I’ve gotten a bunch of questions lately on how to warm up.
“Are warm ups necessary?”
“Does warming up mean making lip trills and pretending you’re a theater person?”
“What’s the right warm up for me?”
Quickest answer:
The right warm up for you is the one that leads to you showing up. We warm up to show up, no more no less. Theater folks just got there faster ‘cuz showing up is kinda in their job description. Are warm ups necessary? Well… do you wanna show up for your one wild and precious life?
Haha I’m being ridiculous and not. Warm ups are quick and fun but don’t mistake them for frivolous: they can make ALL THE DIFFERENCE from sticky/cranky/crunchy/nervous to ready AF.
Skip ‘em at your peril.
Building in time for a warm up is a profound act of self-care and self-love.
And a litmus test for how much you believe in your shit.
AKA are your beautiful ideas and the sweat you’ve poured in worthy of you delivering them out loud with as much beauty and sweat? Honor your shit by warming up.
See the gesture through to your finger tips.
Practical answer:
Think of a warm up in 4 parts. All together they can take 2 minutes or 20 minutes or 2 hours, depending on how much time you have and how YOU work best. Some of us are like, shortcut please! And some of us are like, slow and steady wins the race. Celebrate what you know about you (and OK, maybe get curious about if your habits are serving you or if you’re in a season of discovery and switching it up).
Do before a big speech but also just any convo that’s stressing you out.
1. Story
If you’re about to walk onstage or press record and you’ve got a few minutes in the dark, the first step is to catch any story popping up in your mind around fear, scarcity, or conformity. “Don’t fuck up.” “This is your one shot.” “What if <terrible thing> happens?” “Why can’t I just chill? What’s wrong with me?” “Why can’t I be like <person who’s got it all together>?” These are totally understandable thoughts, but they’re remnants of a, just gonna say it, white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist culture that’s been sending you messages your whole life that you’re not enough, usually in the form of shame. So the first part of a warm up, although it can take all of 6 seconds, is to unsubscribe if you notice shame coming up.
“Thanks for trying to protect me, big beautiful brain. I know it’s a whole growth edge to be seen and heard and like it, but here we are, brain. HERE WE ARE.”
2. Body
Do something your body likes that gets you physically warmer and a bit out of breath.
Options:
Yoga. Sun salutations or another flow sequence, getting upside down, waking up your spine, stretching your rib cage, poses that loosen your own I-see-you tight bits (for me quads, upper back, etc…)
Dance it out. Make a playlist. Get down. Shake it off. Remember your hips—OMG YOU HAVE HIPS. Remember dance-floor you and invite her or him in; they’re definitely welcome at your speaking opportunities, possibly essential to them, actually. Get flushed or sweaty if you’ve got a bit of time till you go on, but if not just make yourself smile with your moves.
OG playlist from when my book came out:
Run or do jumping jacks if you’re a high impact person.
What else? It doesn’t matter as long as it: gets your heart going, twists your spine, and gets your breath feeling freer. Loose and expansive is the goal, rather than tight and tight. Which is usually how we are pre-warm up when we accidentally think we can control everything hahahha OMG we’re so cute.
3. Breath & Voice
Read Chapter 1 of Permission to Speak for more specifics on breath and Chapter 7 for the sound and articulator warm up, but the easy peasy version is: connect that body stuff you were doing to breath and sound now. Gently, quietly depending on where you are and how much privacy you have. Make a hum and feel your face and chest vibrating (put your hand on your heart to feel it, and for the face part I demo this in the video below). Open your mouth from a hum to a “mah” and switch up your pitch, swooping a little higher and lower. Blow out your lips and stretch your tongue (we hold soooooo much tension there).
Make sure your voice isn’t foreign to you.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fddbabcf8-7922-49ec-8a9a-1932e9f5fa1f_585x1034.heic)
When I lead workshops I often start by asking folks to stand up and do some version of these middle two steps, eventually saying “make a sound you haven’t made yet today—1, 2, 3 GO” so they don’t get too in their head. And inevitably the room fills with big, fun, silly sounds and everyone laughs. It’s a release. It’s a gift from you to you in the form of play. Wiggle while making sound and entice yourself into even more play.
4. Prime Yourself for Power
If the above steps are mind and body, this last is spirit. This is your reminder about the value of on-purpose thoughts. Here’s where you bring to mind one memory (of a collection you’ve gathered ahead of time—this is a PROJECT, don’t be hard on yourself please if a billion don’t instantly spring to mind). A memory of a time someone really saw you. Maybe someone you admire admired you back. Maybe it was a hug or an email or a heard-through-the-grapevine “awwww.” And you got the message: that thing you made MATTERED. That thing you did MEANT something to someone. Breathe in that memory with your whole body and let yourself feel the power. Not power over, power to. Agency. Badassery. Confidence (literally the Latin is “full trust.”) Thank god I’m here vibes.
Collecting kind memories and then recalling them on purpose is the sort of tiny radical act that can change a life. Likely, many.
I talk you through these 4 steps in this superfun interview if you want the out loud version. Start at minute 5:45—
As I say at the end of that segment: the point of a warm up is creating the conditions to truly invite ourselves in. That, my love, is the essence of permission work.
This is why there’s so much choose your own adventure in the 4 steps above. It only works if it’s YOURS, like you own it. If it feels good in your actual body and does something spicy to your actual spirit.
Bottom line:
There’s a connection between spine and spirit. Warm up to show up.
AKA Wiggle to get at your wisdom.
Questions?
Love,
Samara
PS. JUST for those of you in the all-access membership, I’m sharing a for-your-eyes-only short video of Rachel McAdams talking to me about exactly this owning it thing at a private event for my book last fall. It’s kind and hilarious:
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