Performance Anxiety Therapy

Remember when this was fun? When playing music or a sport was just that—playing? When performing in front of a crowd was a thrill? For many musicians, athletes, actors, and public speakers, performance anxiety slowly turns what was once a source of childlike joy into a nightmare, until the very thing that once felt like play feels like something to survive. The best case scenario becomes relief, not elation.

When working with performance anxiety, my focus isn't on eliminating nerves, but on changing the performer's relationship to them. Anxiety, racing thoughts, and self-doubt are treated as normal companions of high-stakes performance rather than problems to be fixed or evidence that something is wrong. I help clients notice when they're fused with harsh self-judgment, perfectionistic standards, or catastrophic predictions. I help clients practice unhooking from those thoughts enough to stay present with what they're actually doing, breaking the habit of being lost in mental commentary about how it's going. Much of the work is about redirecting attention away from performance as evaluation and toward performance as full, embodied engagement with the present moment, trusting that creativity and skill can show up more freely when it isn't being suffocated by the need to control or judge the outcome. Over time, clients build a willingness to feel anxious and perform anyway, in service of what matters to them about their craft. My ultimate goal is to help people find their way back to performing from a place of love, presence, and play.