Final Five Questions with Jules Helm
Performer and teacher using movement to connect actors to their craft.
As children we are fresh, connected, free, spontaneous, filled with wonder, and living in the present. Then we start formal education, and while many of those lessons are incredibly useful for a highly functioning society, some of the lessons we learn are completely out of touch.
Jules Helm is an actor and teacher who believes that much of the Modern World messaging conditions us to overdevelop our analytical, intellectual, and strategic left-brain. In the process, we end up losing our authenticity and intuition, all in the pursuit of survival. We often abandon our dreams, and instead pursue what we think we are supposed to do to prove we are valuable and deserving of love. It is no wonder why there is so much mental illness, isolation, loneliness and increased physical illness in our modern world. While having a plan is certainly useful, to be over planned destroys the journey as well as the mystery and wonder of living. Sometimes we have to take the leap!
What does this have to do with acting? Everything.
It was through Meisner training that Jules learned to listen and really hear, and with the Williamson Movement Technique he began stripping away the inaccurate lessons, habits, muscular tension, and limiting beliefs from his past and started reconnecting with the people and the world around him. It was through the movement where he came back to being alive as he released unprocessed experience from the body. Through this journey, Jules has come to discover that life can have deeper meaning and clearer direction when strip away all those unneeded lessons and conditioned habits from our history. When we move from this place, Jules believes nothing can stop us and the world and opportunities open up for us.
And it is this insight and experience that Jules brought to a recent interview with Why I’ll Never Make It. He shares his own journey of self-discovery and inner reflection that has brought him to a more authentic space as an artist and individual. Here he answers five final questions on success and lessons learned.
1. What job within the arts do you feel is the most undervalued and why is it so important?
Production…the unsung heroes who work tremendous hours putting together miracles.
2. What does success or “making it” mean to you in your life and career?
“Making it” means inner peace and self worth while at the same time being of service. Not personalizing the highs or lows has been my biggest growth. It ends up like a karmic journey — what am I supposed to learn now?! And if I have the attitude of “how do I get to grow now?” then I have a sense of excitement and enthusiasm toward the present challenge.
3. In what ways has the industry changed since you first started?
Gosh, that is tough to answer…as anytime I dwell I things I don’t agree with it is usually is a sign that I need to look at something inside myself. Something I am curious about is how freedom of expression and politically correctness will evolve. It seems like there are many contradictions and potential censoring of authentic stories.
4. Describe a personal lesson that has taken you awhile to learn or one that you are still working on to this day?
One thing I have learned, is to not blame others or the world for what isn’t working the way my little ego wants it — perhaps there is something bigger; It is usually best for me to soften, release and listen, to do my best to work with what is, not what isn’t.
5. What’s the most useful advice you’ve received AND how did you apply it to your life or career?
“Smell the Roses.” Similar to above answer — I apply it by doing my best to work with what is, rather than what isn’t.
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Host/Producer
