When stress and anxiety take hold, it can feel like a tsunami of emotions crashing down upon us. Whatever triggers anxiety, whether it’s a singular event or a building sense of dread. Left unchecked it can soon spiral out of control.
And while it’s not always helpful when someone casually tells you to “Chill-out and take a breath!” They’re really not that far off.
You see, when anxiety grips us, it usually takes a familiar, well-worn path. There will be similar feelings that arise, regular negative thought patterns and familiar bodily sensations that all gang up to create a cascade of emotion to overwhelm you.
In other words: a fast-track to feeling out of control. A pattern of thought and behaviour – in many cases completely subconscious – that if allowed to continue, trigger our fight/flight/freeze response which may not be appropriate in the circumstances.
Let’s face it, you don’t want to freeze in the middle of a performance!
The good news is that this ‘pattern’ can be interrupted before it gets out of hand via the STOP Technique.
This is a fantastic way of regaining control wherever you are. It’s extremely simple and easy to learn, and I just know you’re going to love it.