By Sheila Menon
Have you ever had to make an important announcement, or give a public presentation and woken up feeling sick at the very thought of it? Chances are you have stage fright or to use a more technical term, performance anxiety.
This relatively harmless symptom can make your life miserable. First there are the symptoms to contend with – sweaty palms, frequent bowel movements, heart palpitations and general feelings of gloom.
Then you start labelling yourself a failure. You second-guess your worth as your inner mind starts a lecture, often ending in a tirade of self-criticism.
Anxiety and depression are medical conditions, which are best treated by a visit to the doctor. Certainly there are prescriptions that can help you sleep again, calm your nerves and cope with the stress.
But in the same way that curing exam nerves comes from studying beforehand, resolving performance anxiety comes from preparing yourself both mentally and psychologically for the task at hand.
Everyone needs a bit of panic to motivate them. So if you find yourself stressing, take a moment to tell yourself that this is because you are also passionate about the task at hand and committed to doing the best you can.
But don’t forget to give yourself the time you need to prepare. A good rule of thumb is 1% panic to 99% hard work.
Avoid slipping into “avoidance mode”
The biggest disadvantage of performance anxiety is that you feel so bad about something, you avoid preparing for it altogether. People feel so awful that they frequently distract themselves with other things.
If you find yourself doing more cooking, watching extra TV, texting, hanging out or simply wasting time instead of preparing for your task then chances are that you are in avoidance mode.
This can create a vicious cycle, meaning the more you avoid, the more stressed you become leading to even more avoidant behaviour.
Clinical hypnosis can make two important contributions to anyone suffering from performance anxiety.
The first is to immediately remove or reduce the state of panic. The second is to train the unconscious mind to help you achieve your desired result.
The techniques apply to those suffering from exam nerves, or anxious over work based presentations, competing in sports and any other time where the limelight is on you. In fact a number of top professionals such as lawyers, corporate leaders, performers, engineers and athletes use clinical hypnosis to help them get into the winning mindset.
Breathe in… breathe out
A clinical hypnotherapist will generally teach you how to do breathing techniques, which you can also do for yourself outside the consulting room. They are easy to do and take about two minutes before you start to feel very much better.
Very often a clinical hypnotherapist will also teach you how to change your inner dialogue so that your inner voice becomes a source of positive encouraging suggestions rather than a voice of doom and unhelpful critical suggestions.
Of course the minute you stop stressing your mind clears and you are able to think clearly again. This is when your clinical hypnotherapist will speak directly to your unconscious mind helping you to refocus on the behaviour and habits which will help you succeed.
Although clinical hypnosis feels very relaxing, your mind enters a state of focused attention allowing you to absorb the helpful suggestions and make the desired changes.
Most people feel rejuvenated and confident after a session and find that the resistance holding them back has melted away. This is because the energy that was feeding the anxiety is now redirected to helpful behaviour.
The therapy session is quite simple and sometimes just one session is all that it takes. This is because learning takes place in an accelerated way during clinical hypnosis.
Your clinical hypnotherapist will also help you focus on how you will feel after you complete a successful presentation and use these emotions as a natural boost to your motivation and confidence.
People often describe the experience as forgetting about themselves and being completely absorbed in the task. Others say the confidence they feel afterwards motivates them to take on new and other exciting challenges.
Sheila Menon is the Principal of the London College of Clinical Hypnosis (LCCH Asia). You can visit the www.lcch.asia website or email [email protected] for more information about clinical hypnotherapy.
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