I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for the past five months. The main reason is because my wife and I were in the throes of assisting our fathers navigate the final chapters of their respective lives. I didn’t have the energy, focus or inclination to blog or do much of anything else, for that matter. But that’s a subject for future musings.
In my previous post, Performance Anxiety: Understanding the Root of the Problem – Part One, I shared my perspective on the root cause of the problem and introduced the concepts of the “Voice Inside Your Head” (VIYH) as the problem and becoming the dispassionate observer or witness as the solution (read Part One to get up to speed). In Part Two, I will share some specific things you can do, techniques, if you will, to help you achieve a quiet mind and overcome performance anxiety. Here we go…
Stream of Consciousness Journaling: This is the ultimate “to do” list. With pen and paper in hand, write down every thought (voice) in your head. Include everything you need to get done, everything that is bothering you, fears and worries, regrets, hopes and wishes—everything. Dump the entire contents of your head onto the paper. Keep journaling until you can’t think of anything else (now there’s a concept). This has the effect of clearing out your mental closet, allowing you to intuitively connect to your natural gifts and creativity.
Brain Gym Exercises: These exercises will help you get mentally “unstuck” and change the habitual patterns by which your brain tends to function. They are designed to assist the development of your whole brain.
- “Cross Crawl” Stand or sit in a comfortable position. Put the right hand across the body to the left knee as you raise it, and then do the same thing for the left hand on the right knee as if you were marching. Do this for at least 2 minutes at a time.
- “Hook Ups” Stand or sit. Cross the right leg over the left at the ankles. Take your right wrist and cross it over the left wrist and link up the fingers so that the right wrist is on top. Bend the elbows out and gently turn the fingers in towards the body until they rest on the sternum (breast bone) in the center of the chest. Stay in this position. Keep the ankles crossed and the wrists crossed and then breathe evenly in this position for a few minutes. You will be noticeably calmer after that time. This video may provide a visual aide.
- “Lazy 8’s” With a pen and paper, using first your dominant, then your non-dominant hand, draw the infinity sign (the number eight lying on its side) for 1-2 minutes daily.
- “Rhythmic Eights” An alternative to #3 that doesn’t require pen and paper is Rhythmic Eights. Also derived from kinesiology principles of rhythmic movement, Rhythmic Eights consists of clasping your hands together, fingers and thumbs interlaced, then “drawing” figures of eights in the air for up to a minute each day or whenever needed to quiet the mind.
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): Utilizing the meridians on which Chinese Acupuncture is based (without the needles), EFT addresses issues such as performance anxiety at the emotional level by stimulating specific meridian points by tapping on them with our fingertips, often in conjunction with self-affirming proclamations. Check out this introductory video:
I suggest you also check out this EFT technique for clearing the Chakras, a techique that can be especially effective when done prior to a performance or speaking engagement.
So now you have some specific techniques for eliminating your performance anxiety. I hope you will take the time to try them out to see which ones are the best fit for you in your daily practice. I also hope you will share your personal experiences, feedback and success stories with me via your comments to this post. Perhaps you have discovered some other techniques that have worked for you. Please share them here as well.
Until next time… Get it real and keep it real.
Cheerio!
Richard
Filed under Ad Hoc, Health Realization, Music by on Apr 15th, 2010. Comment. 
Recently, I re-discovered something very significant about myself—something I hadn’t even realized I’d lost. The impetus for my re-discovery was a forum I attended on Health Realization (based on the 3 Principles of Understanding) presented by Cindi Claypatch, Director of the Health Realization Training Center in Minneapolis, MN.
Going in, my curiosity had been piqued by the promise of learning about a philosophical model for daily living that would “offer ways in which people can stay clear and grounded and better navigate through their challenges, creating the lives they desire and assist others.” That sounded pretty good to me! It turned out to be something of an epiphany.
If you don’t know what Health Realization (HR) is, allow me, with an assist from Wikipedia, to share a brief overview.
In the HR model, all psychological phenomena, from severe disorder to glowing health, are presented as manifestations of 3 operative “principles” first formulated as principles of human experience by Sydney Banks. The 3 principles are:
1.Mind – the universal energy that animates all of life, the source of innate health and well-being.
2.Consciousness – the ability to be aware of one’s life.
3.Thought – the power to think and thereby to create one’s experience of reality.
Using a movie projector as a metaphor, “Mind” is the electricity running the projector and “Thought” represents the images on the film. “Consciousness” is the light from the projector that throws the images onto the screen, making them appear real.
According to HR, we experience our reality and circumstances through the constant filter of our thoughts. Consciousness makes that filtered reality seem “the way it really is.” We react to it as if this were true. But, when our thinking changes, reality seems different and our reactions change. Thus, according to HR, we are constantly creating our own experience of reality via our thinking.
When we are having insecure or negative thoughts, we tend to experience our reality as stressful. But HR allows us to choose not to believe these thoughts, thus quieting the mind down and permitting positive feelings to emerge. HR also teaches that we have health and well-being already within us (we are all born with “innate health” that can never be taken from us), ready to emerge as soon as the noise in our mind calms down. When this happens, we can connect with our common sense and intuition, tapping into the universal capacity for creative problem solving or “inner wisdom.” The end result of practicing the 3 Principles is an expansive sense of emotional freedom and well-being.
Getting back to my previously mentioned epiphany—listening to Cindi share her personal story and experiences with HR caused a reaction that reached the top of my “AHA” scale. Though the room was filled with people, I felt like she was addressing me personally, as if she had been observing me all my life and picked this exact moment to offer this incredibly simple and common sensical solution to all my fears and woes. I hadn’t been this jazzed about my personal health since I stopped eating red meat over twenty years ago! I wasn’t about to look this gift horse in the mouth, so I made a commitment right then and there to take action.
Fast forward to June 2nd, of this year. I enrolled in Level 1 Health Realization Training (dragging my wife along ’cause it’s just so cool and I’ve a spot of evangelist in me). We’re both very excited to be studying with Cindi Clapatch and look forward to quieter minds and optimal health and well-being. I am already experiencing the benefits as I incorporate the 3 Principles of Understanding into my daily practice.
I look forward to sharing my experiences and insights as I continue on this leg of my journey. Stay tuned for updates.
Cheerio!
Richard
Filed under Health Realization by on Jun 10th, 2009. 1 Comment.
