Fitzrovia W1T 5PG, the City of London EC1, and Victoria SW1V 1RY
sian@londonhypnotherapy.org   07725 732810

Hypnotherapy for stage fright and performance anxiety

view from stage facing audience

Are you struggling to give your best in auditions or live performance? Do you worry about forgetting your lines? Is the constant competition for work taking a toll on your self-confidence? Do you fear that your voice or body will give out at the worst possible moment? Have you had a performance "disaster" you can't seem to put behind you?

Perhaps you experience some or all of the physical features of anxiety: muscle tension, frequent rapid heartbeat, queasiness/nausea, sweating, shaking or a dry mouth; along with feelings of apprehension and uneasiness, and a decreasing ability to cope, act, or express yourself?

You are not alone. Stage fright affects most performers at some point in their careers. And it is how you respond to this challenge to your skill, control and creativity that determines whether you can move forward as a better performer. It may be that you've always struggled with stage fright in some form, or that you've only recently experienced it. Perhaps you're coping, but the things you do to keep it together are having a negative affect on your performance, general health and wellbeing.

Whatever your specific situation, hypnotherapy is very effective for issues that involve fear. This is because it helps you to regain control of your thoughts and feelings, so you can start to feel calm and stable again. It helps you to manage and resolve the negative physical, mental and emotional effects of stage fright, replacing them with a state of relaxation and calm confidence. This applies equally to when you are thinking of the frightening situation/s, when you are actually in them (eg audition, rehearsal, live performance, recording or filming, promotional activity), and how you view them after the event.

You are probably using self-hypnosis without even realising it, for example when you lose yourself in a performance, when you push aside worries to get on with the show, or when you get into character. All of these instances have elements of the hypnotic trance, including focused awareness, relaxation, time distortion and mental rehearsal. These skills and experiences should put you in a good position to use hypnotherapy to help get you back on track, so that you can be confident in all aspects of your performance again.

Using hypnotherapy to resolve stage fright can help you:

  • reduce the physical impact of anxiety
  • readily create conditions of relaxation and calm inside and out
  • increase self-confidence
  • strengthen resilience, discipline and patience
  • easily and safely let go of negative past events, habits and thinking that contribute to stage fright
  • rediscover the feeling of flow necessary for confident performance
  • make positive use of travel/waiting time to mentally rehearse and review performance
  • use all aspects of performance (successes and mistakes) to your advantage
  • reduce reliance on negative coping strategies eg smoking, drinking/drugs, over/under eating and exercising

For more information about hypnotherapy for dealing with stage fright and performance anxiety, or to book an appointment, contact Sian on 07725 732810 or email.

...I have to say that my recent therapy achieved far more than my expectations. After only three sessions, I have managed to put some very negative past experiences behind me, and I can already see huge positive changes in my outlook and ability to cope with anxiety and stressful situations...
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...I wanted to let you know how much better my anxiety and fear is. I don't sweat and shake anywhere nearly as much,and my journey to work is much less of an ordeal. I'm sleeping better and have more energy...
[read more]