EFT For Actors: The Perfect Tool
EFT is a superb, targeted, tool that I love using to help actors. First and foremost, it is one of the swiftest and most immediate methods available to banish self-doubt, performance anxiety, nerves, and stage fright—the hidden gremlins that many actors struggle mightily to override.
In preparing for a role, tapping offers immediate focus in exploring the character at the deepest level, from all angles. Finding the best gestures, stances, and inner thinking to optimally play a particular part occurs most easily when the mind and body are in a state of flow: relaxed, focused, free from self-doubt or inner distraction. In addition, EFT can significantly speed up the challenging task of learning large numbers of lines.
The exciting but sometimes intimidating audition process can be magically transformed by tapping ahead of time: releasing unhelpful thoughts and beliefs (“I’ll never get the part…” “I’m too tall / too short / too old / too young…”) is one element. Tapping away anxiety about performing in front of a potentially daunting roomful of producers, directors and agents can also hugely enhance the chances of everything going well on the day.
(Please scroll down to see some actors’ feedback.)
EFT For Directors: On the set and off
I was amazed on the very first film shoot that I ever worked on to witness how quickly things could go wrong, and how rapidly the whole atmosphere onset could spiral downwards.
(I recall the mood of the entire cast and crew massively plummeting when it transpired that the catering truck was running late!)
Delays onset are inevitable: the technicalities of getting the sound and lighting right rarely run totally smoothly. With everyone keenly aware that delays cost money, stress levels can rocket, both individually and collectively.
Because EFT works so quickly, on the spot, and in the moment, it’s an ideal tool to get everyone back on track…
Because EFT works so quickly, on the spot, and in the moment, it’s an ideal tool to get everyone back on track— whether it’s a hassled grip whose equipment is malfunctioning, an actor struggling with take after take, an overwhelmed PA, or a director who needs a quick reprieve from the stress of juggling too many balls in the air. (A massage practitioner onset can do wonders…but not instantaneously, and not on several people at once!)
If the light is fading, with the risk of going into expensive overtime, a few minutes of tapping as a group can rapidly shift the energy, restoring focus and determination across the board.
Offset, EFT can be used to relieve emotional (and physical) issues that require more than just a few minutes. If a member of cast or crew is distracted by something upsetting in their personal life, a one-on-one EFT session (of eg 30-60 minutes) can do wonders to restore peace of mind.
The advantages of having an experienced EFT person onset are incalculable. When moods are good, good work is done. When the atmosphere is right, everything flows. There is nothing in my experience that works faster to shift the mood of an individual or group, to enable optimism to prevail, and everyone to get swiftly back on track.
I was once being interviewed for a BBC documentary when the presenter received a phone call with very bad news about a close friend. He was visibly derailed. I asked him if he’d like to try a few minutes of tapping (which we’d been talking about earlier), just to help him get through the rest of the afternoon. He agreed. We took a 5-10-minute break, and in that time I saw his body language change, his resolve strengthen, his focus return. As a consummate professional, I’m sure he’d have managed anyway…but I doubt it would have been so easy to be as relaxed, smiley and jokey as he was without having first used EFT to defuse the shock, to acknowledge the hugeness of what had just happened, and to simultaneously choose to put it on the back burner for later.
National Youth Theatre Workshop (London, Sept 2014)
“Jennifer’s workshop was thorough, educational, passionate and effective. I felt like I learned a lot and have taken solid tools away with me to apply in everyday life. My experience of her one-to-one work was profound in that she was an exceptionally intuitive practitioner and swiftly got to the core of my issues circling a block. I felt in safe hands. I found her very professional, compassionate, humourous and adaptable to individual and group needs.”
Cathy Owen, Actor / Director
“Jennifer instantly makes you feel comfortable, so talking with her is like talking to an old friend. Her workshop was inspiring and she approaches everything you offer with a welcoming attitude that makes you feel at home. The whole workshop was fun, thought-provoking and very eye-opening. I definitely feel like I have learned a lot!”
Miranda Burns, Actor.
Pre-Audtition Feedback
Here’s what Kelly Pendycraft, an actress in LA, has to say about her 90-minute pre-audition phone session. (This was her first ever experience of tapping):
“Jennifer! I am SO grateful to you for this session! I still feel so very calm and confident about tomorrow. So much of your help will carry on too, with the tools you’ve given me, into so many audition situations. I truly cannot thank you enough. I will use these tools tomorrow and send you an email about the experience: I’m excited about tomorrow!”
Post Audition Feedback
And here’s what she has to say after the audition—which was in front of a large panel of big Hollywood names:
“Jennifer: I just got home and settled and I can hardly type because I’m so overjoyed: it went swimmingly!! I really can’t settle in right now because I’m over the moon….but every single thing we discussed I put into action and it helped me SO much! I was so calm, so relaxed, so great in playing the part! At the end, N (one of the casting people), yelled out “YAAAAAAY!”
Video Testimonial
A year or so later, Kelly is still tapping!
Video coming soon!
London Stage Actor’s Feedback
“I can’t recommend Jennifer Davidson highly enough. She is both caring and amazingly insightful and she focused, very quickly, on the core issues facing me.
EFT is a truly wonderful tool to help ground performers in preparation for their work, whether in the theatre, on TV, or on film, or for musicians, dancers and singers. By ‘tapping’ into our subconscious minds, we are able to re-channel ways of approaching the trials and tribulations of performing live, whether dealing with issues of self-confidence, or simply finding the right focus, to ensure we bring our best work to the audition, stage, or film set. Our profession is a highly stressful one and EFT is a great way to shift whatever issue, personal or professional, is troubling us at the time.”
James Simmons