Shaky Hands & Falling Cards. Beating Anxiety

[Jamie D. Grant]

Shaky Hands & Falling Cards. Beating Anxiety. Essay #9

We've all been there. All of us.

"Pick a card!" we joyously pronounce, only to look down at our hands and think, "What the ^#^* is going on? I can't control my own mitts!"

Why? What is it about performing magic that makes us so nervous? Well, before we get to the obvious answers, let me give you some good news first:

It goes away. Absolutely- I promise. It might take a few hundred gigs, but it will stop. So stop worrying- that's Step 1!

Let's look into why it starts in the first place, though. Without getting too medically technical, we all have what's called "The Sympathetic Nervous System", also called our "Fight or Flight" response. Basically, when we get into trouble (i.e. being chased by a saber-toothed tiger), our bodies developed a reaction to help cope with ways to either fight said tiger (not the best idea), or to run away (is that any better, actually? Try not to run into any tigers.) How? By dilating our pupils (helping us to see our imminent death more clearly or, hopefully, seeing the victim's jugular) and by dumping adrenaline (giving us that extra kick to do our two inch punch/finger strike) into our system.

When we preform close-up magic, however, we don't generally:

A) Run Away.

or,

B) Two inch punch our spectators.

So we channel that energy into other available outlets- namely our hands. And that's when we get the jitters/shakes/heeby jeebies. I remember when I first started, I was worried people were going to think I had some sort of crazy contagious disease! But that stopped a long ago. Here's how:

1) The more gigs you do, the more times you'll see the same situations pop up and, as a result, you'll know how to handle them. Not worrying about things= steady hands.

2) This brings us to Confidence. Here, let me make that a bigger font to accentuate my point: Confidence. This is key! Know in your heart that you're good- you've put in the practice and you know the moves. You're not going to screw up! And what if you do, you ask?

3) Realize that they have no idea what's supposed to happen. If you drop a card, make it part of the effect- they have no idea how your story unfolds! You can make it up as you go along, they don't know!

and my final two, which got me through my first years...

4) Eliminate caffeine (i.e. Cola, pop, coffee) before the gig, or morning you know you're going to show someone something.

&,

5) Play psychological warfare with yourself. My technique is to convince myself that I'm the biggest celebrity in the room. If I'm doing a gig with Sir Bob Geldof (true story), I simply tell myself, "What do I care if he's a freaking Knight and has raised millions of dollars for famine relief. I'm Jamie D. Grant! And, in about 2 seconds I'm going to melt his mind and make him laugh! He should be thankful to have such a wonderful entertainer here to make sure he has a great time!" Egotistical? Absolutely not. Because it's simply a tool to make sure he does have a good time. After all, no one wants to watch a terrified performer.

So the next time you start to feel nervous, look into the mirror and say, "Listen self, I'm the one doing them the favour. They should be shaking when they see me! I'm giving them the gift of wonder and they should be thankful. Man, I look good!"

And, to sum up, at the end of the day, you're doing an awesome card trick. No more, no less. If you were asked to walk up to a group of strangers and perform an emergency tracheotomy, nerves might be in order. But when it's showing some people a good time? The only people that should be nervous are your audience- that you might leave too soon.

All my best,

Jamie D. Grant
www.Professional-Magician.com

Further Reading~The Essays:

Rates FAQ 2.0 (how much to charge) by Jamie D. Grant Essay #1
The single most important thing you can do... Essay #2
How many tricks should you learn? Essay #3
Tips or Wage? ~more thoughts from JDG /Essay #4
How to design a business card~ Essay #5 by JDG
Who I am~ Magic Friday ~ by Jamie D. Grant
Developing Your Sets - Essay #6 from JDG
Do you need a stage show? Essay #7 by JDG
Crushing the Haters! Essay #8 by Jamie D. Grant

 

[notsoltd]

THANK YOU! This essay is exactly what I needed. I've made my point about being confident (I said once on these forums that I am my favorite magician because 1. I am...I should be because I am me haha and 2. it helps keep my confidence up) Needless to say, I got called out saying that was egotistical, or something like that.

My nerves are already kicking in...for my show tomorrow afternoon... I have to adapt a few of my close up tricks to work on stage for around 200 people

 

[RikAllen]

Practice, practice, practice and then perform, perform, perform. An easy formula to remember.

Great essay Jamie, as usual, I'm glad you're willing to take the time to share insight that normally takes years of failure to get right.

My nerves are already kicking in...for my show tomorrow afternoon... I have to adapt a few of my close up tricks to work on stage for around 200 people

You'll do fine, 'Break a leg' as they say.

 

[notsoltd]

You'll do fine, 'Break a leg' as they say.

Thanks man! I plan to do card on the ceiling and then, if time permits, I will do b. Smith's card/name routine using Psypher

 

[RikAllen]

Thanks man! I plan to do card on the ceiling and then, if time permits, I will do b. Smith's card/name routine using Psypher

That should play fantastic!

Have you practiced CTC on the height you're working with? High Tosses can be tricky, but not undoable.

And that Card/Name routine is a winner, I don't own Psypher, but I've seen it demo'd.

 

[notsoltd]

That should play fantastic!

Have you practiced CTC on the height you're working with? High Tosses can be tricky, but not undoable.

And that Card/Name routine is a winner, I don't own Psypher, but I've seen it demo'd.

The ceiling above the stage is about 50 or 60 feet so that isn't going to work. But, there is a balcony above where everyone is sitting makes the ceiling about 12-15 ish feet. I'll walk down in the middle of the audience under the balcony and do it there. I am going to practice here shortly.

I have never done CTC but I know how it works. I am going to go practice it but if I don't feel comfortable with it, I am just going to do Invisible Deck instead.

And yeah, Psypher is nuts. B. did it at their lecture and as soon as we went on break, I bought it lol it is crazy cool and I LOVE the gimmicks.

 

[~Illogical_Illusionist~]

Thanks for the essay, I enjoyed reading this. There is a lot of very useful information. I enjoyed your advice about the self motivation (I'm the biggest celeb here). As long as u have fun while performing, over time all nerves will fade away.

Also just want to say, good luck on your show tomorrow Rob. I'm sure you will be great.

~Andrew~

 

[Blindside462]

As always, great article Jamie!

 

[Michael Moore]

But wait, theres more!!!!! Mental AND Physical Preperation

Just thaught I'd add abit more to this essay that I myself learned through others & personal experience. There are also other things you can do physically & psychologically in addition to what JDG said. The first is something taught by Vito Lupo. If your feeling nervous, all you have to do is focus on an object somehwre around you & stare at it. Start taking long, deep breaths through your nose, than slowly out your mouth. By doing this several times, your transforming that negative energy into positive energy. What I've found personally that REALLY relaxes me is taking that deep breath in & holding it for 10-30 seconds, than letting it out slowly. I use this not just for magic, but ANY time Im feeling anxious. It even works when I'm having panic attacks. Its like a natural high because by holding your breath, your not letting all that oxygen you just breathed in out so soon & it allows all that stored oxygen to saturate your body. Any show I ever felt nervous about doing right before starting it, this cured it easily & works wonders. Second thing is doing arm & hand stretches. The loser your muscles are, the more you'll be relaxed. Than finish off by shaking the hell out of your hands, getting as much blood as possible to your hands while at the same time shaking your whole body out. The more blood in your hands = more energy, oxygen, warmth, more control, etc, & less shaking/nervousness. & heres a bonus- if you dont have one already, I highly recommend investing in one of those electric hand massagers from Walmart. These realy work great on massaging & relaxing your hands & you should use it before doing any shows. You will find that the more shows you do using these techniques, the less & less you'll find yourself not having to do it as much, than eventually hardly at all like myself. But I still use all of these whenever I can even when I'm not feelling nervous to give me that extra edge I need for performing, because the better you feel physically, the happier you'll feel, & the better you'll perform! & great essays JDG, keep em comming!!!!

 

[ChrisWiens]

I think that´s a very helpful essay and something everyone is (or was) confronted with.
Thank you, very good tips. Your essays are a very good read. You should put them together in a pdf file.

The worst thing ever happened to me was a full mental block, caused by a 'What if..' scenario.
I couldn´t remember the pattern, I couldn´t remember anything.
I normally did it in my sleep. It was a total blackout.
After that I said to myself.
'What should happen? Nobody will die because it doesn´t work (the exceptions are dangerous stage illusions). So what?'

There´s another psychological trick to free your mind before. Some entertainers picture the audience naked. That builds up the confidence in a way that you feel somehow superior, thus jitters and nervousness are reduced.
That has helped me in the past doing presentations for my old company.

Progressive muscle relaxation and autogenic training also helps activating the parasympathetic nervous system (which is also part of the autonomic nervous system and corresponds to the SNS), which brings us back to 'normal state' (heart rate and respiration rate decrease for example). The interesting part is that you cannot deliberately control the autonomic nervous system, just indirectly.

For magicians I think it´s even harder. They can´t shut off completely and ignore the audience. Constant connection is important for a good act. And I think that´s the really hard part.

I know it´s not a solution (I should do what´s best for the audience, not best for me), but I still do some openers that are short, easy to follow and can´t go wrong ('selfworking' , although I don´t like that because I think nothing in magic is self working). This way I can concentrate on presentation, connect with the audience (especially when I´ve never seen them before) and my confidence grows.

 

[NicholasRedLawrence]

my social disorder held me back for awhile but it gave me much more than i could ever imagine.

 

[notsoltd]

Not sure who has read my posts in this thread but the show today went great. I did invisible deck and the psypher name/card routine. For that routine, I was able to get former pro boxer Termite Watson (our guest speaker) to help me out. He was absolutely amazed.

When i first got there, I "warmed" up by showing some friends some magic. Nerves were nonexistant then...about 2 minutes before I went up my heart was racing. by the time I got up there and got into the invisible deck routine, my nerves were gone and I was pumped with adrenaline!

 

[AndrewJ]

I couldn't live without caffeine. Sorry. I justify this by saying that one of the greatest, most talented bosses I ever had shared this particular vices with me. This was in between him working for a company synonymous with top-tier special effects and the art department of one of the largest video game studios in the world. Steady the minds and exhale deeply - the hands will follow.

#5 is my favorite, personally. I adapt a completely different manner of body language, expression, and almost even though itself to exude confidence. Even when screwing up the trick I'm able to bounce back. Studying body language was the big first step. Your pep talk works for you. Somehow, pretending that it's still Halloween and I'm still dressed as a devil works for me. (Some of my best makeup work ever, actually). In the long run, I think it's the same: find that place in your mind where you are unquestionably confident. So confident that you stop caring about confidence. It's a zen-like place beyond calm or panic. where something simply is.

At least for me.

 

[AndrewJ]

my social disorder held me back for awhile but it gave me much more than i could ever imagine.

I hate to double post, but have to agree with you. I still take medicine for anxieties and the such. Performing magic and simply making friends in real life with magicians has been a wonderful benefit.