Putting OTOA Creative Life Practice In Context

A Letter From Founder, Master Teacher 

& Creative Life Coach, Gia Forakis

                                        

First of all, One-Thought-One Action (OTOA)™ originated while I was a Graduate Student at Yale School of Drama's Directing Program (MFA 2004).  

Gia Forakis, Photo by Athos Cakiadies

OTOA grew out of my need as stage director to get a more physically engaging, varied, dynamic and detailed performance from the actors I was working.

Skipping ahead to more recent history, by 2013 I had spent nearly 11 years developing, teaching and applying OTOA as Performance Technique for performers, directors, and public speakers, as well as using it to achieve my aesthetic in all the productions I was directing.

Once I'd begun teaching OTOA, I realized that I needed to begin practicing what I was preaching. That is to say, to embody the principles of the OTOA technique outside of the classroom and outside of the rehearsal room.  It was with this awareness that a personal practice of OTOA began to emerge. And it was along this personal path of practice that the curriculum of OTOA Creative Life Practice (CLP)™ evolved and then was established in 2015.

With the advent of OTOA CLP, we have established the two applications of OTOA as two separate courses of study: OTOA PTT (Performance Technique & Training and OTOA CLP (Creative Life Practice).

Over the last decade, I have been extremely fortunate to be invited to lead OTOA (PTT) workshops across the country and around the globe, and it still informs the way I direct all my staged projects.

In its most simplistic terms I describe OTOA as: a technique that identifies smaller increments of thought as smaller moments of physical action. This is the primary principle that informs all aspects of OTOA, both CLP & PTT.  Through both applications what we are talking about is a method for staying connected ,and expanding into the present moment, while in the process of an unfolding action.  

Through the practice of OTOA, no matter whether it is on or off the stage, no matter whether it is in private or public life, incremental thought and action brings a more grounded sense of place, a stronger foundation, a clearer more specific intention and goals, a more dynamic and vivid presence and engagement with the world around you, adding vividness and confidence to all activities, projects and relationships: OTOA is transformational.

OTOA is the foundational technique. CLP is the way of being in the world. 

                                                                              

So what is the OTOA Creative Life Practice (CLP)™ course of study?

OTOA CLP is a Course of Study for Creative Thinkers in Any Field and for Any Discipline, Offering the Practice & Principles for Content-Driven Action and Creative & Personal Growth Manifestation & Transformation.

You do not have to be an artist to benefit from a Creative Life Practice.

The goal of OTOA Creative Life Practice (CLP) is to enrich our lives and clarify goals by reinvigorating our capacity for possibility and strengthening our encounters with creative abundance through the application of CLP's 6 Aspects of Creative Influence.

The aim of OTOA CLP is to give the student/participant/client proactive methods to create personal and professional growth, manifestation and transformation.

What OTOA CLP offers are tools for identifying goals, untangling knots, redefining obstacles, and unmasking our true nature, to create a fertile environment for a more fulfilling and confident way walking through your life.

The purpose of OTOA CLP is to build a foundation that allows each individual to look at their particular set of circumstances, identify and establish where that is relative to their own goals, and find the path forward through an unfolding process that is rich in creative options: a practice.

OTOA CLP can be described as the philosophy of creativity and a course of study re-connecting participants with their true nature and purpose by offering “signposts” that redirect and keep them on track, on their own path.

What OTOA CLP is not: CLP is not psychoanalysis or psychotherapy. I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist. I am not a healer.  I am a teacher, and the Founder & Master Teacher of OTOA PTT & CLP and a Creative Life Coach.

What I have found in my own practice is that CLP is like a light switch to Joy.

CURRENTLY: We are scheduling Seminars, Studio-Labs, Workshops, Intensives, Classes, Residencies and Private Coaching.

I want to make sure you have our website where you can gather more information www.OneThoughtOneAction.com 

On behalf of all of us behind OTOA Teaching, we look forward to hearing from you.

With Joy & Inspiration,

Gia Forakis

OTOA & CLP Founder & Master Teacher & Creative Life Coach

Strength Though Art

Gia Forakis,
OneThoughtOneAction.com | www.GiaForakisandCompany.com | www.GiaForakis.com |