About John Tesh’s Blog Taming Fear

John Tesh just posted a blog called Taming Fear on which he shared that one of his biggest fears was stage fright.  He was wonderfully honest about his fear and shared his experience of getting help from a therapist named Dr Hart. What pleased me so much was that Dr. Hart’s approach to healing stage fright was strikingly similar to mine.  It is wonderful for an accomplished performer to share his personal fears.  It gives others the courage to reach through their own fears and to reach for their dreams. And it was generous of John to share Dr. Hart with the world.     I want to acknowledge and support the process that Dr. Hart guided John through that helped him transform some stage fright.  For 20 years, I have been guiding people through stage fright and fear of public speaking.  My work came from my own terror about being the center of attention. Out of my terror, I created a process called the Zimmer Method that sounds similar to Dr. Hart’s ideas.  The steps are first learn to feel the fear and tension, then describe it or express it outloud to a supportive group and finally allow yourself to relax into the tension and fear.   When you do this process in a supportive group, the tension dissolves out of the body.  Even more amazing, the tension of being the center of attention transforms into presence and passion! My discovery has been that people who have the most stage fright have the potential to be among the most compelling presenters and performers because they have the feelings.  Their feelings are up to the surface where they can be used to create authentic emotional connection with listeners.  I will bet that when John Tesh transformed his stage fright, he gained access to more passion than he had ever experienced before.  Thanks to John for his open and honest sharing about some of his healing process.  This is what will transform the world – authenticity!