A Low-Effort Way to Break an Anxious Rut
What a concert pianist, a high-wire walker, and a hypnotherapist can teach you about getting unstuck
Before she goes out on stage, the French concert pianist Hélène Grimaud gets stage fright. It manifests in what she calls the “adrenalin phenomenon.” Her heart races. Blood drains from her extremities. Her breath shortens. Her body thinks for her and, like a scratched record, goes over and over the same groove of fear.
Stress, panic, and inaction are often byproducts of anxious rumination — the playing and replaying of thoughts. Think about an event or action that you’re dreading, whether that be a work deadline or, say, a major political election. Notice how the very thought of that stressor makes you freeze in your tracks. Maybe your heartbeat quickens, like Grimaud’s pre-concert adrenaline phenomenon. It becomes difficult to think about anything else.
Grimaud learned through trial and error that sheer willpower is next to useless for breaking the cycle of rumination. Instead, she pours her effort into completely emptying her lungs and drawing large belly breaths to replace the air. She fixes her attention on three things, always the same ones. She concentrates on the first, then the second, then all three together, like the three cherries in a slot…
