LAB-the Rooting Project
Learn in a relaxed way how, as a performing artist, you can deal with the discomforts of performing and how you can switch between action and rest.
For years, you prepare yourself for a challenging but wonderful job in the spotlight.
You have to deliver during a single moment—one you’ve worked toward for a long time—before an audience and colleagues with high expectations. This creates a lot of pressure. And that pressure comes at a cost.
Unless you work preventively on your psychological flexibility.
Why
Many professional performers struggle with:
- (Music) performance anxiety (MPA), stage fright
- Social anxiety
- Perfectionism
- Procrastination
- Shame
- Burnout
- Career insecurity
- Pain and injuries
Since every aspect of our experience (body, mind, emotions, behavior) interacts with each other in a holistic way, Let’s prACTice is a LAB in which we care for our well-being and resilience as performers—preferably in a preventive way, and otherwise in a restorative way.
We do this by developing skills such as mindfulness, compassion, and committed action. This means becoming acutely aware of your full experience and learning to approach and connect with yourself, your art, and your colleagues in a compassionate and realistic way. The result is conscious action based on your needs and possibilities in the moment, with your values as the guiding foundation.
This LAB combines
1. Mindfulness for Performing Artists (< MBSR/MBCT)
- dealing with stress
- focusing on the here and now
- awareness of thoughts, body, and emotions
- finding inner stillness
- stopping rumination
- self‑care
2. Acceptance and Commitment Training for Performing Artists (< ACT)
- creating space for unpleasant feelings
- distancing yourself from difficult thoughts
- seeing yourself from a different perspective
- directing attention to the present moment
- reflecting on what truly matters to you
- investing in what makes your life valuable and meaningful
3. Compassion (Heartfulness) for Performing Artists (< MBST)
- values and self‑worth
- dealing with self‑criticism (the inner critic)
- awareness of your needs
- handling anger and shame
- appreciation for the body
- recognizing the good
- self‑love and forgiveness
About Tamara Cuypers
Tamara Cuypers obtained two Master’s degrees in Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance around the turn of the century, in Belgium and the United States (Arizona State University). She worked as a professional classical performer until a lung disease forced her, in her late thirties, to reorient herself. As a musician and teacher, she saw many students and professionals struggling with stage fright, shame, and stress. She was surprised that training programs paid so little attention to the challenges of performing and to the life of a performing artist.
That is why she pursued studies in third-generation behavioral therapies (mindfulness, ACT), creative coaching, hypnotherapy, inner child work, and more.
It became her mission to guide professional performers and students toward greater well-being on and off the stage. She is currently a policy advisor and beginner-mentor at KATZ, the Art Academy of Torhout, and she has maintained a private practice since 2015. She gives lectures and workshops in schools, choirs, orchestras, and other ensembles.
She is the author of the book The P.A.U.Z.E Method, which can be used as a guiding framework for this LAB.
https://www.tamaracuypers.be/contact.html
Sharing YOUR expertise
With LAB-O we create a learning community that wants to reach beyond its own conservatory.
LAB-O wants to become a knowledge circle: everyone is invited to contribute within a certain framework