So, to move from fear to FLOW, manage performance anxiety and step into confidence we need first of all some basic knowledge about our physiology - what goes on in our brain and body when we feel under stress. And secondly we need a way to understand our psychology how do my thoughts generate my feelings, how do my feelings come out in my behaviours, how does my behaviour affect my thoughts.

This section starts with a simple explanation of our 3 Part (Triune) Brain as a way of understanding how our primitive brain can hijack our thinking when we feel under threat / stress.

Next we describe the flight - flight response, and how psychological arousal is actually necessary for us to perform well - we just need to keep it at the optimum level.

Then we introduce the 'Mercedes Model' to explain how our thinking generates our feelings, and how our feelings come out in our behaviour, which in turn affects our thinking. The Mercedes Model gives us a practical framework to explore what we might be doing personally when we experience performance anxiety.