When performance gets stuck.
If you are a professional in sports or the performing arts, you may have experienced some kind of performance block at some point.
Performance blocks stem from an underlying sense of unsafety—an unsafety that translates into feelings of fear.
Fear of making a mistake, of disappointing others, of being compared to others, of feeling foolish, of not being prepared enough, of being a «bad» actor, of being ignored by the audience, of getting lost, of losing control… and even the fear of perhaps losing your passion and everything you’ve ever dreamed of.
THE FACES OF UNCERTAINTY AND UNSAFETY
Your brain reacts strongly to uncertainty. Uncertainty triggers a sense of unsafety, a state experienced through the Autonomic Nervous System. It can show up in many ways—from subtle unease, worry, or anxiety to physical tension, restlessness, or slight agitation, and even escalate to overwhelming emotional collapse, shock, paralysis, or panic. For many artists and athletes, this can lead to the thought of giving up what they love most.
The good news? These signals of insecurity always have a positive intention: your brain is anticipating, remembering, and trying to keep you safe by alerting you to potential threats or losses.
A MAGNIFYING GLASS EFFECT
Being on the sports field, on a concert stage, in front of a camera or audience can be a threat to your nervous system. It produces a magnifying glass effect in the actor’s survival system which naturally results in amplified body reactions.
Usually artists and athletes become concerned when the effects of the performance block spill into other areas of the person’s personal or professional life.
PERFORMANCE BLOCKS ARE TABOO
You might think performance blocks only affect inexperienced performers…
…but in my practice, many of my clients are seasoned, even well-known, artists and athletes.
We rarely hear about it because performance blocks are often considered “taboo” among performers. No one talks about it—as if a professional could never feel nervous or anxious on stage. There’s that unspoken pressure: the duty to the audience, the commitment to the show… “the show must go on.”
The truth is, performance blocks can happen to any actor at any given moment.
YOUR BODY’S RESPONSE TO THREAT
A performance block is your nervous system’s reaction to a stimulus that threatens any developed pattern that you depend on to feel safe.
The threatening stimulus may be internal, such as a thought, a felt sensation, a reaction to the memories of a painful experience…
… or external stimuli such as an object, a person or situation.
A performance block is the response of your body to experiences you’ve had which activated your nervous system in «survival mode».
This meaning that your nervous system is stuck in that survival mode in either of the following ways:
Hyper-activated (ON) or Hypo-activated (OFF), beyond normal levels and beyond the normal timings for stabilization.
Your nervous system shapes the state you carry in daily life and on stage. Performance blocks aren’t a flaw—they’re a signal that your system may be over- or under-activated, making it hard to access your optimal state of flow.
For many performers, hyper- or hypo-activation becomes their “normal,” making embodiment and ease on stage difficult. Brainspotting helps reset this balance, so you can perform freely, fully, and in flow.
YOUR «BLOCK» IS AN ADAPTATIVE PATTERN
There’s a chance you are not aware of precise activations in your body because of what we call dissociation. It is a split, a trench, between your mind and your body that has been set up as a PROTECTION, an inner defense. To do that had to be for you an only option at a given time, and still remains activated. This trench has been hardened for so long that it nurtures it’s own emotional states and ways of thinking about yourself and the world, even growing to become your identity and sense of self.
This dissociative process of detachment leaves very little space of consciousness to know what happens inside of you and know who you really are, because your psychic energy is invested in keeping the defense.
Your deep brain all it wants is to KEEP YOU SAFE.
As we work together we aim to integrate and connect what was once dissociated finding new ways to engage your psychic energy.
So, as you may imagine, this journey profoundly transforms the way you experience yourself, and as a result the way you perceive who you are today and your possibilities.
THE INSTRUMENT IS YOU
As a performer, as you already know, YOU are the instrument.
An instrument which is your brain and body, and that includes your nervous system…
I believe performers should care for themselves just as musicians care for their instruments.
It is part of the commitment to a healthy creative process and living.
Getting to know yourself as a performer deepens your performance, as it expands your sense of self and of being anchored.
An ONLINE 1-on-1 process to support you in letting go of blocks and unlocking your natural flow in performance, sport, or any creative endeavor.
Click on the band above, or reach me for a first free meeting at: carles@carlesvila.com