Studies in Theatre and Performance Volume 27 Number 3 2007 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/stap.27.3.

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Michael Chekhov and the embodied imagination: Higher self and non-self
Jerri Daboo Abstract
Michael Chekhov developed a series of exercises, influenced in part by the work of Rudolf Steiner, which explore a psychophysical approach to training and performing. This article discusses his ideas and techniques in relation to the phenomenon of the embodied imagination for the actor; ways in which imagining can create a direct and altering effect on the physiology of the body; and how this can be utilised by the actor in creating a character, which they both are-and-are-not. The embodied imagination will be examined through theories from neurophysiology and sports psychology, which offer a means of articulating the connection between body and mind, and the importance of self and self-imaging from a scientific perspective. An exploration of Chekhovs Imaginary Body exercises leads into a re-examination of this through notions of the Higher Self within Anthroposophy, and non-self within Buddhism, to suggest that if the actor is engaged in the process of imagining through the body, then their sense of self is forgotten, and the embodied imagination alters the psychophysicality to be/become that of the character. This article examines a psychophysical approach to the imagination, using aspects from Buddhist philosophy and practice as a framework to offer a particular lens for articulating the complexity of the relationship of the actor to their sense of self , and the process of creating a character. This view of an embodied paradigm of the imagination will be examined through the work of Michael Chekhov, both in terms of his theories of the notion of the Higher Self, and also how it operates at a pragmatic level within his exercises. My research includes principles from neurophysiology and sports psychology that explore ways in which the imagination can have a direct and altering affect on the physiology of the body, and how this relates to the creation of self-image, and the sense of self . These principles are significant within the argument of this article, and are placed at the opening to offer a scientific understanding of the phenomenon, which will be reflected in both the examination of Buddhist insights, and Michael Chekhovs approach to the psychophysical creation of a character.

Keywords
Michael Chekhov psychophysical Steiner Buddhism sports psychology

What you see is what you get

Moshe Feldenkrais, in his system of bodymind movement and somatic exercises, states that when a particular exercise has become familiar, it should be practised again solely in the imagination, and then afterwards performed physically. Not only, he believed, would this create a clear self-image for the
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practitioner, something he felt was unfamiliar to most people, but also that improvement is greater through visualization than through action (Feldenkrais 1972: 137). If the movements are performed on, for example, the right side and then just imagined on the left side, the action on the left side would be visualised as being of a better quality than that on the right side. This is because the right side is still working physically with old habits in terms of tensions and restrictions in the body, whereas the left side has been imagined differently, and therefore moves differently in the visualising bodymind. Using the imagination may also prevent any actual physical injuries incurred through incorrect performance of the movement. In this way the embodied imagination, through changing the perception and selfbelief of how well the body can perform a movement, can potentially also alter the actuality of its execution. Through simply imagining doing a movement, the ability of the body to perform it will be increased through a change in the self-image. This approach in the work of Feldenkrais led me to examine research undertaken in neurophysiology and sports psychology, to question whether there is a scientific paradigm to explain why visualisation might have a direct influence on the physiology of the body. If this were so, what implications might this have for the actor using their imagination in a training or performance context? In his book Mind Sculpture Ian Robertson, a neurophysiologist at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, describes many experiments that have been conducted to explore the influence of imagining on the body. In one study listed by Yue and Cole in the Journal of Neurophysiology in 1992, the aim was to compare the effects of mental versus real practice in tensing and relaxing one finger of the left hand (Robertson 1999: 40). In sessions lasting four weeks, one group of participants physically did the exercises, one group imagined doing them, and a control group did neither. Testing afterwards demonstrated that the control group showed no improvement; the group who had performed the exercises physically had improved their finger strength by 30 per cent; and the group who had simply imagined the exercises had improved by an astonishing 22 per cent. In another case, people imagined they were running on a treadmill that was going at different speeds. Even though they were not physically moving, their heart rate and breathing increased in direct proportion to the speed of the mental treadmill (Robertson 1999: 40). Robertsons theory as to why the mental visualisation would have such an effect on the body is centred around Hebbian Learning, named after Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb who, in what has been known as Hebbs Rule since 1949, suggested that learning could be based on changes in the brain that stem from the degree of correlated activity between neurons: if two neurons tend to be active together, their connection is strengthened, otherwise it is diminished. Therefore, the systems connectivity becomes inseparable from its history of transformation and related to the kind of task defined for the system (Varela, Thompson and Rosch 1999: 87). If different parts of the brain are stimulated through the nervous system
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by a physical sensation, they tend to become associated and will work together if one or the other is stimulated. If the connection is made often enough the pattern becomes imprinted, so if one part of the brain is activated, the related parts will automatically also be activated, and this will send the appropriate signals back down the nervous system to the relevant parts of the body to initiate physical action. The process of visualising a particular action also creates the connections in the brain which sends the signals into the related parts of the body, which is why imagining doing an exercise can have a physiological effect similar to that of actually physically doing the exercise, in that it stimulates the muscles, blood supply and nerves in that area. Krippner and Achterberg describe T. Barbers (1984) experiments which explored how imagining affects the blood supply in the body:
If . . . thoughts, images and feelings can produce variations in blood supply, it is likely that the blood flow to other parts of the body is continually affected by what people are thinking, imagining, and experiencing. . . . [B]y being deeply absorbed in imagining a physiological change, some individuals can evoke the same thoughts and feelings that are present when an actual physiological change occurs, hence stimulating the cells to produce the desired physiological change.
(Cardena et al. 2000: 377)

This principle has been used in the field of sports psychology, where the practice of the embodied imagination, of an athlete visualising themselves performing their sport, is known as mental practice. Sports psychologist Aidan Moran states that most contemporary sport psychologists would agree . . . that sport is played as much in the imagination as with the body (Moran 1996: 203). For professional golfer David Feherty, the only limits on what a player can score are imposed by his own imagination (Moran 1996: 202). When doing mental practice, the sportsperson imagines and feels themselves performing an action in a highly skilled way before or during the actual execution of a movement. When they visualise this movement, they see and sense themselves doing it perfectly, understand how the movement works, and kinaesthetically feel how it would be to perform it in the best way possible. For this to be effective, it has to be a very focused and precise use of the imagination, and takes a good deal of concentration and training. An Olympic springboard diver explained that
it took me a long time to control my images and perfect my imagery, maybe a year, doing it every day. At first I couldnt see myself or I would see my dives wrong all the time. As I continued to work at it, I got to the point where I could see myself doing a perfect dive.
(Hardy, Jones and Gould 1996: 29)

This also demonstrates the importance of self-image within this type of performance. Athletes visualise being able to perform their sport perfectly,
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which creates a different self-image, literally a different character with the ability to do things better, which can alter the belief and confidence in their actual abilities, that may help develop the physical patterns and movements of their body to be/become that image in reality. As sports psychologists Hardy, Jones and Gould state, recent research is certainly suggestive that what you see is what you get; that is, performers become confident by imagining themselves to be confident (Hardy, Jones and Gould 1996: 31). This is also used in imagining being the character or persona of a winner. One Olympic gold medal-winning pistol shooter said, I would imagine to myself, How would a champion act? How would a champion feel? How would she perform on the line? This helped me find out about myself, what worked and what didnt work for me. Then as the actual roles I had imagined came along, I achieved them, and that in turn helped me to believe that I would be the Olympic champion (Hardy, Jones and Gould 1996: 61). This brief investigation of aspects of neurophysiology and sports psychology has indicated the possibilities of the embodied imagination in creating an actual change in the physiology of the body, and supports Feldenkraiss use of the imagination as a means of helping to perform a movement in a better way in the imagination, which will in turn affect its physical actualisation. In addition, for both Feldenkrais and sports psychologists, the other important factor is that the imagination can prompt a change in the self-image, promoting the belief and confidence in the self of the sportsperson and leading to their performing the action in a more highly skilled manner, and also to their assuming the persona of a winner. This can only be achieved through the imagination being very focused, with a strong level of concentration. These aspects of the way in which the imagination can create a change in the body, the importance of concentration to achieve this, and an altering in self-image and the sense of self , will be utilised in the examination of the theory and exercises of Michael Chekhov, to question whether these ideas can also be applied to the work of an actor in a psychophysical approach to the creation of a character, whom they both are and are-not.

To imagine with the body

One of the key features in the work of Michael Chekhov is the development of exercises that involve the imagination, but an imagination that is completely embodied, and thus reflects the psychophysical interconnection between body and mind. In his opening statement in the first chapter of To the Actor, Chekhov states: It is a known fact that the human body and psychology influence each other and are in constant interplay. . . . [The actor] must strive for the attainment of complete harmony between the two (Chekhov 2002: 1). Towards the end of his life, in a recorded set of master-classes, he instructed that all our physical exercises will be considered and done as psychophysical exercises. . . . Everything like the development of our imagination or using of the psychological gesture, all such means makes physical exercises to psychophysical (Chekhov 1996: Tape 1).
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Chekhov stated that psychological qualities are embodied in, and expressed through, the physical body, and as such, there needs to be an understanding of the way in which this connection can be explored through the development of specific exercises based in action, gesture and imagination. It is through exploring the body with training methods which can free the physicality from its established habits and restrictions, that a way into embodying and expressing new or different psychological or mental states can be found. He believed that students must attempt to be fully aware of their body, and what it is capable of:
In order to know, the pupils must discover the possibilities of their own bodies must explore these possibilities as if for the first time and be aware every time they discover a new sensation or re-action during the movement exercises.
(Dartington Archives, a)

By developing this awareness and understanding of their physicality, actors can begin to explore the way in which this physicality can be developed and altered with the help of the imagination. Working with a specific image in mind can transform the physicality, and thus psychology, of the bodymind. In this way, the self of the actor can become a new psychophysical state of being, appropriate to the character in a particular moment in the dramaturgy of a play. I use the term state of being to indicate a specific set of patterns and reactions of body, mind and breath which are present or manifested in the actor in a given moment, which is creating the embodiment of a character. This will be examined further in the discussion on Buddhism, which inspired my use of the term. Chekhovs Imaginary Body exercises are a way of beginning to examine this process. In many ways the exercises are very simple. The actor imagines altering a specific part of their body, and observes how the resulting change in sensations can create a new physicality and psychology. Examples include imagining having a long, thin neck; no neck at all; being twenty feet tall; being three feet tall; having long hands, or short stubby hands; fingers made of glass, or twigs, or razors. The actor then begins to move, perform actions, speak lines etc., working with this embodied image of an altered physicality. In this way, the imagination is being used to create a change in the physical habitual patterns of the body, which also leads to a change in the self-image, as this new pattern leads to a transformed sense of self through its difference. Chekhov describes it thus:
If you imagine it [the Imaginary Body] you will see that you are so far from your own psychology that you have already plunged into another imaginary being; and you will have a different psychology and will speak and move differently. . . . The actor must be brave enough to say goodbye to his own stiff body and follow the suggestions of his imaginary body. He must enlarge his being and make his being flexible.
(Chekhov 1983: 78)

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Each of the different Imaginary Bodies will alter the psychophysical patterns, creating a new sense of self or state of being in that moment. Chekhov explains that imagining the body with a long, thin neck can promote the feeling of being constantly on the alert. This is already the psychology of your character. You have transformed your entire psychology by using only an image of the neck of your character (Chekhov 1996: Tape 1). This exercise allows the imagination to have an immediate, direct and altering effect on the entire bodymind, resulting in a transformation of self through engaging with the image of a different physicality. Chekhov explains that this ability of the Imaginary Body exercise is brought about through the concentration and will of the imagination, rather than the effort or deliberation of the thinking mind exerting control over the body.
We can easily imagine the arms and hands to be longer than they are perhaps six inches longer. If we do not force our physical arms and hands which will only make an unhealthy and bound impression but let our imagination live with these longer arms and hands, we will see how the arms and hands will change of themselves, not because we force them to become longer, but they will give the impression that they are longer. If we tried to stretch them, it will only give the impression that the actor is torturing himself, but if we rely upon the imaginative picture of these arms and hands, they will give the impression that they are longer. . . . If you force your physical body, then the whole thing could go to pieces because you might rely upon your physical body only, or repeat your old clichs.
(Chekhov 1985: 145, 146)

When the imagination is engaged with the action of the movement, then the psychophysical transformation can happen without any interference from the self of the actor trying to make it happen. As Chekhov said, let the Imaginary Body do the work for you (Chekhov 1996: Tape 1). The bodymind of the self of the actor may be restricted by habitual patterns and tensions, but the embodied imagination can offer limitless possibilities for altering these patterns, for becoming other. Chekhov himself had an extremely visual imagination, and was also greatly gifted as an artist. He could imagine characters in great detail, and stated that they would literally appear before him. When he started working on Hamlet, he was able to visualise that Hamlet really came and played for him, so he would watch something outside of himself performing (Powers 2003, personal interview). The pictures below demonstrate the way in which the initial visualised picture that Chekhov had and could sketch in such detail, would be manifested in his final performance on stage. The character sketch of the part of Foma Opiskin in Dostoyevskys Selo Stepanchikovo demonstrates his precise image of not only the outward appearance of the character and the make-up necessary to achieve this, but also a clear sense of the physicality in terms of gesture, posture and facial expression, and how this provides the defined quality of the characterisation.
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The photograph of Chekhovs actual performance in the role is strikingly in tune with that of his preliminary sketches of his visualisation for the embodiment of the part. Just as sportspeople need to develop a strong concentration on an image for it to be effective, Chekhov stressed that this is also important for actors in order to be able to imagine the character in front of them:
If you are making efforts to see a Figure 1: Chekhovs character sketches character you have to perform you for the part of Foma in Dostoyevskys must see it in your minds eye by Selo Stepanchikovo (Chekhov 1991: 119). making the effort. By making such efforts every day you will come to the point when your images will appear before you with such power and strength that you will be forced to stop your inner life and follow your image not because you force it but because it forces you to follow it. Then is the moment when you can say that you have developed your imagination to the necessary point. This is the actor or artists imagination the creative imagination which gives this blessed moment when the image appears before you of its own accord. To get this ability Figure 2: Chekhov performing in the you must expend tremendous activrole of Foma (Chekhov 1991: 119). ity and energy in doing exercises in which you try to see a definite character or image and penetrate into its life. . . . At the moment when your images begin to fly around you, inside of you, etc., you will not only have a developed imagination but your whole creative possibilities are born in this moment.
(Dartington Archives, b)

The images are not simply in the mind, but permeate through the physiology of the body. Chekhov constantly urged actors to move away from using their thinking mind, from analysis and rational thought, and instead to experience their psychology through their body, and vice versa. Mel Gordon explains that Chekhovs Technique dealt primarily with images, especially visceral ones, that short-circuited complicated and secondary mental
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processes (Gordon 1987: 127). The imagined picture of the character does not stay in a disembodied mind, but needs to be made present through the entire physicality of the actor. This is what Chekhov terms the incorporation of an image:
He [the actor] must see and imagine the inner life and the outer appearance of the character but first the inner life. Imagine yourself sitting as you are and imagine yourself getting up. Do it in your imagination and then incorporate it by the condition that during the incorporation you must be very aware of what you are doing. You must be aware that you are incorporating what you have seen.
(Dartington Archives, c)

In this way, it is not just the physicality, but also Chekhov wants us to get a sense of the characters psyche through our imagination (Chamberlain 2004: 40). These images are not fixed objects, but instead are independent and changeable within themselves, although they are full of emotions and desires, you, while working upon your parts, must not think that they will come to you fully developed and accomplished. . . . [T]hey will require your active collaboration (Chekhov 2002: 23). The use of the imagination in this way allows for an internal sensing at a kinaesthetic level that creates a transformation within the bodymind. Concentration and engagement with a particular image and action can lead to getting the self of the actor out of the way as they are fully absorbed in the psychophysical execution of the exercise. In so doing, rather than being restricted by habitual patterns associated with their self and self-image, they can inhabit a new set of psychophysical patterns, or a state of being, which is appropriate to the character.

The higher self of anthroposophy

The issue of self is very important in this discussion, and I want briefly to discuss Chekhovs use of Steiners notion of the Higher Self or Higher Ego, and then my re-interpretation of this through Buddhism, where self becomes non-self or a forgetting of the self . This is not intended to make a direct correlation between Steiners use of Higher Self, and non-self within Buddhism, because they are different within their own traditions, but to provide a framework to attempt to articulate the experience of the actor within the context of working with the embodied imagination, and its potential for transformation at a psychophysical level. Chekhovs use of the term Higher Self or Higher Ego originates in Steiners writings on Anthroposophy. Within Steiners view, the Higher Self is a transcendent Self that is separate from the physical body and the small, everyday, ego-self . Mala Powers describes it as having an etheric body, an astral body. . . . [It is] your real Higher Self, your Higher Individuality, your Higher Ego that never fully incarnates in the body, but that is always there, and which, artistically, you can have more and more conscious connection
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with (Powers 2003, personal interview). Chekhov translates this sense of transcendence for actors into the point of reaching the state of creative inspiration, where the small, everyday, lower ego or self is transcended in the process of artistic activity, and the Higher Self emerges, and is made present on stage, through the performance. Chekhov explains:
In everyday life we identify ourselves as I; we are the protagonists of I wish, I feel, I think. This I we associate with our bodies, habits, mode of life, family, social standing and everything else that comprises normal existence. But in moments of inspiration the I of an artist undergoes a kind of metamorphosis. . . . It is a higher-level I; it enriches and expands the consciousness.
(Chekhov 2002: 86, 87)

Chekhov believed that one of the main problems with affective or emotion memory is that it involves the use of personal, egotistical feelings belonging to the Lower or Everyday Self, and that these are not appropriate for performance on stage. In relation to the Higher Ego which transcends the everyday and the personal, he explains that:
I dont speak about our personal feelings. I speak about the feelings which belong to the realm which is bigger than we are. To the realm of feeling which comes from inspiration. If I say the line To be or not to be as if it were my personal problem no-one would be interested in it it is too small. In order to say these lines I must have some feelings, some electricity which changes my whole being and then perhaps I have the right to ask To be or not to be.
(Dartington Archives, d)

For Chekhov, our real-life memories do not offer enough potential in themselves for this transformation on stage. He describes them as being like ghosts (Chekhov 1996: Tape 4) from our past, which makes them too personal and subjective for use on stage. He believes that, not only does an audience find it unpleasant to see these personal feelings displayed, but also that this might encourage the actor to encounter problems as a result of losing their mental balance, and dwelling in negativity. He graphically describes an emotion memory as being like a small, dirty envelope (Chekhov 1996: Tape 4) from the past in which the actor can potentially get stuck, resulting in the establishment of habitual patterns of the bodymind. In order to find creative inspiration, the actor must reach beyond their everyday lives and feelings, into the realm of their Higher Self. This, for Chekhov, is why the Higher Self offers much more potential for creativity and inspiration than the smaller everyday self, bound up with personal concerns which are of no interest to the audience. The everyday self , the ego-I of the actor, is forgotten through absorption and engagement of the bodymind with the activity. Chekhov states that he experiences a sense of joy when absorbed in a creative process and it is derived from the following: 1) a release from my own personality; and 2) awareness of the enactment of
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1. I have been training in and working with Buddhist practices since 1987, with teachers from the three Schools of Buddhism: Theravadin, Mahayana and Vajrayana.

the creative idea which otherwise would remain out of the grasp of my everyday consciousness (Chekhov 1983: 32).

The non-self of Buddhism

This idea of what Chekhov describes as a release from my own personality will now be explored through the notion in Buddhism of non-self . Buddhism1 as a philosophical practice can be a very useful framework for examining the processes of acting, as it is by its nature a form of practicebased research, in that it is a practical and direct method for investigating the psychophysical self . The Buddha encouraged his students to think of his teachings in terms of being a science: he wanted the students to become their own scientists, literally scientists of their self . Buddhism is not a disembodied philosophy or theory, but instead offers a very practical and pragmatic study of, and investigation into, the nature and processes of the bodymind. Through this, there can be an understanding of the way in which we construct the idea of self , that can in turn lead to the idea of non-self . One of the Three Characteristics of Existence in Buddhist terms is anatta in Pali, anatma in Sanskrit, which means non-self . Essentially, Buddhism believes that there is no abiding identity, no permanent I, no fixed self , which continues unaltered from moment to moment. Instead, there is a constantly changing or evolving pattern of reactions happening within the bodymind organism. The Buddha stressed the need for investigation, through the practice of awareness or mindfulness, into the entire processes of the bodymind in each moment to understand this at an organic level, rather than as an intellectual idea. G.P. Malalasekera explains: in the Buddhas teaching, the individuals being is a becoming, a coming-to-be, something that happens, an event, a process (in George 2000: 53). There is a constant movement or stream of ever-shifting patterns, from which humans create a sense of continuity, labelled as the self , and which we believe to be the same self existing through each moment. Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and scholar Walpola Rahula explains that instead of the self being a fixed object, the series is, really speaking, nothing but movement. It is like a flame that burns through the night: it is not the same flame nor is it another (Rahula 1959: 34) (in Pali: na ca so na ca anno neither the same nor another). As another way of understanding this, if I were to look at a photograph of myself from when I was six years old, I am not the same person physically, mentally or emotionally as I was then, and yet I am also not a completely other person in that photograph, or anywhere else. It is both me-and-not-me at the same time. The concept of anatta or non-self, can offer an interesting approach to understanding Chekhovs investigation into finding ways for actors to represent certain mental, emotional or psychological states in performance without having to experience them for real. Based on the idea of anatta, rather than there being a fixed, non-changing self , there are instead shifting patterns of body, mind, imagination, breath and subtle energies that exist and operate within a person at any given moment. By exploring
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what these precise patterns are in a particular situation or experience in relation to breathing, posture, facial expression and gesture, the actor can then recreate and embody them in a performance situation to re-present states of bodymind, which can be linked together to create a sense of character and narrative. This co-ordinates body, breath and imagination in a way that fully engages the whole psychophysical organism with the image and action being performed. In this way, there is no separate me doing the action, there is simply action. Rahula explains: There is no unmoving mover behind the movement. It is only movement (Rahula 1959: 26). The sense of self, of ego-I, is bound up with conditioned psychophysical habits and reactions, whereas the state of non-self transcends that to allow for a new state of being, or character, in the organism. But first we need to study ourselves as actors, as individual people, in order to be able to see and understand what our particular habits and conditionings are, and how we construct our own sense of self and identity. It is only then that we can begin to explore how to let go of these habits and conditionings, in order for our bodyminds to express a different psychophysical state, which can be labelled a character, that is filling the bodymind, but is not-me. To repeat the Pali phrase, na ca so, na ca anno, neither the same nor another, which is a useful way of articulating the paradox of the acting process of playing a character: it is neither the same, nor another. It is both me-and-not-me at the same time. The thirteenth-century Zen master Dogen wrote in his Genjo-koan, the Koan Realised in Life: To study the self is to know the self. To know the self is to forget the self (in Nisker 2000: 191). Self-awareness, self-investigation and self-understanding lead not to self-consciousness, but to self-forgetfulness, which is non-self. In terms of a training and performance process for the actor, this is where complete awareness and understanding of the bodymind allows for total engagement with the action and embodied imagination, which leads to getting the self out of the way to a point where, in the moving, there is just the movement. The sense of I is forgotten because we are performing a psychophysical pattern which is not-I. As there is no unmoving mover behind the movement, so there is no fixed self of either actor or character acting the action, there is only action. This process can also perhaps be seen as similar to learning and working with an exercise: the details of the exercise have to be learned, studied and practised first, in order to know what it is about and how it works, but then it needs to be forgotten on a conscious level, to allow it to operate optimally within the bodymind. We need to get our-selves, our ego-I which has thoughts, ideas, and concepts about it, out of the way in order to just allow it to be and work in the body. Csikszentmihalyi uses an Italian expression to describe this: Impara larte, e mettila da parte, which literally means Learn the art, and then put it aside (Csikszentmihalyi and Jackson 1999: 51). This is relevant for not just actors. To refer back to sports psychology, the late Formula One driver Ayrton Senna describes his experience when taking pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1988: I suddenly realised I was no longer driving the car consciously. . . . It frightened me because it
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was well beyond my conscious understanding (Moran 1996: 74). Through his concentration and learned skill, Senna managed to forget his conscious self and was absorbed simply in the activity of driving, resulting in the feeling that it was the car doing the driving, rather than him. To put it more simply, Yamada Koun Roshi states that it is a matter of forgetting the self in the act of uniting with something (Kim 1987: xi). The use of exercises that engage the embodied imagination can thus have two effects. Firstly, they can help create a psychophysical transformation within the bodymind of the actor to discover and embody a different physicality and psychology, related to that of the character. Additionally, the very means used to accomplish this intense concentration and single-minded focus on the image and action in the present moment can lead to a forgetting of the self of the actor, to allow for greater potential and freedom in their performance. When the entire bodymind is filled and absorbed with the embodied image, there is no space left for worry, nerves, thinking or being distracted. Exercises like the Imaginary Body can offer the twenty-firstcentury actor a way to engage the imagination with the action, the mind with the body, to create a psychophysical whole which can help them to move beyond their habitual, everyday patterns, to have greater expressive potential within their bodymind, which is neither a psychological identification nor re-living of a memory, because it is not-me, in our usual understanding of me, I or self . The embodied imagination has the potential to alter our self -image, the psychophysical sense of self , which can lead to getting me out of the way, and for the action to just be acted, without an actor having to do it. To repeat, in the thirteenth century, Zen master Dogen said: To know the self is to forget the self . In his class notes from 13 April 1936 at his studio in Dartington College, Michael Chekhov said: First we must know, and then we must forget. We must know, and then be. . . . To know and then to forget. When we reach this point then we will be the new type of actor (Dartington Archives, e). This article is an extended version of a talk presented at the conference Theatre of the future? Michael Chekhov and 21st Century Performance, in Dartington College, November 2005. Acknowledgements
With thanks to the Dartington Hall Trust Archives for inclusion of previously unpublished material from their Michael Chekhov archives.

Works cited
Cardena, E., S. Lynn and S. Krippner (2000), Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence, Washington DC: American Psychological Association. Chamberlain, Franc (2004), Michael Chekhov, London: Routledge. Chekhov, Michael (1983), Chekhov on acting: A collection of unpublished materials (19191942), TDR, 27: 3, pp. 4683. (1985), Lessons for the Professional Actor, New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications.
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 (1991), On The Technique of Acting, in Mel Gordon (ed.), New York: HarperCollins. (1996), Michael Chekhov on Theatre and the Art of Acting: The Five-Hour Master Classes, Mala Powers (ed.), New York: Magi. (2002), To the Actor on the Technique of Acting, Mel Gordon and Mala Powers (eds.), London: Routledge. Csikszentmihalyi, M. and S. Jackson (1999), Flow in Sports: the Keys to Optimal Experiences and Performances, Leeds: Human Kinetics Europe. Dartington Archives, Dartington Trust, Devon (File numbers according to the catalogue of the Archives follow the citation in brackets) a from class notes, 15 May 1936 (DWE A 19 A). b from class notes, 30 October 1939 (DWE A 19 A). c from class notes, 16 December 1938 (DWE A 19 A). d from the essay Art is Higher Activity Than Life, June July 1937 (DWE 18 B). e from class notes, 13 April 1936 (DWE A 19 A). Feldenkrais, Moshe (1972), Awareness through Movement, London: Harper & Row. George, David (2000), Buddhism as/in Performance, New Delhi: D K Printworld (P) Ltd. Gordon, Mel (1987), The Stanislavski Technique: Russia: A Workbook for Actors, New York: Applause Theatre Books. Hardy, L., G. Jones and D. Gould (1996), Understanding Psychological Preparation for Sport: Theory and Practice of Elite Performers, Chichester: Wiley. Kim, Hee-Jin (1987), Dogen Kigen: Mystical Realist, Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Moran, Aidan (1996), The Psychology of Concentration in Sport Performers: A Cognitive Analysis, Hove: Psychology Press. Nisker, Wes (1998), Buddha Nature, London: Rider. Powers, Mala (2003), Personal interview, 17 June 2003, New York. Rahula, Walpola (1959), What the Buddha Taught, Oxford: Oneworld Publications. Robertson, Ian (1999), Mind Sculpture: Your Brains Untapped Potential, London: Bantam Press. Varela, F., E. Thompson and E. Rosch (1999), The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience, Cambridge, Mass. and London: MIT Press.

Suggested citation
Daboo, J. (2007), Michael Chekhov and the embodied imagination: Higher self and non-self , Studies in Theatre and Performance 27: 3, pp. 261273, doi: 10.1386/stap.27.3.261/1

Contributor details
Jerri Daboo is a Lecturer in Drama at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on a psychophysical approach to performance, and she has been training in and teaching the work of Michael Chekhov for five years. Her research and practice also examine an intercultural and interdisciplinary investigation of the bodymind in performance, including neurophysiology, sports psychology, Buddhism, and Chinese and Japanese forms of biomedicine. E-mail: J.J.Daboo@exeter.ac.uk

Michael Chekhov and the embodied imagination: Higher self and non-self

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