Raise your hand if you wish you could wave a magic wand and never feel nervous for an audition or a performance again. Well, you’re in luck because today on The Aligned Actor Podcast we’re talking about nerves — stage fright, audition nerves, performance anxiety — and I’m going to help you reframe your mindset around nerves and offer you a few simple techniques to calm your body and mind quickly.
I’m Amy Schloerb, your friendly fellow actor and mindfulness and mindset coach for actors, helping us all thrive in our full actor lives. This is the podcast were I offer practical tools and mindset shifts to help you handle the roller coaster ride of being an actor, all the ups, downs, twist, turns, and sometimes full on loop-de-loops so that you can actually enjoy your craft and career.
Nerves are something that every actor faces throughout their career. They show up any time we are putting our work out into the world, whether that’s for an audition or showing up on set or stage.
I don’t know any human who enjoys feeling nervous, and feeling nervous when doing something that you love, such as acting, feels especially unpleasant and sometimes confusing. If we love acting so much, why would we feel nervous doing it?
I think many of us, myself included for a long time, believe that our nerves are somehow a sign of weakness or an indication that we’re not good enough. If we could only get rid of our nerves once and for all, we’d finally be “legit” actors, worthy of our dream careers.
It makes sense that we feel this desire to “conquer” our nerves so that we never have to feel nervous while acting again.
But I hear so many A-List actors — the folks who have “dream careers” — saying that they still get nervous. Meryl Streep said she was nervous her first day on Only Murders in the Building and Perdo Pascal holds his hand on his belly while walking the red carpet because that’s where his nerves show up in his body.
So I want you to know…
Nerves are not a sign that you are untalented.
Nerves are not a sign that you don’t know what you’re doing.
Nerves are a sign that you care.
I don’t want you to fight them or push them away. Because when you resist your nerves, you just feed them more power. They grow and grow until they take over your entire experience.
As the saying goes, what we resist persists.
Befriending Your Nerves
Instead, I want to encourage you to befriend your nerves by mindfully noticing them just like we notice thoughts and sensations in mindfulness meditation.
When we sit for a formal mindfulness session, we focus on our breath and notice our thoughts, body sensations, and sometimes our dog sighing in our lap. We don’t push away or attach to any of those stimuli. We just acknowledge them and allow them to come and go while we choose to stay focused on our breath.
When we stop resisting our nerves and instead say, “Hi, I see you, nerves. Of course you’re here, I’m about to record a big audition and I care a lot about doing a good job” something magical happens. Having been acknowledged and accepted, our nerves tend to lose their intense grip on us. They become acknowledged as a part of us, and therefore no longer fully consume us.
So “Step One” of dealing with your nerves is to stop fighting against them. Stop making them the enemy. Acknowledge and accept your nerves as a normal, human nervous system reaction that makes sense in this moment.
Getting Present For The Scene
Additionally, I have three simple mindfulness techniques that you can use to calm your body and mind thereby lessening the uncomfortable physical sensation of the nerves. These techniques will calm you down, and get you present in your body and mind, so you can focus on the scene.
1 - The long, slow exhale
Mindful breathing is one of the fastest ways to calm the body and mind, and my favorite calming breath technique is the long, slow exhale.
Your heart rate goes down during your exhale, so intentionally elongating your exhale is a great way to calm your body.
How to do it: You can slow down your exhale by constricting the airflow coming out of your mouth. You can purse your lips, like when you blow across the top of a bottle to make that deep, low whistle sound. Alternatively, you can make your lips into an “O” shape, like when you are gently blowing bubbles with a bubble wand, or using a straw to blow bubbles in your chocolate milk! (was I the only one who did this as a kid?)
As you inhale and slowly exhale, really tune into the body sensations of breathing. Notice the feeling of air coming into your body. Notice your belly and chest expanding. Notice the light positive pressure of air on your lips as you slowly release the breath through pursed lips.
Also tune into the calming effects on your body and mind. Notice your shoulder tension release. Notice your body start to relax. Notice your mind calming as it focuses solely on the sensation of your breath.
2 - Hand Tracing
This is a wonderfully soothing technique that combines light, gentle touch with slow breathing. You’re basically doing the same breath technique as described above, while also tracing from your wrist to the end of each finger and back again with each breath cycle.
How to do it: Hold your hand palm up. Beginning at your wrist, lightly trace the index finger of your opposite hand up through the center of your palm and out to each finger. As you trace out to your finger tip, inhale. As you trace back down to your wrist, slowly exhale.
3 - “Feel your feet on the floor.”
This one comes from my audition coach (the amazing John M. Keating — seriously, take his class and book him when you need audition coaching).
When folks are feeling nervous or in their head before a scene, he simply says “feel your feet on the floor.”
Seems deceptively simple, but all too often our nerves get us in our heads and completely out of our bodies. Feeling the contact between your feet and the floor is an instant way get back into your body.
Each of these mindfulness-based techniques will help you bring your body and mind back to the present moment so you can be ready to act.
Practicing Creates Muscle Memory
Self Tape May is a great time to practice befriending and working with your nerves!
You have ample opportunity (16 tapes!) to practice acknowledging and accepting your nerves, and employing mindfulness tools to calm yourself and get present for your scene.
Additionally, practicing NOW and OFTEN will give your nervous system a kind of muscle memory that it will retain for every audition and performance moving forward.
The first week that I did Self Tape May, I was nervous. I felt pressure to put out “good tapes” online. I did a six tapes my first day and it was great because it didn’t take too long before I relaxed into the fun zone of “actor playtime.”
When my week two work session rolled around, I was feeling way more relaxed in my space because my body and nervous system remembered, “Oh, yeah! I’m showing up to act and I generally feel calm and present when I act. Let’s do this!”
You can give your body and mind the muscle memory of infusing your self tape space with acting fun and joy and play, so that when a real audition rolls around, you will be ready to rock ‘n’ roll. Your body will feel automatically feel calmer for the practice that you gave it.
Remember…
Your nerves are not your enemy. They are a part of you that cares so much about you and your acting. They want to protect you. They are on your side. And you can ease their uncomfortable sensations by accepting them, not resisting them, and offering them some calming techniques that really work.
You can find even more calming techniques in my book, which is linked up in the show notes or the Substack article.
If you found this content helpful or inspiring I’d be honored if you’d leave a comment, share it with your actor pals, and find out more about me and my offerings below. Thanks!
I’m a professional actor, a mindfulness and mindset coach, and I’m ready to help you thrive in your actor life.
🎭 I’ve been a professional actress for almost 20 years. I’ve survived 3 industry shut downs - 2 strikes and 1 global pandemic. I’ve worked in TV, film, commercials, and produced my own award-winning web series.
🧠 I’ve been a life coach for 5 years, specializing in mindfulness and neurolinguistic programming and helping people become more aware and focused on making positive changes in their lives.
💖 I blend lived experience with powerful, proven coaching tools.
🎢 Let’s get you feeling resilient, empowered, focused, playful, relaxed, confident, and riding the acting career roller coaster without throwing up! 🤗
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