Yoga, Meditation & Mindfulness Practice For On And Off The Stage
Centered Stage Wellness
What is Centered Stage?
Have you ever been in the audition room and heard all those voices in your head?
“I’m not good enough for this show.” “The person before me belted their whole song. I sound terrible.” “I feel like they are just staring at my body and judging me.” “Why is it so much easier for everyone else.” “What am I even doing here. I should just quit.”
Sometimes those voices feel deafening… But what if they didn’t have to? Trauma and anxiety show up in our bodies in so many unfortunate ways. But what happens if we know how to handle it? How to quiet the voices so we can get our job done. After all, you didn’t move to your dream city to chase your dreams only to be stopped by trauma in your past that is NOT worth your energy… right?
Centered Stage Wellness will help realign you, bring you back into your body and help you learn how to mitigate the anxiety and trauma you have in your body. We all owe it to ourselves to be able to go after what we want in life without those little voices in the back of our heads telling us we are not enough. Because we are.
We have all heard about “Broadway Bodies” since the day we set foot into our first acting, dance or singing studio, but what about Broadway minds and souls and hearts? This industry has a way of picking us apart and tearing us down, so it is just as important, if not more, to have a strong and healthy mind to be and stay in this business.
How many times have you heard of people you love and care about giving up on their dream because they “just couldn’t take it anymore” ? Too many- and truthfully, I’ve been there. But if we don’t believe in ourselves, what will make anyone else want to? That’s why it’s paramount for us as performers to find ways to come back to ourselves, our minds, our bodies - on and off the stage and keep grounded in who we are in life, not just this business.
Centered Stage is the love child of my theatre training (and theatre school trauma) and my yoga practitioner and trauma response teacher training. All jokes aside, the trauma this industry tends to cause artists is important to address and mitigate. We are told to work on our “Broadway Bodies” constantly- but what about our Broadway souls? Centered Stage is your gym for your mind and your soul. Reset and relearn how to respond to your life and your career in a way that makes you feel proud and good in your heart, mind and body.
Welcome, I’m so happy you’re here.
ABOUT ME
Hi, I’m Brooke! I’m a Certified Personal Trainer, Registered Therapeutic Yoga Teacher with a focus in Trauma Response and an AEA performer here in NYC. I studied opera, musical theatre and meisner in college and graduated with a BFA in Musical Theatre and Professional Acting. I have worked professionally in many regional theatres and led my first National Tour as Belle in Beauty and the Beast.
Through the years of trial and error of self development, I have found a love and a passion for helping others find themselves in their bodies and their art forms and learning to love themselves as they continue on their journey physically, mentally and emotionally in this industry and life. One day and one stage at time, I want to help people in this industry find their way back home to themselves.
Find your joy again!
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Breathe and let that sh*t go!
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Love yourself. You deserve it.
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Be the leading person of your own life.
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Find your joy again! · Breathe and let that sh*t go! · Love yourself. You deserve it. · Be the leading person of your own life. ·
The WHY behind Centered Stage
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” -Albert Schweitzer
Dearest Sweet Performer,
Hi I’m Brooke! As you already know, I’m a Certified Personal Trainer, Registered Therapeutic Yoga Teacher with a focus in Trauma Response and an AEA performer here in NYC.
TLDR: (but do, I give you the deets)
Throughout my teen and college years, I studied in both a conservatory and large university musical theatre program. I was constantly reminded, I was not enough. (Lies) Truth be told, I was probably just “too much” for some of these people, but that’s none of my business… because at the end of the day (and the start of it) no one’s opinion of you matters more than your own. If you don’t love yourself and believe in yourself, what would make any one else want to? Right? It’s all so logical, but sometimes, it’s still so hard for us to be our own biggest cheerleaders. It’s so easy for us to listen to the critics (especially the ones in our own minds) and so difficult for us to look in the mirror and believe, genuinely and whole heartedly, that we are enough- we are perfect, exactly as we are.
So that’s where I & Centered Stage Wellness come into the scene-
After studying, graduating and performing in the theatre industry for over 10 years, I decided I wanted this industry to be a more loving place for myself and for others. After getting my Personal Training Certification in 2019, I also started focusing on my yoga and meditation practice and did my first 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training - we all know what came shortly after in 2020…
After the pandemic hit - and my depression did as well - I knew it was time to start changing my mindset and how I approached the industry. I had been battling with so much anxiety and depression, especially surrounding performing and I didn’t know how to find joy in it anymore. I fell in and out of a yoga practice over the next few years and it felt like I was often just going through the motions as a performer and doing the least possible to not draw attention to the fact that I was entirely miserable and lost.
Fast forward to the spring of 2023 (after a few years of therapy & learning that loving myself is indeed a super power) I dove back into my own yoga practice from a place of love and decided to do a second yoga teacher training in Costa Rica focusing on therapeutic yoga. It was one of those things where nothing should have worked with my planning, and somehow it all did- perfectly. Kismet. This experience was life changing and eye opening for so many different reasons and I felt like I found a part of myself that I never even knew was missing. (Plus I got to spend my summer in the most beautiful place by the beach with so many cool animals and awesome food… didn’t hurt.)
Slowly but surely, through my own meditative and therapeutic practice (and another trauma response yoga teaching course) I started finding my love and joy in the theatre again and I felt like I finally knew what I needed to do with my theatre and yoga educations.
Through months of practicing and teaching and figuring out the nuances between yoga, meditation and theatre, I have built a program to help performers with audition anxiety, mindfulness practices, and gentle restorative stretching and movement for their bodies in an approachable way.
Taking that first leap of faith to improve yourself and your life is always the most terrifying, but isn’t that just what you did when you decided to chase your dreams as a performer? You have got this, and together we will find the way back home to YOU. You are truly unique and special and I’m so happy you’re here. I can’t wait to help you bring yourself back to center stage in your own life. “Places, everyone.”
-Love, Brooke :)
Class Descriptions:
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Overcoming Audition Anxiety & Trauma
Have you ever prepared so thoroughly for an audition and then all your nerves took over and you completely bombed it? Well me too. In this class, we will discuss combatting and mitigating those little annoying voices in your head that distract you from the plot.
In this course we will dissect the trauma and anxiety that we feel and uncover why and what happens to us in these high tension situations. Through movement, meditation and trauma response techniques, you will learn to navigate back to a more grounded and present place in your body and mind and take more control over your life.
* option to work 1:1 for this course
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Meditation for the Performer
Guided meditation helping you to ground into your body and find more presence in your every day life.
In this course, we will focus more specifically on meditation and breathwork, the why behind each meditation and how you can apply these tools into your daily life. We will learn and practice these techniques together in a safe and nurturing space.
*All group sessions will be recorded for students to be able to watch back at a later time if they were unable to attend live session time.
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Gentle & Restorative Yoga
In the "city that never sleeps" sometimes, neither do we. Slow down and realign physically to help you realign mentally and emotionally. Trauma and anxiety show up in so many different forms in the body, and if they go ignored for too long, they begin to throw a temper tantrum in our bodies in all sorts of charming ways.
This class will allow you to stretch, nurture and soothe your body and help aid any of those pesky ailments attempting to take us down.
If you find yourself constantly ill, lacking energy, sleeping poorly or maybe just in a total funk, this is a wonderful option to begin to move your body and take care of yourself in a gently and loving way.
Beginning with 10-15 minutes of a gentle yoga practice and moving into a restorative practice with yoga nidra for the remaining 45 minutes of class, this will allow you to find ease and softness in the body and mind, and has been proven to reduce anxiety and improve sleep quality.
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Private Coaching
Not comfortable working through trauma or discussing it in a group setting? This offering is for you to be able to dive into these courses one on one with more specific attention and work in the areas you'd like to focus on. All three courses are offered privately if the group setting is not most comfortable for you or you'd like to dive into your self development even deeper.
Pricing & Packages
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$350
This month long course meets 2x per week for 4 weeks.
Each week we will dissect different aspects of trauma, learn how to name this in our mind and body and how to process and work through these situations in different ways through meditation, movement and breathwork to find out what works best for each of us.
Having a small community to work with in this setting is a great way to realize, you're not alone and what you're feeling is completely normal and that you can and will overcome these feelings and find joy in your life and work again.
*Please contact us for next course start date
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$25/class
$90/month
60 minute gentle yoga class with somatic movement to help you move with more ease while getting a nice stretch.
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$25/class
$90/month
60 minute restorative yoga class with yoga nidra (sleep yoga) to help you slow down and down regulate your nervous system.
*Yoga Nidra is scientifically proven to help improve quality of sleep overall and help with depression & anxiety.
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$150/month
access to all gentle and restorative classes. (package valued at $200)
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$40/month
Access to all live and recorded guided meditations
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$0 - come join us for a free guided meditation and start your week off in a present and easeful mindset :)
1:1Coaching
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This is our "Overcoming Audition Anxiety & Trauma" Course 1:1. This option allows for more personalized attention in the areas that you feel you need the most help with in a private setting. If you're less comfortable sharing openly about your experiences that have brought you to this point, this is a great place to start or to partner with the group sessions.
Private sessions are 60 minutes and are offered both virtually and in person. Please inquire for pricing. Starts at $140/hr.
*pricing may vary based on travel to client's home.
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Are you a beginner to yoga or just want to strengthen your yoga practice but feel lost in larger group classes? This is for you! Sometimes it's challenging when we want to practice at a different tempo than the rest of our class. Maybe you're dealing with an injury, or are unfamiliar with the movement pattern in your body, or maybe it's just a rough day and you want to move a little slower. We are rarely granted those accommodations in a large group setting, and sometimes, it's exactly what we need.
A private practice allows you to work at the pace you want to and focus on the areas of your practice you'd like to strengthen and grow in.
Private sessions are 60 minutes and are offered both virtually and in person. Please inquire for pricing. Starts at $140/hr.
*pricing may vary based on travel to client's home.
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Are you totally lost in the gym or you need someone to help guide you on your fitness journey? Well let's get together!
Brooke has been personal training for 6 years and has a mindset first forward technique in her approach to fitness. Your body is strong and capable and wonderful and she wants to keep that mindset throughout training all her clients.
Private sessions are 60 minutes and are offered both virtually and in person. Please inquire for pricing. Starts at $140/hr.
*pricing may vary based on travel to client's home.
