About Stage Fright Expert, Marti MacEwan, MA
Marti MacEwan is a long time licensed professional counselor and coach who specializes in stage fright, performance anxiety and fear of public speaking for people in business, the arts, the professions, politics and academics.
Presenting yourself with ease and confidence is so important for success in all of these areas.
Marti MacEwan has developed a unique method for calming your performance fears of all kinds, in any setting, and increasing your experience of comfort and confidence. Her unique approach has developed out of both her personal and professional experience.
You see, Marti had severe stage fright herself, so she knows what it feels like. She also knows how it feels to be free of it. As she is fond of saying, “I used to have stage fright and I don’t anymore!” and she wants you to be able to say the same thing.
Now, Marti helps individuals in business, academics, the professions and performing arts become comfortable with speaking, presenting, leadership, interviews, auditions, live performances, audio, video, and more.
Her professional story
For many years in her private practice, Marti has specialized in helping people overcome anxiety, phobias and the lingering effects of life’s traumatic events. She has been especially interested in emerging new approaches that go beyond “talk therapy” to include both mind and body.
In the mid 1990’s, a new method called ‘Thought Field Therapy’ came on the scene. It was (and is) amazing. It dramatically demonstrates the immediate, positive effects of gently balancing and strengthening the body’s energy systems as a way of ‘disconnecting’ the fight, flight or freeze response that is part of all anxiety, phobias and post-traumatic reactions.
Wow! Bringing those techniques into her practice, Marti saw rapid healing in her clients in a way she had never seen before.
(Thought Field Therapy has since expanded into an entire branch of psychology called Energy Psychology, with an array of techniques that literally shift our mental, emotional and physical experience for the better.)
Her personal story
Some years after Marti started using these new techniques in her practice, she decided to take up singing just for fun and booked a voice lesson.
A simple thing, one would think. Yes?
But, no!
At her first voice lesson, Marti had a full-fledged panic attack! She was shocked to discover that she herself had a huge phobia of singing in front of other people. She called it her “fear of public singing”.
Long story short, Marti figured out where that phobia came from and applied the same techniques she was using with her clients to herself.
It worked. She no longer has that fear of singing.
Putting it together
After personally experiencing the success of these techniques applied to her own fear, Marti began theorizing about where all stage fright comes from and testing the techniques with performers and speakers in her practice. She began to see the commonalities in the causes of stage fright and what approach to take to overcome it.
Getting over your stage fright and fear of public speaking is not just about ‘practice, practice, practice’, reminding yourself that the audience is friendly or following the advice you will find everywhere on how to manage your stage fright.
True stage fright is an internally triggered fight, flight or freeze response that is connected to something in your personal history or some aspect of your self-concept (usually subconscious) that makes the present-day situation seem emotionally scary or threatening.
What this means for you
The good news: that connection with whatever is in your personal history can be dissolved. We can clear up those connections from the past with specific mind/body techniques. We can calm those fight, flight or freeze symptoms we call stage fright or fear of public speaking.
You don’t have to just keep on coping with your stage fright.
You can be free.
Ways she can help
Now, Marti has written the The Stage Fright Cure book with companion videos to help you overcome your own fears of performing or speaking. The book walks you through a personal ‘workshop’ of sorts, and includes companion videos of the Rapid Relief Process™, an original, comprehensive application of the mind/body techniques that will dissolve your fears.
She has developed an online course version of her live events and workshops, teaching you The Stage Fright Cure process, complete with weekly live small group coaching and a private support forum.
Marti offers private, confidential individual coaching, either in-person in Seattle or over online video from anywhere in the US or Canada. (This is nothing personal to those of you in the rest of the world. The limitation is only because of time zone considerations.)
Marti is also eager to spread the word and is available to be a guest on your podcast, in an interview or as a speaker for your group or organization.
If you or someone you know is limited by stage fright or fear of public speaking, please reach out, by phone at 206-362-8167, by email at [email protected] or using the contact form on this page.
