Fear Of Public Speaking - Performance Anxiety

What’s Really Going On (And How to Finally Feel Confident)

Performance anxiety isn’t just “nerves” — it can feel like a full-body ambush. Dry mouth. Pounding heart. Blank mind. Whether you’re presenting in a boardroom, sharing updates in a team meeting, or speaking on Zoom, the pressure can be so overwhelming that avoidance starts to seem like the only option.

If you’ve ever found yourself rehearsing endlessly, procrastinating until the last second, or secretly hoping the meeting gets cancelled — you're not alone. In fact, studies show that the fear of public speaking ranks among the top phobias worldwide, often beating out even the fear of death.

The Neuroscience of Why Public Speaking Feels So Terrifying

To understand performance anxiety, we need to understand what’s happening in the brain and body.

When you step into the spotlight — whether it's a room full of people or just your boss — your amygdala, the brain’s threat detector, lights up. It sees social evaluation as a potential danger. Why? Because from an evolutionary standpoint, being judged or rejected by your tribe once meant losing protection, resources, or survival.

So your body reacts accordingly: it activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight mode). Adrenaline and cortisol flood your system. Your heart races. Your muscles tense. Your breath becomes shallow. Blood flow redirects away from your prefrontal cortex (responsible for clear thinking and language) and toward survival. That’s why your mind might go completely blank — not because you’re unprepared, but because your brain has temporarily prioritised escape over eloquence.

The Emotional Roots: It’s Not Just About the Presentation

Performance anxiety isn’t just about the presentation — it’s about what the presentation represents. Underneath the surface, there's often a fear of being exposed. Fear of being judged, criticised, laughed at, or seen as not good enough.

And under that? Often, a younger version of you. A child who learned that love was conditional on achievement. A student shamed in front of a class. A teenager who felt unsafe being visible. These moments form core beliefs that live in the nervous system and subconscious mind — beliefs like “If I speak, I’ll be humiliated,” or “If I’m not perfect, I’ll be rejected.”

These aren’t conscious thoughts. They’re stored survival patterns. That’s why performance anxiety can feel so irrational — because it’s not happening in your thinking brain. It’s happening in your body.

Why Mindset Work Isn’t Enough

You can’t out-think a nervous system in survival mode. That’s why traditional advice like “just be confident” or “imagine the audience naked” falls flat. Real transformation requires us to work with the body, the unconscious, and the nervous system — not just the conscious mind.

And that’s where this work begins.

How I Help Clients Overcome Performance Anxiety

In our work together, we start by getting to the root of your anxiety — not just managing symptoms. We gently uncover and process the deeper layers using proven, trauma-informed tools:

🔹 EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) — to reprocess and release early memories of shame, failure, or public embarrassment that are still triggering fear today.🔹 Inner child work — to reconnect with and reparent the younger version of you who still feels unsafe being seen.🔹 Guided hypnotherapy — to access the unconscious mind and rewrite the limiting beliefs keeping you stuck in fear.

Once we’ve addressed the root, we shift gears to building embodied confidence. This isn’t about pretending to be confident — it’s about feeling it in your bones.

🔹 Somatic techniques — to regulate your nervous system, access calm, and expand your window of tolerance.🔹 Hypnotherapy and mental rehearsal — to visualise yourself speaking with ease, rewiring the brain for safety and confidence.🔹 NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) — to break old thought patterns and replace them with empowering inner dialogue.

When you rehearse confidence from the inside out, your body starts to believe it's safe — and that changes everything.

Client Story“I used to go completely blank before meetings — heart racing, palms sweating, convinced I’d say something stupid. Working with Diana helped me understand where that fear was coming from. Through hypnotherapy and body-based work, I started feeling more in control. Last month I presented to a room of 60 people and felt surprisingly calm. I never thought that would be possible.”— Amelia R., 38, Marketing Director

How Long Does It Take?

Most clients begin to notice a shift within 4 to 6 sessions. For deeper-rooted fears, the process can take longer — but with consistent work, lasting change is absolutely possible. This isn’t a temporary confidence boost. This is nervous system retraining. Subconscious rewiring. Emotional integration.

Ready to Step Into the Spotlight Without Fear?

If performance anxiety, fear of public speaking, or social anxiety at work is holding you back, you don’t have to white-knuckle your way through it anymore. You can actually feel calm, clear, and confident when all eyes are on you.