4 ways to overcome stage fright!

Even the most confident performers can suffer from stage fright. 

Stage fright is common for everyone from Broadway actors to professional presenters. If you have stage fright, then you may start to feel nervous, shaky, or even completely debilitated at the thought of performing in front of an audience. 

But do not worry! You can overcome your stage fright by training your body and mind to relax and trying a few tricks. If you want to know how to overcome stage fright, just follow these steps. Before you read, make sure that you know it helps if you have somebody perform with you. Or it also helps if you have a lot of your close friends in the audience.

1) Relax your body

To overcome stage fright, there are a few things you can do to relax your body before going on the stage. Easing the tension from your body can help steady your voice and relax your mind. Rehearse your lines. If you mess up on stage, don't panic! Make it seem like the act.Here are a few things you can do to relax your body before your performance.

• Gently hum to steady your voice.
• Eat a banana before you perform. It will lower that empty or nauseous feeling in your stomach but won't make you feel too full either.
• Chew gum. Chewing gum a little bit to ease the tension in your jaw. Just don't chew gum too long or on an empty stomach or you may upset your digestive system a bit.
• Stretch. Stretching your arms, legs, back, and shoulders is another great way to reduce the tension in your body.

2) Meditate

On the morning before your performance, or even an hour before, take 15-20 minutes out of your day to meditate. Find a relatively quiet place where you can take a comfortable seat on the ground. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing as you relax every part of your body.

• Rest your hands on your lap and fold your legs.
• Try to reach a point where you no longer think about anything besides relaxing your body one part a time -- especially not your performance.

3) Avoid caffeine

Unless you're normally a caffeine addict, don't have extra caffeine on the day of the performance. You may think that it will make you perform with more energy, but it will actually make you feel more nervous and jittery.

4) Set a "stop time" for your anxiety

On the day of your performance, tell yourself that you can allow yourself to be nervous for a certain amount of time, but that after a certain hour like say, 3 PM, all anxiety will go out the door. Just setting this goal and making this promise to yourself will make it much more likely to happen.