov technique back in 2020, and here we trace his path: an undergrad program that left him coasting on instinct with no real training, grad school under Andre Malaev-Babel, and eventually becoming a certified teacher of the technique himself. We talk about the bravery Demidov asks of an actor — the cliff metaphor of throwing yourself off and trusting your scene partner to catch you — why mainstream acting technique has been "sanded down," and Demidov's story of a cat wandering onto a stage that reveals what real aliveness looks like on stage. We also get into what it means to teach rather than perform this work, and a closing practice for learning to truly see something without trying to interpret it.

The Actor's Nervous System explores acting, embodiment, and the nervous system. Follow @theactorsnervoussystem on Instagram and Substack.

What does surrendering control actually look like in the body? I sit down with actor, musician, and yoga practitioner Hetty-Jo Taylor for a conversation about neurodivergence, letting go of the need to control a performance, and the years she spent away from acting — in yoga, in luxury brand management, and eventually back again with a completely different relationship to her body. We talk about the nervous system states that show up before an audition, why "keeping busy" can be its own kind of avoidance, and a moment that echoes Demidov's practice of emptying before an etude — arrived at from a totally different direction. Hetty also walks through nadi shodhana, a breathing practice for rebalancing the nervous system, live on the episode.

Find Hetty here:
Instagram: @hettyperforms
Personal/yoga: @wellhettysays

The Actor's Nervous System explores acting, embodiment, psychology, and the nervous system.

Follow along on Instagram and Substack: @theactorsnervoussystem
Email: theactorsnervoussystempodcast@gmail.com
Music by Penguinmusic ("Thoughtful Minimal Ambient") from Pixabay.
Podcast created, hosted, and edited by Brian Zane.
Learn more: https://brianzane.com

What does a neuroscientist who treats trauma have in common with a 20th century Russian acting teacher? More than you would think.

In this episode, Brian Zane sits down with Jenna Pacelli - licensed therapist, molecular neuroscientist, and founder of The Holistic Neuroscientist - for a wide-ranging conversation about presence, the nervous system, trauma, creativity, and what it actually means to be in your body.

Jenna shares her journey from wilderness therapy with at-risk youth to somatic experiencing and nervous system regulation. She talks about why talk therapy alone was not enough, what dissociation actually looks like in the body, and how presence is not just a feeling but a trainable skill.

The conversation touches on sense memory vs. the subconscious approach in acting, the "1% less bad" technique for staying present in intense emotional states, and a surprising overlap between the Demidov technique and the foundations of somatic experiencing.

Featured guest: Jenna Pacelli - The Holistic Neuroscientist
Instagram: @theholisticneuroscientist
Website: https://www.jennapacelli.com/

The Actor's Nervous System explores the intersection of acting, embodiment, psychology, neuroscience, and the creative process.
Follow along on Instagram and Substack: @theactorsnervoussystem
Email us at: theactorsnervoussystempodcast@gmail.com
Music by Penguinmusic and QuietPhase from Pixabay.
Podcast created, hosted, and edited by Brian Zane.
Learn more: https://brianzane.com

How do you learn lines? Most actors have been taught to memorize as quickly as possible, get the words into their heads, and move on to the "real" work of acting. But what if the way we learn our lines is actually shaping the way we perform them?

In this episode of The Actor's Nervous System, I explore the relationship between memorization, anxiety, embodiment, and creative freedom through my own experience playing Arthur Birling in An Inspector Calls during my first year of graduate school.

I share how I discovered that I hadn't just learned the lines — I had assigned the anxiety right along with them. The idea that the nervousness we experience while learning lines can become associated with the lines themselves was something I learned from Andrei Malaev-Babel during my graduate training.

Using the Demidov acting technique and the practice of "assigning" text, we explore:

• Why learning lines is more than storing words in your memory

• How the nervous system state you bring to rehearsal can follow you onto the stage

• The difference between assigning text and performing text

• Why calm, curiosity, and patience create more freedom for the actor

• Practical approaches for working with difficult lines and building a deeper relationship with text

The question isn't only: "How do I memorize my lines?" The deeper question is: What am I building into myself while I learn them?

The Actor's Nervous System explores the intersection of acting, embodiment, psychology, neuroscience, and the creative process.

Follow along on Instagram and Substack: @theactorsnervoussystem

Email us at: the actorsnervoussystempodcast@gmail.com

Music by Penguinmusic and QuietPhase from Pixabay.

Podcast created, hosted, and edited by Brian Zane.

Learn more:https://brianzane.com