Before, during, and sometimes after a speech you may experience rapid heart rate and breathing, dry mouth, faintness, freezing-up, or other uncomfortable sensations. These automatic physiological reactions result from the “fight or flight response”—the body’s automatic response to threatening or fear-inducing events. These sensations indicate the body is preparing to confront a threat head-on (“fight”) or to make a hasty escape from the threat (“flight”).18 Research shows that you can reduce these sensations by using techniques such as meditation and controlled breathing.19 Just as you would warm up before taking a lengthy jog, use the following relaxation techniques before, and even during, your speech to help slow your heart rate and breathing rate, lower your blood pressure, increase blood flow to major muscles, and reduce muscle tension. These more relaxed physiological sensations help you feel better20 and result in better concentration and sharper performance.
To reduce stress, you can listen to a Relaxation Audio Download.
Briefly Meditate
You can calm yourself considerably before delivering a presentation with this brief meditation exercise:
1. Sit comfortably in a quiet place.
2. Relax your muscles, moving from neck to shoulders to arms to back to legs.
3. Choose a word, phrase, or prayer associated with your belief system (e.g., “Namaste,” “Om,” “Hail Mary, full of grace”). Breathe slowly and say it until you become calm (about ten to twenty minutes).
Use Stress-Control Breathing
When you feel stressed about speaking, the center of your breathing tends to move from the abdomen to the upper chest, and the chest and shoulders rise—leaving you with a reduced supply of air and feeling out of breath. Stress-control breathing gives you more movement in the stomach than in the chest. Try it in two stages.
Stage One Inhale air and let your abdomen go out. Exhale air and let your abdomen go in. Do this for a while until you get into the rhythm of it.
Stage Two As you inhale, use a soothing word such as calm or relax, or a personal mantra, like this: “Inhale calm, abdomen out, exhale calm, abdomen in.” Go slowly, taking about three to five seconds with each inhalation and exhalation.
Begin practicing stress-control breathing several days before a speech event. Then, once the occasion arrives, begin stress-control breathing while awaiting your turn at the podium. And you can continue the breathing pattern as you approach the podium, and once more while you’re arranging your notes and getting ready to begin.
I get very anxious before I’m about to speak, so I have two ways to cope with my nervousness. I take a couple deep breaths through my stomach; I breathe in through my nose and out of my mouth. This allows more oxygen to the brain so you can think clearly. I also calm myself down by saying, “Everything will be okay, and the world is not going to crumble before me if I mess up.”
— Jenna Sanford, student