29d (edited) • Mindset
How Fear Holds You Back 🌖
What happens in your body when you’re feeling scared and why it matters when you’re dancing.
We’ve all felt it — that tightness when we step into class or onto the stage, the shallow breath, the tension you can’t quite shake.
That’s not just “nerves.” That’s your body responding to fear.
And here’s the wild part: your brain and body don’t know the difference between “What if I mess up?” and “There’s a tiger chasing me.”
Both trigger the same stress response.
🧠 1. The Brain & Body Connection
When your brain senses fear or judgment, your amygdala (the brain’s alarm system) fires. This activates your autonomic nervous system, which prepares you for “fight, flight, or freeze.”
Here’s what that looks like in a dancer’s body:
- Heart rate spikes.
- Breathing becomes shallow and fast.
- Blood flow is rerouted from smaller stabilizing muscles to your big movers — quads, glutes, calves — so you can act fast, not move artfully.
- Muscles tighten, shoulders rise, hips brace, core locks.
Your body is now in survival mode, not performance mode.
💪 2. How Fear Hijacks Technique
Fear affects how your muscles coordinate — and that shows up in your lines, transitions, and timing.
- Tense muscles = less control. Studies show anxiety alters fine motor skills and coordination.
- Postural rigidity increases. When you’re scared, your body stiffens to “protect” you — less sway, less flow, less freedom.
- Artistry gets replaced with effort. You might hit every count, but the movement loses its nuance — the weight, the breath, the humanity.
When fear drives your dancing, you’re fighting yourself instead of moving with yourself.
🎭 3. Fear Blocks Emotional Connection
Artistry lives in vulnerability — but fear makes you self-protective.
Your inner dialogue becomes louder than the music:
“Am I good enough?”
“What if they notice that mistake?”
Neurologically, fear hijacks your attention. The amygdala and insula take over, pulling focus away from emotion, creativity, and presence.
You become the observer of your dancing instead of the embodiment of it.
And while your audience might see clean technique, they won’t feel your story.
🌟 4. The Interplay: Mind, Body, Emotion
Fear isn’t just mental or physical — it’s a full-body conversation.
- The more fear you feel, the more your muscles tense.
- The more tension you hold, the less emotionally expressive you can be.
- The less expressive you are, the more you judge yourself.→ And that cycle repeats.
But here’s the shift: awareness creates choice.
When you notice the tension and choose to release it, you move from bracing → expressing.
From perfect → present.
🧘♀️Try the Release + Activate exercise from the Breathe Classroom before your next class or performance- then take a moment to pause and say to yourself “I’m not here to be perfect. I’m here to be present.”
💬 Have you seen these signs of fear showing up when you’re a taking class or performing?
💬 What are some ways fear shows up in you?
💬 What are some ways fear has been holding you back?
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How Fear Holds You Back 🌖
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