Juggling is a performing art. While many hobby jugglers derive immense personal satisfaction from attempting and mastering ever-more challenging patterns in private, a strong case can be made that every juggler should be able to put on some form of a demonstration or show.Cognitive learning activities jugglers who never perform miss out on at least one component of this great art form.

Please don’t get me wrong. It is fine with me if jugglers stay out of the limelight because of a personal preference.Cognitive learning activities someone who chooses to not perform always has the option of reconsidering. However, I am concerned with jugglers who don’t perform because they are troubled by stage fright.Cognitive learning activities this seems to me to be wasted opportunities both for the reluctant performers and audiences who will never know what they are missing.

Stage fright is related to the fight or flight syndrome.Cognitive learning activities when a human is confronted with a threatening situation the sympathetic mode of the autonomic nervous system releases adrenalin into the blood stream.Cognitive learning activities the adrenaline acts to produce most of the symptoms that people associate with stage fright: shallow, quick breathing, increased heart rate, trembling, and jittery nerves.Cognitive learning activities while these responses may be appropriate for an organism that is facing a valid threat to survival, none of these effects help with the concentration jugglers need to perform at optimal levels.Cognitive learning activities

Frequently the performer who is prone to stage fright misinterprets these symptoms to bolster the belief that the cause for the stage fright is genuine.Cognitive learning activities “there must be a reason I’m so scared. Look at how I’m shaking.” these symptoms then translate into more adrenalin released into the blood, and a self-reinforcing, positive feedback loop of stage fright escalates.Cognitive learning activities inducing stage fright

In the broadest sense people who have stage fright are suffering from a type of anxiety. According to dr. Ehmann, anxiety is the result of a belief that there exists some sort of threat.Cognitive learning activities the person may believe there is a physical threat, an emotional threat, or both. It is important to note that the perceived threat can be, and does not necessarily need to be real.Cognitive learning activities the mere belief that there is a threat can be enough to trigger anxiety.

More specifically, psychologists consider stage fright to be a form of performance anxiety.Cognitive learning activities performance anxiety occurs when someone is worried about his or her ability to perform well in a given situation. Performance anxiety does not have to involve performing in front of an audience.Cognitive learning activities someone who becomes nervous at the thought of taking a written test may suffer from performance anxiety, even though he may be in alone in a room, or sitting inconspicuously amongst others taking the same test.Cognitive learning activities another example might be a student pilot who may suffer from performance anxiety when she imagines what it will be like to fly her first solo flight.Cognitive learning activities

Two factors must be present in the mind of someone who has stage fright: 1) a concern that she or he will not be able to perform well in front of that particular audience, and 2) a belief that the performance will be received in a negative fashion, which will be seen as some sort of threat to the performer.Cognitive learning activities if either or both of these factors is not present, there can be no stage fright.

There are three possible reasons why the first condition, that the performance will not go as well as it should, will occur.Cognitive learning activities one possibility is that some outside person or event will act to ruin the show, such as the sound system or lights failing. Another reason might be that the performer is worried she or he will perform at a level below the usual standard.Cognitive learning activities ironically, in this instance the symptoms of stage fright may actually increase the chances of a poor performance. A third possibility is that the performer suspects he is just not good enough.Cognitive learning activities

Example one: assume you are about to go onstage. You have practiced, know your routine well, and are comfortable that you will be able to perform to your expectations.Cognitive learning activities it is a tough crowd, but you know you will win them over. In this case you will not be a victim of stage fright, as the first condition is not met: you do not have a concern that you will perform poorly.Cognitive learning activities

Example two: you haven’t practiced adequately, know you are ill prepared, and do not have any confidence that you will be able to perform as well as you should.Cognitive learning activities this mindset could easily lead to nerves and stage fright, as the first condition is present. However, let’s also assume that you know your audience is going to be non-judgmental.Cognitive learning activities in this case the second condition would not be met, and there would be no reason to feel stage fright.

At first glance it may be hard to imagine a situation where the you know audience is non-judgmental.Cognitive learning activities this situation occurred frequently when I was teaching juggling at circus schools in europe. As part of the training I would ask students to attempt various patterns and routines that we knew were beyond their capabilities.Cognitive learning activities the students, knowing this requested as a part of a learning exercise, would happily fail in their attempts to comply. The lack of judgment on the failed performance precluded any instance of stage fright.Cognitive learning activities

This suspension of evaluation from the audience also occurs frequently on the floor of any juggling festival. One of the reasons jugglers attend festivals is to improve.Cognitive learning activities A great way to improve is to try moves that are beyond one’s capabilities. Attempting awesome moves at the limits of one’s ability on the juggling floor is done in a spirit of support and encouragement amongst one’s peers.Cognitive learning activities there is no reason to feel stage fright when among friends and the mood is a shared feeling of “try it and see if it works.”

Example three: let’s change the situation in example two a bit.Cognitive learning activities take the same juggler trying a wild trick on the gym floor of a juggling festival, and put her in front of a panel of judges and peers in a staged juggling competition.Cognitive learning activities now the perception to the performer that the audience is judgmental rises dramatically. Adding the perceived threat of negative assessment to the uncertainty that the juggler will be unable to perform the task adequately is a ripe condition to breed stage fright.Cognitive learning activities

Points farther out on the horizontal X represent increased perceived threats. Points higher up on the vertical Y axis represent increased concerns about performing poorly.Cognitive learning activities if either of these axes are low, there is little or no stage fright. The magnitude of stage fright increases when the amount on both axes increases.Cognitive learning activities higher levels of stage fright proceed with a positive slope of the diagonal zone.

In many instances these two elements of performance outcome and potential consequences can be assessed realistically and minimized in such a way that the performer is able to overcome stage fright, and get on stage.Cognitive learning activities in other cases one or more cognitive distortions may magnify the performer’s perceptions, and not allow the performer to get a realistic assessment of the risks and rewards of getting in front of the audience.Cognitive learning activities these cognitive distortions can effectively paralyze the person from sharing her or his talents with others.

A common cognitive distortion is the human mind’s capacity to catastrophize.Cognitive learning activities as humans we tend to exaggerate. Not only do we think something bad might happen, the mind can easily create a seemingly logical path that intensifies the negative results beyond all reason.Cognitive learning activities worrying about a performance, the mind easily thinks up worst-case scenarios, and then dwells on the dire consequences of these horrible, potential occurrences.Cognitive learning activities performance anxiety may develop when the mind’s ability to catastrophize overwhelms the mind’s ability to look at the situation with clarity.Cognitive learning activities

A second cognitive distortion that can increase anxiety is to overestimate the odds of a negative event occurring. Not only does the mind tend to exaggerate the significance of negative consequences, it also tends to exaggerate the probability of negative situations occurring.Cognitive learning activities A mild concern that something may go wrong with the sound or lights builds into an unreasonable certainty that a catastrophe will ensue. The popularity of murphy’s law is an excellent example of this tendency to expect, all things being equal, the worst-case scenario to manifest.Cognitive learning activities potential benefit(s) of stage fright

In some cases a performer may, justifiably, feel that a small amount of stage fright helps the show. The thought is that a certain amount of stimulus or arousal is needed to become emotionally charged and deliver a great performance that night.Cognitive learning activities without such an arousal the performance may come off as flat. One way to receive this stimulus is to experience stage fright.

However, this choice of succumbing to stage fright to elevate one’s act has potentially dangerous consequences.Cognitive learning activities in the early part of the nineteenth century researchers discovered that while some arousal can be beneficial to one’s performance, too much proves detrimental.Cognitive learning activities in other words, while a little bit can help, too much becomes disastrous.

An analogy is to imagine a set of guitar strings. If the strings are too loose even the best guitarist cannot produce any music.Cognitive learning activities the strings must be tightened to the proper pitch to let the proper tones of the guitar come through. The arousal derived from a small case of nerves could be likened to tuning the guitar strings.Cognitive learning activities continue tightening the strings beyond their proper pitch and the guitar once again becomes unusable.

The yerkes –dodson curve shows how various levels of arousal can first increase performance, with continuing increases in arousal causing a decrease in performance.Cognitive learning activities notice that the curve slopes upward during the low to medium states of arousal. Continuing to increase the arousal level results in a downward slope to the curve, representing a deterioration of the performance.Cognitive learning activities

An effective approach for some people is through a form of cognitive behavioral therapy referred to as cognitive restructuring. In cognitive restructuring efforts are made to correct faulty internal logic patterns such as, “if I drop once in a routine I am not only not perfect, I am horrible.” in cognitive restructuring logical fallacies such as this are pointed out and resolved.Cognitive learning activities systematic desensitization

It is important to remember to allow for drops, forgotten lines, and general screw ups when going through these steps.Cognitive learning activities A central issue to overcome when dealing with stage fright is the fear of the unknown. Allow for unseen problems to happen with groups of small children and you will gain confidence in realizing you can handle unexpected changes when performing in front of other audiences.Cognitive learning activities practicing to control stage fright

This technique concentrates on the vertical axis in the stage fright diagram, the quality of the performance.Cognitive learning activities the more you practice, the more confidence you will have in your ability to carry out the performance. While you may still have concerns about the audience reacting with negative evaluations, you become so sure of your ability that the audience will have no opportunity to think badly.Cognitive learning activities by eliminating one of the two requirements for stage fright, you will have solved the problem. Dealing with the symptoms of stage fright

Sit down in a straight-backed chair.Cognitive learning activities hold your rib cage high, without locking into a ramrod-straight military position. Incline slightly forward. Put your hands together out in front of you, elbows akimbo, with your fingertips pointing upward.Cognitive learning activities push your palms together so that you feel an isometric, opposing force in the heels of your palms and under your arms.

A caution, though, while researching this article I spoke with one professional juggler who tried using a beta-blocker to control stage fright.Cognitive learning activities the results were less than stellar. It seems that along with controlling the heart rate the medication also affected the juggler’s reaction time.Cognitive learning activities slowing down the reaction time is not good when trying to catch lots of objects. Imagine the audience without clothes

A classic technique to overcome stage fright is to imagine the audience naked.Cognitive learning activities this visualization allows for two things to happen: 1) the novelty of imagining a roomful of naked people distracts you from being nervous, and 2) thinking of the audience as naked puts them in a lower social station.Cognitive learning activities even if they thought poorly of your performance, their opinions would not matter. They don’t even have it together enough to wear clothes. Love one person in the audience

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His strategy is to use the stage fright to his advantage. To make sure he doesn’t get overwhelmed with stage fright he mentally picks one person in the audience, and chooses to love that person.Cognitive learning activities the butterfly man then channels that love through his act to his designated receiver, and to the lucky audiences that are also present. It doesn’t matter which technique you use, they all get you to stop thinking about stage fright