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As a teacher, artist
and performer, I have participated in, directed and instructed creative and learning performances throughout my
own professional, educational and personal life and can speak with firsthand experience of these fields. It is
without doubt that physical and emotional trauma and stress and anxiety impact creative and learning performances
– there are strategies and solutions here that I've seen, experienced and used that can greatly help
and resolve these difficulties for artists and learners. Here the specific Arts, activities and teaching areas
that I have worked with for years and now use the expansion techniques discussed, with effective results.
The Creative Performance of Visual Artists, Actors, Dancers, Musicians, Writers and
Public
Speakers can often be impacted by forms of anxiety, stagefright, panic attack, writer's block
and reactions to injury and current or past trauma and even negative direction, instruction, or environment. There
are times when the core performance of the actor and other artists can be unfulfilled potential or even lower quality
than past performances have been due to fear and emotional or physical pain. Sometimes early training can itself
be a source of stress and anxiety during and in later years. Physical injuries both related and unrelated to performance
can have an effect on the artist's life, and anxiety and panic attacks often result.
Also,
Learning
Performances in various fields including
Test Taking and Language Learning,
ESL are concrete examples of success or less
than optimum work when stress and anxiety overwhelm the student's efforts to perform. Test anxiety can appear and/or
study skills evaporate from past difficulties and even unrelated trauma can bar the success of planned test taking
strategies hard won by that student. When the goal is a language to learn, especially ESL for students, it is difficult
enough overcoming the fear of being in the classroom
as a new person, let alone to learn the english.
 Actors,
Dancers, and Musicians can all experience creativity barriers to wonderful human performance
onstage. The actor who develops extreme stagefright or an occasional panic attack, even late in a career (as did
the great Sir Laurence Olivier in King Lear) finds it may have been a result from an old injury or current
trauma that makes overcoming anxiety difficult to handle and coping with stress becomes impossible. Dancers,
and often particularly ballet dancers frequently incur injuries that may sideline them permanently without strategies
and treatment to get them back onstage and in one piece. Musicians have
their own unique relationship with their vocal and physical instruments, that can be strained over time and young
musicians must be trained carefully to include the development of voice and musical discipline that is age appropriate,
in order to have long lasting careers. Writers and Artists often find themselves blocked, staring at a blank canvas, screen,
page wondering where did the rendering, painting, character, idea, or words go? Public speaking is
an art that demands resolving the fear of public speaking at the very beginning of the career, and organization,
public speaking tips and a good speech writer is not enough for amateur and professional speakers to rely on without
anxiety help.
 In
addition to physical and psychological therapies, there are complementary modalities, and there are strategies
that can benefit these artists, as well as visual Artists and Public Speakers. Stress relief and anxiety help can
come in the form of breath work, energy exercises, craniosacral therapies, Brainspotting and other modalities.
Injuries can be alleviated with Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy and the trauma involved can be directly addressed
and resolved with both cranial work and Brainspotting. Old and new creativity barriers to best performances can
be shifted and changed to enhance the work of the actor, musician and dancer who may have been literally stopped
in their tracks with injury or apprehension, after years of study and performance in their field, and stress and
anxiety can be resolved.
What it means to perform
onstage involves: Characterization, stage movement, blocking, lyrics, dance routines and choreography, orchestration,
rehearsals, stage combat, learning lines and music and much more--these are all HARD work and all enormous undertaking.
Overcoming anxiety and overcoming fear are often part of the territory of that creative work. In addition, there
are effective strategies and therapies that can make a huge difference to the creative performer and learner who
has not had obvious trauma and stress but who has not achieved the level of excellence that is required to succeed.
 In many university research
studies Test taking anxiety has been proven to lower scores in a testing environment. Often
a panic attack during or before a test can paralyze a student with fear. It is possible to reduce anxiety with
test taking strategies that include Brainspotting and the help of an experienced craniosacral therapist to calm
the nervous system. When testing or instruction of ESL for students is the goal, overcoming anxiety can be even more
difficult, and yet english language learning or learning a new language as an english speaker can be improved with
the same modalities mentioned. Overcoming fear in any educational setting is possible with stress relief and anxiety
help and strategies that the student can continue to use on their own.
 This
is also true of the
Writer. Writer's block can be dissolved and the freelance writer, the technical writer, the
medical writer, the person writing a book, writing short stories or online writing can go on writing quality work
and meet the deadlines imposed that add further to anxiety. Creative writing can benefit from Brainspotting to
remove angst, trauma and anxiety that may be impacting the work.
The visual Artist's performance can grow in excellence and productivity with new
design and painting techniques, on canvas or computer, in sculpture, fine art, photography, any media, without
being hindered by creativity barriers, further enhanced with Brainspotting.
In my experience, I have
often had ALL of these fields brought together, as in an original Theatre production. It's then completely essential to have all performers, creative and
learning, work together as a team to the fullest potential. I do recall, years ago, directing an experimental production
very much like the Japanese woodblock below (including the Kabuki stage makeup ! ) and it would have been a great
benefit to have had access then to the knowledge and modalities discussed in these pages.
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