While working on "befriending" our performance anxiety, it is important to keep connected, build a sense of community and establish support networks. We also benefit from having regular goals to work on exposure therapy in a safe setting. The Online Performance Forum will provide you with a comfortable and supportive environment. Each session will begin with a grounding and calming sequence led by Xenia, followed by short performances by participants. This event is free and everyone is welcome - please prepare an excerpt of up to 5 minutes in length and register below.

Upcoming dates:

Saturday 13 December, 2pm UK / Irish time - register here

Please note: you will be asked to switch on your camera for the safety and comfort of all participants (we are a small group).

Out now: "Befriending Performance Anxiety" book (Brompton Cove Press) - find out more and order your signed copy here. Xenia is a wealth of support and insight into making your body and nerves an asset to improved performance rather than a limiting factor. In this book, she offers advice, anecdotal stories (even an opportunity to visualize an adult beverage), strategies for success, and additional resources to help you befriend all aspects of performance anxiety and stage fright... I recommend this book to all of my performing colleagues. It is such a valuable guidebook to keep on hand for tricky or tense situations. - Hannah Murray, corpßonore.

Performance anxiety is a universal experience, a survival mechanism that is hard-wired. Symptoms vary, but many of us get shaky limbs, blurry vision, dry mouth, shallow fast breathing, rapid heart rate, sweaty and cold hands. Personally, I get both sweaty palms AND cold fingers – the worst possible combination for a pianist! Even talking about these symptoms can make some of us experience them. This is our sympathetic nervous system kicking into action and responding to perceived as well as real danger (the so-called “fight-or-flight”). To make matters worse, many of us can exaggerate the sympathetic response and literally sabotage ourselves with negative thoughts before, during and after playing for others, spinning into uncontrollable worry-loops instead of activating the parasympathetic “rest-and-digest” response to return to equilibrium.

While resources to help musicians and other performers are increasingly available, it can still be difficult to find clear guidance on what to do before, during and after a performance, particularly if you are a non-professional without access to an educational institution or an established support network. Below is a selection of my personal favourites that might help.

Continue reading...

Read Xenia's article on Performance Anxiety and Improvisation for the Piano Professional magazine here - page 1 and page 2.

BLOG POST: Xenia shared three simple tips for calm functional breathing with the musicians' wellness initiative CorpSonore. Step 1: breathe through the nose; Step 2: soften the belly; step 3: breathe "less"! Sounds simple - and it is! Read more here... and / or, download Xenia's article for International Piano magazine on Functional Breathing for pianists: page 1 and page 2.

BLOG POST: My students and colleagues often comment on how calm I appear on stage or when I am leading a webinar. They use words like “poise”, “elegance”, “soothing voice” and ask what my secret yogic tricks are. However, there are times when my heart is pounding and I just wish I could press control-Z to undo the situation I brought onto myself. Read more here.

Every morning, I start my day with some movement and breathwork. I have a routine that provides a sense of grounding and stability. I also use a little excerpt from the same routine backstage to centre and calm myself before I play for people. This is part of my “toolkit” – a concept I unpick in my online performance anxiety classes.

Why movement? Some of the symptoms of performance anxiety include diverted circulation of blood flow away from extremities, resulting in cold limbs. Doing a warm-up routine that includes gentle “shaking” and joint rotations encourages blood flow to those cold fingers. At the same time, movement takes us out of habitual and obsessive worrying, which is otherwise difficult to manage through “reasoning” with oneself – instead, we can access the mind through the body. For me, bringing attention to movement can be an effective way to do shift my energy levels and attention. Here is one possible set of movements to implement as a warm-up routine or on a break, then do before performing: Continue reading...

If you attended any of my online courses on performance anxiety or breathwork, you will know that I talk a lot about breathing. On a cognitive level, we are all aware of the importance of the breath – this is what keeps us alive! However, for many of us healthy breathing remains a complete mystery. We are often oblivious to the mechanisms built into our bodies that can be used for anxiety management.

The idea of breathing in performance did not come naturally to me as a pianist. In fact, I used to routinely hold my breath while playing without realising that this was happening (an affliction that many keyboard players suffer from). I became envious of singers and other “breath” musicians, who have such an intimate and obvious connection with their body and their instrument. However, all musicians must develop an understanding of breathing in music in order to make sense of phrasing and the shape of what we perform.

In terms of tackling performance anxiety, our breath can be a very powerful ally. Continue reading...

Searching for resources on performance anxiety can be overwhelming. Where do we start? For me, the most helpful resources are often unexpected finds that take a holistic approach and look at the wider context for stress and anxiety in our lives.

Have a look at my blog post for some suggestions that might work for you – Continue reading...

(published by Pan Journal, British Flute Society)

Image by Nick Romero

Performance anxiety can arrive like an unwelcome guest, sneaking up on us unannounced. At other times, it remains inexplicably absent or lurks menacingly in the background. Symptoms vary, but many of us are likely to be familiar with this list: shaky hands, tunnel vision, dry mouth, rapid heartbeat and breathing, strange gastrointestinal activity (to say the least), cold and sweaty hands – the latter being the worst possible combination for a musician!

During my studies, there was a rumour circulating about one of my professors. Allegedly, this person requested to have a big plastic bucket placed at the back of the stage during a concert in case they suddenly had to evacuate their lunch. On one particularly memorable occasion several years ago, I felt so nauseous before a performance that I adopted this dubious safety-net approach myself (you will be relieved to hear that the dreaded expulsion did not happen). If only I had better tools and models to work with then! Unfortunately, performance anxiety was never really addressed by my teachers. I was simply told to practise more, to perform more, to get used to it. Stage fright was also a taboo topic amongst fellow musicians. We all struggled in silence while trying to come up with our own coping strategies…

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(published by the Association of Canadian Women Composers)

As creative individuals, we tend to be sensitively attuned to the world around us. This intimate connection manifests itself in our output as well as our daily lives. World events and relationships to those around us affect us profoundly, at times triggering anxiety and creating feelings of overwhelm. Having go-to routines that we practice in times when we feel well can also help create a sense of anchoring and grounding in more difficult situations. Here are some of my favourite routines for well-being and creativity.

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(Published by The Sampler)

Xenia Pestova Bennett shares some insights into wellbeing in times of change, how we can respond to some of the challenges of lockdown in small and direct ways.

“I was feeling somewhat restored, but curiously detached now, and rudderless. I had no glimmering of a plan, and, in the face of what I had at last begun to perceive as a vast and not merely local catastrophe, I was still too stunned to begin to reason one out. What plan could there be to deal with such a thing? I felt forlorn, cast into desolation, and yet not quite real, not quite myself here and now.”

Even though we are not (yet) hunted by carnivorous plants, we can relate to the musings of John Wyndham’s protagonist in the 1951 postapocalyptic classic Day of the Triffids. How do we process our new and still-evolving reality? What if not only our way of being, but our very identity as creatives, artists, musicians, is called into question — how do we navigate the changing nature of work and life?

The answers will be different for each of us, but the importance of taking care of ourselves in order to help others is hopefully something we can all agree on. I like to think of self-care as stocking up a sturdy shed with tools. While we don’t know which tool will come in handy when, we can be prepared by familiarising ourselves with their use, keeping them in good condition and practicing using them regularly so they don’t rust.

Here are a few to try.

Continue reading on The Sampler

https://xeniapestovabennett.com/wellbeing/wellness/

Following her sold-out Befriending Anxiety workshops, Dr Xenia Pestova Bennett is offering a series of short and manageable video interventions to help manage generalised anxiety.

During this video course, you will learn how to stock your own personal anxiety “tool shed” with valuable tools that you can access as and when you need them. Following registration, you will receive immediate access to seven modules featuring gentle movement, breathing and focus exercises. The exercises do not require any previous experience or flexibility and can be done in your own time and at your own pace. Please visit https://xeniapestovabennett.com/wellbeing/wellness/ for pricing and registration.