The Creative Circle: Stanislavski and Yoga

Author(s): William H. Wegner

Source: Educational Theatre Journal, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Mar., 1976), pp. 85-89
Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3205965
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 WILLIAM H. WEGNER

The CreativeCircle:Stanislavskiand Yoga

Konstantin Stanislavski's theoretical basis and functional vocabulary are most

commonly considered to be derived from the science of psychology.1 Less obviously,
however, but deeply embedded in his theory are concepts from other, non-Western
traditions. In his writings, and in the works of his commentators, there are scattered
references to yoga. These references are often indirect and unfocused and need to be
quoted at length if their significance is not to be lost.
As the reverberations of the revolution of 1905 still disturbed rehearsals, the
Moscow Art Theatre determined to undertake its first foreign tour. A. L. Fovitzki
provides one of the earliest references to non-Western traditions.

[Stanislavski]did not limit himself, however,to verbalrules for the teachingof truth-
fulness on the stage. In 1906, in Hamburg,where he was playing the part of Doctor
Astrov in Chekov's"Uncle Vanya," he found his mind wanderingto a conversation
into which he had fallen between the acts. This slip of attention set him to work to
discovermethods for the preventingof one's thus going out of the circle of creative
imaginationon the stage. He found a hint in the practicesof the wise men of the Budd-
hist religion-and thenceforthhe requiredhis actors to practicelong psychophysical
exercisesas a means of cultivatingconcentrationof attention.He would requestthem
to countover andover the flowersin the tapestries;to carefullyremovesomethingfrom
one place to another,etc. Following these teachingsof Orientalmetaphysics,his fol-
lowers strove to visualize the elusive "ego"-to live, while on the stage, the life of the
spiritand to becomeacquaintedwith strangephasesof spirituallife.
Stanislavski applied also to his stage work the teachings of the Hindoos about
"prana",etc. Thus the metaphysicsof the Orient invaded the occidentalstage of Eu-
rope .... By the time these exerciseswere finished,concentrationand sensitivenesshad
becomethe characteristicsof the actorsof the MoscowArt Theatre.2
In his autobiography, Stanislavski discusses his meditations of the summer of
190o6and his discovery of the "creative mood" through "psychophysical exercises."
He describes his central concern of that period as the need for "not only a physical
make-up but of a spiritual make-up before every performance," of knowing how to
"enter the temple of that spiritual atmosphere in which alone it is possible to cre-
ate."' "How is one to master the nature and the component elements of the creative
mood? The solution of this problem became 'one of the passions of Stanislavski' as
my friends said .... I carried out all sorts of experiments with them and with my-

William H. Wegner has degrees from NorthwesternUniversity and New York University. He is
currently an Associate Professor at Trenton State College where he teaches acting and theatre
history.
1 Theodore Ribot and I.P. Pavlov are primary sources. Lee Strasberg's Freudian-Pavlovian in-
terpretation of Stanislavski has contributed to this emphasis in America.
2 The Moscow Art Theatre andits Distinguishing Characteristics (New York, 1923), p. 42.
3 My Life in Art, trans. G. Ivanov-Mumjiev (Moscow, 1953), P. 348.

85

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86 / ETJ,March 1976

self. I tortured them, I irritated them and they said I was turning rehearsals into an
experimental laboratory, that actors were not guinea-pigs."4
Stanislavski worked continuously upon this problem for the next three years and
in rehearsals of Turgenev's A Month in the Country in 1908 started to use "odd-
sounding terms" such as the "nail," the "circle," and the "invisible irradiation of
will and feeling."" One of his leading actresses, Olga Knipper, was so distressed by
this new terminology that she withdrew from the cast and Stanislavski had to write
a letter to reassure her. "Have the patience to analyze, think over, and understand
these trifles and you will experience the greatest joy anyone can ever experience in
this life. I promise not to frighten you any more with technical terms."6
With the production of A Month in the Country in 1909 Stanislavski scored his
first success with his "system" and by 1911 his experiments began to yield specific
techniques. David Magarshack records that
At the time Stanislavskiwas interestedin Hindoo philosophy and especially in the
yoga system of abstractmeditation and mental concentrationwhich supplied him
with one of the most importantelementsof his own system-the circle of public soli-
tude consisting of a numberof large and small 'circles'into which the actor has to
withdrawin orderto keep his attentionconcentratedon the stage and not on the au-
dience.His studiesof Hindoophilosophyalso providedhim with the numeroussayings
of Indiansages with which he was fond of illustratinghis talks to actors.7
Vera Solovovia, a member of the First Studio from 1911 to 1913, told Paul Gray in
a 1964 interview that "Stanislavski, Eugene Vakhtangov and Michael Chekov were
all interested in yoga and employed it in their teaching. We used it in our exercises
in the First Studio ...." We worked a great deal on concentration. It was called 'To
get into the circle.' We imagined a circle around us and sent 'prana' rays of com-
munion into space and to each other. Stanislavski said, 'send the prana there-I
want to reach through the tip of my finger-to God-the sky-or, later on, my
partner. I believe in my inner energy and I give it out-I spread it.' "9
To reproduce, even to summarize, all subsequent references to such concepts in
Stanislavski's own writings is not necessary. A pattern does emerge. In stenograph-
ic notes of lectures delivered by Stanislavski to students of the Opera Studio, 1918-
1922, the "creative circle," or in its most comprehensive form, "the creative circle
of public solitude," appears as a dominant theme. At one point, specific yogic tech-
niques to correlate breathing and concentration exercises are suggested. "To teach
the student the art of self-observation the studio must teach him the laws of correct

4 Ibid., p. 350. The "creativemood" (or sometimes "the creative state") is synonymous with the
creativecircle.See p. 349 wherethe illuminatingcontrastis with the "actormood."
5 David Magarshack, Stanislavski: A Life (New York, 195I1),pp. 304, 306.
6 Quotedin Magarshack,p. 308.
7 Magarshack,p. 322. One of these "numeroussayings" can be found in the recordednotes of
his talks to the students of the Opera Studio (p. 164; see below, n. to). In discussing the typical
inability of the actor to concentratehis attention, Stanislavski quotes a "Hindu sage" who com-
pares such a mind "to a drunkenmonkey that has been stung by a scorpion."pp. 82, 83.
8 "From Russia to America: A Critical Chronology," Stanislavski and America (Greenwich,
Connecticut, 1967), p. 142.
9 Ibid., p. 202.

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87 / STANISLAVSKIAND YOGA

breathing [pranayama?], the correct position of the body [asana?], concentration

and watchful discrimination [dharana?]. My whole system is based on this .... And
t:hefirst lesson in breathing must become the foundation of the development of that
introspective attention, on which all the work in the art of the stage must be built."'0
In an article written for the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1929 Stanislavski connects
"the circle of attention" to a "particular power over the audience" and refines the
definition of public solitude to "a restricted sphere of attention, the smallest cir-
cle."" Again, in An Actor Prepares, published in 1936, the dominant and correlate
concepts are those of concentration (concentering, establishment at the center of a
circle) and of the resulting "rays" of communication. In chapter five, Stanislavski
dramatizes the metaphor of the circle by the use of a lamp on a darkened stage. When
the student succeeds in restricting his attention to the area illuminated by the lamp
the "Director" comes to the edge of the stage; "Make a note immediately of your
mood; it is what we call Solitude in Public."12 A few pages later occurs one of
those "numerous sayings" of the Hindu sages noted by Magarshack-the parable of
the Maharaja, in search of a capable minister, who selects the one man who is able,
even under the testing fire of the Raja's soldiers, to circumambulate the city walls
while holding a dish full of milk and not spilling a drop. "Did you hear the shots?
No, I was watching the milk."'3
Norris Houghton, describing rehearsals of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1936, pro-
vides evidence of how the metaphor of the circle had evolved from one of Stanis-
lavski's "passions" in 1906 to a central practice of the company itself. "The actor
must be able to control his attention. For this the MXAT has a favorite expression:
'the circle.' In order that the actor may never be distracted from his playing he must
put himself within an imaginary circle from which he cannot step as long as he is
acting. This is a most important and difficult thing. Nemirovich-Danchenko, I am
told, accomplished this by looking at his cuff-links; one actress closes her eyes for a
minute, after that she is 'within the circle' and nothing exists but the world of the
stage."'4
Finally, in Creating the Role Stanislavski describes (or perhaps attempts to de-
scribe) "the superconscious where nature becomes exempt from the tutelage of the
mind, exempt from conventions, prejudices, force.... The yogis of India who can
work miracles in the realm of the subconscious and superconscious have much prac-
tical advice to offer. They also proceed toward the unconscious through conscious
preparatorymeans, from the physical to the spiritual."'15
10 Stenographicnotes by K. Antaronva, trans. David Magarshackunder the title "The System
and Methodsof CreativeArt," in Stanislavski On the Art of the Stage (New York, 1961), pp. 116,
117. The referenceto "self-observation,"to "introspectiveattention"and to "watchfuldiscrimina-
tion" remind one of the distinctively TheravadaBuddhist practice of satipatthanaor "mindful-
ness;" pranayamna is preliminaryto this exercise also. See Niponika Thera,The Heart of Buddhist
Meditation (New York, 1973), for a description.
11 "Theatre," Encyclopedia Britannica, 16th ed.
12 An Actor Prepares, trans. Elizabeth Hapgood (New York, 1958), p. 78.
13 Ibid., p. 81.
14 Moscow Rehearsals (New York, 1962), p. 58.
15 Trans. Elizabeth Hapgood (New York, 1961), p. 82.

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88 / ETJ, March 1976

Identifying specific sources for these "conscious preparatory means" is difficult.

A clue may be found in Huntley Carter's New Spirit in the Russian Theatre when
he describes Vakhtangov's work with the Habimah Theatre in 1922. "His contri-
bution to radical ideas probably came from Tibet. He was interested in Tibetan
mysteries . . . and he based his system of acting on yoga practices. It was the dis-
cipline of the latter that carried him beyond the Moscow Art Theatre's actualist and
psychological systems."16
Vakhtangov had been a member of the First Studio in 1913 and the reference to
Tibetan practice prompts a search into standard sources. W. Y. Evans-Wentz com-
ments upon the Tibetan-Tantric practice of the yoga of psychic heat (tumno) in a
way which, significantly, connects the metaphor of a "circle" with the idea of pranic
"irradiation."

These threearts, namely, the yogic posturingof the body (asana), the yogic disciplin-
ing and right directingof the breathingprocess(pranayama)and the yogic masteryof
the thought process (dharana)arouse in the yogin psychic virtues which shield him
from worldly distractionsand undesirableinfluences and bestow upon him sound-
ness of physical,mentaland spiritualhealth. Therefore,they are called the 'Protective
Circle'.... In the outbreathingprocessthere is actuallya subtle force (the psychic, or
pranicforce) going out, as the yogin will come to understand.Although at this stage
he may regardhis exercisesas being merelyexercisesin visualization,they are, never-
theless, intendedto build up round about him a 'protectivecircle,' or psychic barrier
which elementalsand other invisible beings of an inimical sort cannot pass. . . . The
gurus maintain that a 'protectivecircle' is essential at the very outset of yoga prac-
tices in orderthat the yogin may be immune,as far as possible,to all the many strange
dangersanderrorswhicheverthreatenthe treaderin the Path.17
The association of prana with withdrawal (abhisheka) into a protective circle as
preliminary to meditation practice seems to be unique to Tantric yoga as practiced
in Tibet. And a particular feature of this practice, both in the preliminary phase of
the "protective circle" and in the full visualization rites known as sadhanas, bears a
striking resemblance to Stanislavski's characteristic way of getting into his "circle"
through imagined "given circumstances." In the successful sadhana exercise the
adept must imagine minute details of the deity's posture, clothes, and ornaments
until he can respond, as does the actor, as if to present realities. Richard Robinson
summarizes: "The Tantric innovation was to turn the creation of mandalas into an
'actualization,' a rite in which the agent becomes the deity whom he conjures up.
Mandalas can be made in painting, in three-dimensional models, by a troupe dra-
matically acting it out, or by a yogin visualizing the setting and the figures. Such
rites were foreign to both Hinayana and Mahayana, but they had a venerable Brah-
manical ancestry."'is
In the classic formulation of the yogic discipline, Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras, prana
means breath and ayama means pause, the compound pranayama signifying a regu-
lation of breathing. In later usage, the term prana suggests a psychic force or cos-
mic element-which Kavoor Behanan regards as an "unnecessary mystification."'19
16 (New York, 1929), p. 183.
17 Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (London, 1935), PP. 177 n. ff.
18 The Buddhist Religion (Belmont, California, 1970), pp. 73,
75.

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89 / STANISLAVSKIAND YOGA

Gharma C. Chang, in his introduction to Evan-Wentz's book clarifies this occult

definition: "in yoga, prana refers to a vital essence in the atmospheric air which,
when absorbed by yogic breathing practices, as in pranayama yoga, recharges the
human body with energy."20
Another name for Tantric yoga is the Vrainayana or Vehicle of Direct Energy.
Similarly Stanislavski described the "laws of correct breathing" as the "foundation
of the development of introspective attention." Thus, in both Tantric Buddhism
and in Stanislavski's theory, pranayama practice, the "circle," prana and the im-
agining of "given circumstances"are conjoined.
It may be tempting, however, to exaggerate the degree of direct influence of Tan-
tric practice on Stanislavski's theory. In the interview with Paul Gray, Solovovia
comments at one point that Stanislavski "used yoga and psychology but just to get
ideas."21It is clear, for example, that Stanislavski soon abandoned specific breathing
exercises, if indeed he ever applied them in any systematic way. Burnet Hobgood
suggests that Stanislavski was stimulated by Eastern mystical practice but "refash-
ioned these ideas so sharply that one must regard them as his own." He points out,
for example, that Vakhtangov's and Michael Chekov's more rigorous pursuit of
yogic exercises may indicate that the source of this interest was not primarily Stan-
islavski but Leopold Sulerzhitski, "a Tolstoian familiar with Oriental religions,"
who introduced these concepts to Vakhtangov and Michael Chekov when he was in
charge, on a day-to-day basis, of the First Studio in 1911. Thus, in Stanislavski's
writing, the mystical ideas seem "curiously watered-down as if second or third
hand" while in the writing of Michael Chekov, for instance, both the circle of at-
tention and the (prana) rays remain central.22Stanislavski's vocabulary has in it
then, along with loosely used psychological terms, an admixture of yogic termin-
ology, but the assessment of the nature of this latter influence is so vexing that the
opposite of the temptation to exaggerate its importancehas been to overlook it.
For if Stanislavski's interest in pranic irradiation23declined in the thirties the
metaphor of the circle remained central to his teaching. If teachers of acting are to
use his theories and especially his concept of "the circle" they might well supple-
ment their understanding of the structural principles involved by reading Stanislav-
ski in the light of Pantanjali and Tantric Buddhism. We need to cultivate for our-
selves something like Stanislavski's own "theoria"-in the original sense of seeing,
a view based on personal experience, rather than in the derived sense of "theory"-a
logical system discursively presented.
19 Yoga: A Scientific Evaluation (New York, 1~937),p. 202.
20 Gharma C. Chana, Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, p. xxviii, n. I.
21 Stanislavski and America, p. 210.
22 Private communication to the author. Richard Boleslavski's principle of "spiritual concentra-
tion" seems to emerge from the same matrix; he too was a member of the First Studio. See his lec-
ture notes published in T. Cole and H.K. Chinoy, Actors on Acting (New York, 1970), where this
principle is developed in greater detail than in his book. We note also Harold Clurman has com-
mented on the Group Theatre's reaction to Michael Chekov's teaching: "Chekov was rejected time
and time again. He was too mystical and diffuse." Actors on Acting, p. 518.
23 Did it continue to influence the concept of "communion?" See An Actor Prepares, Chapter 8,
especially p. 200oo.

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