At nine months old, I was happy and fearless at the piano!  Actually, I have always been happy, even euphoric, at the piano.  But, performing… now that was another thing altogether.

My formal lessons began when I was about 5 and my performance anxiety began shortly thereafter when I had to perform in a recital.  All through my childhood I remember being so nervous that I began playing my piece before I was even seated on the bench, my only goal being to finish as fast as possible.  And I did! 

Years later, my family told me that they would hold onto the edge of their chairs, as the speed of my playing was so breathless!

In between the yearly, and then monthly, recitals (which I regularly bombed because of nerves), if you wanted to hear me play you had to sit in a different room, and out of my sight…

In college, I  learned to fake my way onto the stage, appearing calm, confident, and poised, but my inner world was anything but.  While my actual performing greatly improved, inside my sense of torment was ever intense.  I felt like I was walking a tightrope, the only thing getting me onto stage and playing the piano was that my need to perform and share was just a hair's width greater than the torment I was feeling.  It wasn't unusual for me to get feverish and sick right before a recital  because of all my anxiety and stress.

Fast forwarding a few decades, after spending years seeking ways to calm my anxiety, I discovered an unusual, but highly effective, method called EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques, aka Tapping.  After studying and applying these techniques, I noticed that my torment had disappeared.  Completely.   Performing was never again tortuous. 

I now help others achieve freedom from the sources of their stress and anxiety.