Gail
Using Your Breath to Gain Focus & Calm Before Speaking
“Fear is merely excitement without the breath.” So stated the legendary psychiatrist Fritz Perls.
So when Sankara Saranam, founder of the Pranayama Institute, attended Real Speaking, I asked him to develop some breathing exercises for speakers. I tried his suggestions below and found them remarkable tools for becoming more present and focused.
Here are three simple yet highly effective methods to gain focus and utilize nervousness to one’s benefit before public speaking. These methods can also be used before meeting someone, to regain composure in a tense moment, or simply as a meditative exercise in the morning and evening by closing the eyes and directing the attention upward toward the brain, especially with every inhalation. Continue reading
Keynoting: An Art Form Unto Itself
Recently AOL ran a story about “The Top Ten Most Overpaid Jobs.” High on the list were “motivational speakers” with warmed-over messages. While that delivers a sting of truth in some cases, I believe speakers who build lasting careers really earn their fees and then some. Here’s why:
Speaking takes many forms. Some speakers are successful in intimate settings, other on large platforms. Few do both with equal ease. Shakespeare’s exhortation “to thy own self be true” is absolute wisdom in the case of where to invest your energy in building a speaking career. Continue reading
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