Nothing is worse than when you're about to walk on stage for an audition or performance and you get stage fright. In this post I'll be telling you some ways to conquer it.

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Nerves, anxiety and fear are some negative forces that hold us back. These things can show up right before those big moments ,this is called stage fright or performance anxiety and it can happen before or during appearance in front of an audience.
Here are some symptoms of performance anxiety;

• Fast pulse and rapid breathing
• Dry mouth and tight throat
• Trembling hands, knees,lips and voice
• Sweaty and cold hands
• Nausea and uneasy feeling in your stomach
• vision changes

Stage fright is not a joke, it can make your vision blury or tunneled, so what do we do? How do we combat these symptoms?

1. Form your clear intention

When we think of stage fight, we normally think of our nerves or anxiety but often the precursor to nerves is confusion or chaos. When our thoughts are scattered when we are rushing around we don't feel centered and it's almost impossible to feel confident often right before a performance or meeting and this can lead to stage fright. So the first thing to do is to pick a clear intention. What is your goal or hope? Or what do you want to achieve with what you're about to do. This intention should help wipe away and all other thoughts and you should think about it while your getting ready or pumping yourself up for your big moment.

NOTE: The most important thing about a clear intention is to keep it positive. Dont use words like "dont" or "no". So rather than saying "don't mess up" say "stay confident".

2. Pick a focal point

Pick a far off unimportant point in the stage or room, and later you would use this point to throw off your nervous energy. This is an interesting concept because you won't be ignoring you nervous energy, rather you'll redirecting it. For instance you can use what psychologists call a grounding prop. If you have a pen you can use the pen as your focal point. When you are nervous you you can imagine flinging your nervous energy towards the pen, and then put it Down on a table. In this step it's like you imagine your nervousesness into that pen and then put it down. This tricks your brain into thinking you have let go of the anxiety. This step is simple but powerful

3. Breath mindfully

Oxygen is like magic, we need it to live but it also counteracts all the physical feelling or nervousesness. The problem is; because we need it to live we don't even think about breathing it in and so when we are nervous without realising it, we take shorter more shallow breaths or hold our breaths entirely this exacerbates the cycle of anxiety making us lightheaded, dizzy and even more out of breath. So in this case we need mental preparation to breath purposefully. First close your eyes and then breath in through your nose and out through your mouth, then push out your stomach with each breath and closing your eyes will help your eyes will help to focus and center you

4. Release muscle tension

When we get anxious we tighten everything. We clench our jaw, tense our shoulders, squeeze our arms to our side or in front of us even our stomach gets tight. This is terrible for blood flow. It is better to progressively relax your body. You can start with your head then gradually go down to your toes. Each part of your body has to be relaxed. This step also has a benefit of mentally distracting you. Instead of thinking of everything that could go wrong or all the last minute things you need to remember, it focuses your brain on something calming.

5. Repeat your process cue

In the first step we talked about your intention this was your goal or desired outcome for your performance. A process clevis how you want to achieve that intention. What mental or physical reminder do you want for yourself as you go through your performance. For instance; an interviewers process cue might be "smile and ask great questions" for a musician it can be "smooth and good tempo" for a public speaker it can be "keep it positive and engaging".

• Think about how you would like to attain your goal
• what kind of tempo do you want
• what kind of relying do you need to fuel you

Think of these things whole getting yourself ready.

TIP
Always redirect your energy, don't tell yourself "Don't be anxious" this would most probably not work. Rather redirect your energy somewhere else because it can have a very relieving effect.

Follow all of these steps in order to overcome stage fright and anxiety