The singer Beyoncé is privately quite a shy lady. But not on stage. Here she finds her alter ego, Sasha Fierce. She is aggressive and straight forward. The strategy is smart, And it can also be used by you.
“When I'm on stage I'm aggressive and strong and not afraid of my sexuality. The tone of my voice gets different, and I'm fearless. I'm just a different person.”
This is what the American singer Beyonce has said [in an interview in the Daily Mail, UK] about her alter-ego Sasha Fierce. Beyonce has named her herself, created her - to set herself free on stage.
I turn into Sasha. I wouldn't like Sasha if I met her off stage. She's too aggressive, too strong, too sassy, too sexy! I'm not like her in real life at all. I'm not flirtatious and super-confident and fearless like her.
I created Sasha Fierce as my stage persona ... so that when I go home, I don't have to think about what it is I do.
Sasha isn't me. The people around me know who I really am. It's a way for me to differentiate what I do onstage from who I really am.
Beyonce's strategy is smart—and you can use it, too. Beyonce has therefore consciously created her stage persona. A persona that is different from who she is in private. A persona she can pull out of the closet when she needs her. See, that's smart.
In shadow work, this 'technique' is used a lot, that is to - consciously - play with and explore a so-called 'sub-personality'. (Part personality is a concept that originates from Roberto Assagioli's Psychosynthesis and Jungian psychology).
We all contain a myriad of sub-personalities - different voices, characters, inner psychological forces, which are often at odds with each other. The gentle and the harsh, the shy and the flamboyant, the underplayed and the overplayed, etc.
Who lives inside you?
You probably know it well - that you don't just have one self, but many. Many little men and women living inside you, each speaking with their own voice, having their own needs, desires and ways of expression.
One of them (Fitness Fie) says for example that you should go for a run, while another (Hedonist Hanna) begs for one more piece of chocolate cake.
Every sub-personality contains its opposite (shadow) - and we can use the conscious play and experimentation with our sub-personalities to set ourselves free, to unfold, to break boundaries, to grow and develop.
If we remain strongly identified with our persona (the face we show to the outside world), we can quickly (or slowly) feel stuck and limited.
The difference between Beyoncé and BritneyBeyonce is a sweet, happy, smiling, polite and slightly shy girl from Texas.
But she is also everything else. And if she hadn't created Sasha Fierce as her stage persona, she might have either lost her passion for performing or 'made a Britney Spears'. Britney Spears tried - possibly under pressure from both management and record company - to maintain the innocent, sweet, little-girl image she became known for as a teenager
The problem was just that she was also (of course!) much more and something else than that. She was getting older. She was no longer a one-dimensional, sugary, pristine pop princess. Oops I did it... And when she could no longer bear the massive projection ('perfect and innocent') she had no choice but to shave off all her hair and go wild in sinful ferocity for a period of time.
The shadow took over, so to speak. And that's what the shadow does. When we hold it down. For too long. Sasha can be unpacked and packed down again.
That's why Beyonce's strategy is smart. Because here it is Beyonce herself who chooses - consciously, awake, adult - to give room to other sides of her personality. In a healthy way. As she herself says; when the concert is over, Sasha Fierce is packed down again. And it's Beyonce who packs her down and out - as needed.
Sasha Fierce is not a dangerous, erratic ghost who can pop up at inopportune times and wreak havoc in Beyonce's life. She is an accepted and recognized sub-personality who is under controly
What can YOU learn from Beyonce?
You can learn to use your own sub-personalities constructively. And consciously.
Perhaps it would be appropriate for you to create a persona that you can highlight when you go to a job interview. Someone who is confident, fearless and ambitious.
Or how about a dating persona? The kind of person who isn't afraid to flirt, take the initiative and be a little cheeky. Or maybe someone who is quiet, reserved and loving?
Music video Beyoncé-
youtu.be/_PGh6SeglHMwww.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9881773/Beyonce-defied-corporate-advice-created-biggest-commercial-success-Sasha-Fierce.htmlHere's how you do it!
1) Consider in which situations you would like to have the freedom to behave differently than you normally do (e.g. at work, as a parent, as a lover, at a party)
2) Identify a role model or create a persona for each of these scenarios.
3) Write down the characteristics that characterize this persona.
4) Give your persona a name (which is different from your own) eg Ambitious Anna, Flirtatious Frida, Caring Carla etc.
5) Use your personas/sub-personalities when needed. Play with them. Give them space. This is not fake. On the contrary, it is an honest way of showing your many faces.
And hey! If you are very creative, you can make a small collage with pictures of each of your sub-personalities - for example on the back of a postcard or an A4 sheet. Go crazy.
A shadow worker