Do You Suffer From Stage Freight?
It’s your big debut, the show is about to open, the seats are full, and sitting front and center are the critics, reviewers, media, and your mom and dad. This is your big day! Then why do you feel like you might pass out any moment? Stage Freight is more common than you might think.
Is your blood pumping so hard it’s pounding in your ears? Does your heart sound like you’ve just run a marathon? Does your throat feel so tight you fear you may not be able to do no more than squeak your lines out? Do your muscles feel so tense they are ready to burst? May I introduce you to your fight or flight response.
It’s a human trait that goes way back to the caveman and this internal system regulates our response to stress when faced with danger. It’s a reaction that affects our sympathetic nervous system and it’s job is to get us out of harms way. On the stage it’s called stage freight.
Even some big celebrities suffer from stage freight if only for an instant. Stage freight isn’t just suffered by performers. You may have experienced it yourself when you’ve had to make a speech in front of co-workers. Stage freight can occur anytime you have to do something in front of an audience.
There are different levels of stage freight from those little butterflies in your stomach just as you’re about to go on stage, to symptoms that are so debilitating you cannot even make it through the audition.
Now you might be thinking “so what’s the big deal,” but stage freight actually can affect your health and well being. The good news is there are techniques that can help you overcome your stage freight and go onto to do a fabulous performance. After all the show must go on!
Learn to deep breath from your diaphragm. You’ll often hear this called belly breathing. By deep breathing you send fresh air deep into your body and you exhale stale air which has a calming effect.
To tell if you are doing it correctly place your hands across your stomach so that you can feel your stomach expand and contract. You should also feel it through your back.
Even breathing is also a great technique to ground and relax you. To even breath you breath in and out exactly the same amount of times. So three breaths in, three breaths out. Any woman who has experienced labor will already have experience with this technique.
Alternate nostril breathing balances the nervous system. That’s because left nostril is connected to the parasympathetic nervous system while the right nostril is connected to the sympathetic nervous system.
Start by inhaling through both of your nostrils. Then block one nostril and breath out. Do this three times, and then switch nostrils and repeat three times. Repeat until you begin to feel the jitterbugs going away.
Another technique that works for many is a combination of deep breathing and visual. Do your deep breathing as described above, close your eyes and visualize a happy place. A warm beach with the sun beating and surf slapping against the shore, or your favorite flower. Whatever works for you. In only a few seconds you’ll feel your body and your nerves begin to relax.
So whether you are about to make that presentation to a group of co-workers, or you’re about to debut in your first theater performance, or you’ve been on the stage thousands of times these techniques will help. You no longer need to suffer from stage freight!