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Public Speaking/Performance Anxiety

Karen Holt - Clinical Hypnotherapist

What is it about performing that makes us so anxious and fearful?

For the majority of the population, it is hard to imagine standing in front of an audience without your throat going dry, your knees becoming weak and wobbly, and your stomach churning. Whether it be at school, work, making a speech or performing in some way, it causes most of us to simply melt!

Performance anxiety (stage fright) can take such a firm hold on people they can become temporarily immobilized and unable to respond. For many of us, the very thought of offering our name in a group or public situation or making a brief announcement or speech is so overwhelming that we will do anything possible to avoid it. In many cases, performance anxiety can affect a person’s normal and necessary activities to such an extent that they are unable to succeed in the activity they have been given to do.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the greater part of our population find it terrifying being in front of a group, or having everyone’s eyes upon them. After all, most of us have experienced the stress of having to perform “properly” from the time we started school and had to correctly answer the teacher’s questions in front of our peers. The pressure of getting the answer right and the ensuing responses of our teacher and classmates, is often enough to make most people nervous about speaking “in front’ of others for the rest of their lives.

There are other causes of performance phobias that can stay with people for the rest of their lives:

  • Severe repressed stress can surface in the form of irrational fear, this is typical of people on a job where there is a lot of pressure to succeed or at home where a family member tries hard to please.
  • The phobia may be inherited from a role model who is fearful of speaking in front of others.
  • More than one negative experience may have built up fear to the point that just the anticipation of being in a performance situation can cause a phobic response.
  • A seemingly unrelated issue may be involved, in which the inability to speak publicly without terror may be an extension of the inability to speak up for oneself in other life situations.
  • Continuous ridicule, deprecation or dissatisfaction, especially by a parent, can lower a person’s self -esteem to the point where they believe they have nothing worthwhile to say, or that whatever they say may be “wrong”.
  • A painful emotional experience in the past can produce an unreasonable fear of the same or similar situation either at a conscious or subconscious level.

This leads us to the question of what to do about it. Telling yourself to simply “get over it” doesn’t work. And for many people, just doing it more often does not lessen the fear. Such a fear can seem impossible to unlock, or even to understand. However, a competent hypnotherapist can help trace the majority of such performance phobias and help the client release them forever.

Working at the subconscious level, where the fear has “hooked in” is the most effective and quickest way to help a person through any fear, even in the phobic stage. Hypnosis can achieve what willpower alone can’t. Hypnosis can help a person reach a relaxed, focused and receptive state of mind that is necessary to change the negative programming that lies in the levels of the mind that we call the “unconscious” or “subconscious” self.

The problem with stage fright (performance anxiety) is that the conscious mind can come up with many justifications to support it. It can argue, however irrationally, that the fear is a real thing and that one is quite powerless to change it, however, hypnotherapy is able to side step that.

Often just giving suggestions that calms a person and encourages self confidence in performing situations is all it takes to help conquer this fear. By “reprogramming” ones subconscious mind stage fright can be laid aside and the client is freed to “step into the spotlight” with far more confidence. What you now think becomes what you can do, instead of what you did before.

Hypnosis is a remarkably effective tool for helping people conquer all kinds of fears and anxieties, not just stage fright. It can expose the root of ones fear. The anxiety diminishes because the fear has been brought out of the dark of the past, into the light of the present. Releasing the fear and desensitizing ones reactions brings the psyche back into balance. Once worked through in the subconscious mind, the conscious mind can take it and accept this new “memory.”

 

The Power of Belief 

PSYCH –K Success Story  

"I recently had the absolute pleasure of having a PSYCH-K session with Amber and I have to tell you that I was blown away with the results.

My story begins the eve before I was about to embark on an exciting but difficult physical challenge. However, I felt very nervous and unprepared mentally for the task.  I told Amber how nervous I was and all my other doubts and fears about the upcoming challenge.  Amber listened carefully and then asked me how I would actually like to feel about completing the challenge. Together we then created a belief statement to balance in my subconscious mind, which seemed to only take a few minutes to do.  

“I complete my challenge quickly, easily, and feel elated”.

The next day I felt very confident as I took on the challenge. After my event I was a little disappointed with my efforts. I had expected to be absolutely exhausted in order to know I had given it my all. Instead I recovered very quickly and felt like I could do the challenge all over again! 

Hours after the challenge I received my time on the event. I achieved the fastest time I could only dream of achieving. I was absolutely gob smacked and elated! I was so surprised because it felt like I had gone quite slow and the challenge was too easy, when in training, climbing 28 floors wearing 25 kg of firefighting gear was definitely not an easy challenge.

It was several days later that it dawned on me, everything in the new belief statement we installed into my subconscious mind undeniably happened!  Through the PSYCH-K balance we changed my negative thoughts, worries and beliefs about the challenge to a supportive belief  “I complete my challenge quickly, easily, and feel elated”.

Thinking back, it was as if I floated through the challenge effortlessly and I still feel elated over my efforts. I am so thankful to Amber as I believe without doubt that this healing session made all the difference to my success." 

April Himmelreich
Volunteer Firefighter – Participant in the Melbourne Firefighter Stair Climb 2015

Has it ever occurred to you that you may be unknowingly sabotaging your own success? When your subconscious beliefs do not align with your conscious mind’s goals, it can be very difficult to achieve the success you desire.  During a PSYCH-K session, new life affirming and supportive beliefs can be installed into your subconscious mind within minutes . PSYCH-K is at the cutting edge of rapid mindset change. If you are having difficulty moving forward in any area of your life, consider a PSYCH-K session with Amber to discover if you have any subconscious beliefs that may be holding you back. 

 

Chick pea curry - Serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS 

  • 2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 2 tsps garlic, minced
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 1⁄2 cups chickpeas (cooked or canned)
  • 3 tbs curry powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1⁄2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1⁄4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 x 425g can coconut milk
  • 1 x 425g can diced tomatoes
  • 2 large carrots, sliced
  • 4 cups broccoli florets
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced
    (I also add pumpkin and potato chunks)


    DIRECTIONS

  • Warm oil in a large pan over medium heat.
  • Sauté garlic and onions 5-8 minutes, until translucent and slightly browned.
  • In a small bowl, combine curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
  • Add chickpeas and mix seasoning to pan and stir for 1 minute.
  • Add coconut milk, tomatoes and their liquid, carrots, broccoli, and red bell pepper.
  • Bring to a low simmer and sauté for 10 minutes, until vegetables are easily pierced with a fork.

  • Serve over basmati rice.

 

Vouchers are available for other GBM practitioners too so check out the range of services we offer @ http://www.bodiandmind.com.au/

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