#FFB: Sierra Boggess
I could not be more excited and feel so lucky to be able to share this feature! Sierra has been an inspiration for me for as long as I can remember! Phantom of the Opera has been my guiding light musical and when I finally saw her in the production, all of my expectations were surpassed. She is radiant as a performer and it was amazing to find out she is just as beautiful as a person. She is a down-to-earth, fun-spirited soul and I have a whole new respect for how inspirational she is in our industry. The photo shoot was an afternoon full of inspiration, light, silliness, and of course, yoga! In keeping with the theme of my month of Teacher Training at Pure Yoga, Sierra's feature is about how yoga has influenced her life and work. My heart is so full of Thanks for Sierra being a part of Fit for Broadway! -J.
BIOGRAPHY: What is up internet universe! I am Sierra Boggess and 10 years ago I moved to New York City to pursue my dream of being a working actress! I began my journey touring the country with Les Miserables, living in Las Vegas to open Phantom of the Opera, meeting extraordinary people like Hal Prince, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gillian Lynne, and eventually making my Broadway Debut in Disney's The Little Mermaid! You may know me on Broadway from Mermaid, Master Class and Phantom of the Opera, or you may know me from London's West End in Les Miserables and Love Never Dies.
I'm originally from Denver Colorado and definitely a hippie at heart... if I'm not onstage, you can probably find me in a yoga class or outside in the sunshine, lying in the grass, having real life conversations with incredible friends, or hanging out with Celie and Olivia, my rescue cats!
My message to everyone in this world and the next is: YOU ARE ENOUGH YOU ARE SO ENOUGH IT'S UNBELIEVABLE HOW ENOUGH YOU ARE!
INTERVIEW:
Q: Can you tell me about your yoga practice?
A: I have been doing Bikram yoga on and off for 9 years and Vinyasa for 4 years. I discovered Bikram yoga when I was on the road with Les Miserables. We were playing Toronto at the time and the girl playing Fantine in the company, Joan Almedilla, took me to my first class! I barely remember what happened it was such a surreal experience my first time, with the 103 degree heat and intense postures etc. I didn't do much yoga my first class, but I stayed in the room for the 90 minutes and that is THE most important thing for your first time! I realized it was getting my mind to be quiet and stop saying "I can't do this". That's what interested me about yoga right away is the mental workout as well as the physical. I then became a Bikram yoga maniac and have practiced nearly every place I've lived or visited: Toronto, DC, Colorado, London, NYC, California, Boston, Las Vegas and more! I started practicing vinyasa yoga when I was living in London in 2010. I was doing a show called Love Never Dies and didn't want to overdo it with my workout so I decided to try vinyasa! Of course I LOVED it and found the mental challenge similar to Bikram but the flow of the class was completely different. I like doing both types of yoga as it keeps me balanced!
Q: How does yoga differ from other forms of exercise and what does that mean for you specifically?
A: Well I love the spiritual practice coupled with the extreme body workout. Bikram says in 90 minutes you have worked every single muscle in your body! And you are working from the inside out, you are cleansing your internal organs and sending fresh oxygenated blood to your cells and brain etc! So it's like a renewal everytime you practice. I used to run on the treadmill and it was a different kind of workout... I felt good, but I didn't feel the openness I feel after a yoga class. And really I just keep going back to the mental workout. it makes me shut my brain off and meditate. It's an open eye moving meditation. Which in this business, I need!
Q: How does yoga affect your voice, mind, body, and spirit?
A: How doesn't it affect it? Really! It is the single greatest gift I can give myself before I start my day. It really is all about the 90 minutes, or 60 minutes or however long you practice, getting your mind to be quiet for that time. It then allows the good to open up and be heard! Plus, when you are stretching every muscle in your body and releasing toxins your voice feels freer and your body feels lighter and your spirit feels capable!
Q: How do you keep your voice healthy?
A: Drink water, don't smoke, get sleep! It really is that simple. Don't develop the habit of "i have to have this tea" or "i have to have this lozenge" those become mental crutches more than anything. Look, when you're sick, it's a different story, you need some assistance, but for everyday singing, just SING! KNOW you have taken care of your voice by hydrating, and not smoking or breathing in smoke and that you had rest!
Q: Do you follow a specific diet?
A: No I do not! Let me explain: I always struggled with food ever since I was little. Always had an unhealthy relationship to food and was always angry at food and thought food was the enemy and all that. In turn, I restricted myself, or stopped eating all together, or ate and then felt upset at myself, etc etc. After years and years of working to change my relationship to food, I now have a practice of AWARENESS when I eat, and learning to LOVE food, and I try to put something green in my body, at least in a smoothie or something! And I don't restrict! If I want fries, well then I eat fries! :) But if I allow myself to eat fries, I really make the conscious CHOICE that this is what I am giving myself so "sierra don't be upset that you ate it! Enjoy and then eat something good for you!" Really, THAT is the work you have to do to change your relationship to food. And I find with this new attitude, I just WANT to eat healthy! I crave things that are good for me, not junk!
Q: What is your favorite mantra and yoga pose?
A: My favorite mantra is the simplest one. It's how we open our practice and close are practice, and that is Om. Om in the simplest definition means "I am". It's also the sound that opens you up to the highest power in the universe and who doesn't want that?! :) But meditating on "I am" is a really cool thing, because you have to be very aware of what that means! I like to think of it as a finish the sentence thing... I am... love... I am... flexible to all situations.... I am peace.... I am patient... basically calling forth what you want to practice. And in doing that for you, you are doing that for the world! Favorite yoga pose? I love inversions... any chance I get to be upside down I just LOVE! You see life from a place you NEVER look! I love trying to find the balance without the support of the wall or someone spotting you. I love when I FIND it! But I also love the heart opening postures, back bends and warrior postures, strong and sure. In Bikram one of my favorite postures is Standing Bow Pulling Pose. I feel like a badass when I hold it a full minute standing on one leg! I think it's important to be zen and badass at the same time. :)
Q: What is your best advice for stage confidence?
A: To know that YOU are enough. Just how you show up in this world, you are enough. You don't have to try and be anything more than who YOU are. Don't try and be anyone else. "Be yourself, everyone else is taken!" Don't do anyone else's version of a song. Do YOUR version. Trust that you are enough, if you are in your truth. Also work hard, be overly prepared and then be flexible! And if you feel fear, that's ok, THANK fear for showing up and reminding you that you are alive, and then send it on its way because it doesn't serve you any longer! And most importantly, don't seek out the opinions of others. Remember "what other people think of me is none of my business!"
Q: Do you feel yoga has contributed to a better understanding of self?
A: Absolutely. I was someone who always suffered with low body image self esteem.
I was someone who hated my body for most of my life, which breaks my heart thinking back to how much time I spent being cruel to myself because I felt disgusted by my own body. It's so horrible what we do to ourselves!
Yoga, opened my heart and mind in a way that I give LOVE to myself and CELEBRATE what my body can do! Giving yourself a mantra telling yourself you are connected and meant to be alive and to stretch and be flexible are all metaphors for how we must live OUTSIDE of the workout room! By doing all these poses, having a mantra, twisting your body, balancing, focusing, you become GRATEFUL instead of HATEFUL! Hey! I just made that up! Grateful instead of hateful! Let's use that mantra! And really "yoga" means "union" and we are UNITED and we are ONE and we are loving ourselves so that we can love each other. It's a practice of love and it has helped me be grateful that I get to borrow THIS amazing body while I am on this earth! So let me treat it with respect and love so that I can be a vessel for good!
Q: How has yoga helped your career on Broadway?
A: When you are the leading lady of a show, much is expected of you. So through the practice of yoga, I have found that I am able to be more flexible and handle more situations and BALANCE the amount of work and play I need to do as a person! It reminds me that that place of calm, quiet, stillness is always inside of me and I can access it at any time amidst chaos. You can return to the place within if you are nervous for an audition, opening night, interview whatever it may be.
We got pretty excited about bridge on a bridge!! tehe : ) - J.
Q: Who or what inspires you?
A: SO MUCH! Nature inspires me, animals inspire me, Wayne Dyer, Oprah, Ellen Degeneres, Brene Brown, Deepak Chopra... the list goes on and on. And PLEASE, I encourage anyone who doesn't know who these people are to look them up, read their books, listen to their podcasts, watch Super Soul Sunday on Oprah's OWN network! I am currently reading Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, and it's life changing. If I need to feel grounded, I walk in the grass with my bare feet and feel the EARTH. If I need to be reminded of the present moment, I look at the BEAUTIFUL example of animals, who are the MASTERS of being in the moment. We can learn so much from the world around us, if we remember to look.
Q: What is your advice for those trying to perform on Broadway?
A: Discover your extreme passion for the work and then work work work your butt off! And in the meantime, find the JOY in the work. The journey is so much more fun then the destination. I promise... the journey to get to Broadway is so much fun! Once you are "there" it's a whole other journey, but we must enjoy the work of getting there! and I will also say to get out of your own way. Again, we tend to say negative things to ourselves, we never think we are good enough etc so we get to become aware of that and change it. How can I audition well if I walk in a room thinking "they will hate me" or "I look so fat" or "I'm not good enough"... WE tell them not to hire us by being in our own way! Does that make sense? So if you walk in with a loving, joyous, confident attitude you get to sing your best and feel your best as you audition!
