Written by Ellie Smith, Yoga Instructor
Ellie Smith is an experienced yoga and breathwork teacher, with a background in academia, teaching communication and cultural studies. She is the founder of Ellie Smith Yoga Ltd, a platform for new and returning professionals to learn how to apply practices from yoga to improve their public speaking presence.
The whole class was focused on the trembling paper in Max's hands. It was shaking, sticky with sweat from his palms, and it was beginning to get quite crumpled as he nervously clenched and unclenched his fists. He began to shift from one leg to another, repeating the same sentence in the desperate hope it would trigger the memory of what he was to say next. But, he was drawing a blank. All of us in that room held our breath, willing him to find the words to continue.
My heart was breaking for him. He was one of the kindest, smartest, and most hard-working students I'd taught. Though he managed to struggle through the rest of his presentation, he was visibly upset as he and his team forlornly plodded back to their table.
Anxiety around public speaking (Glossophobia) is a common fear that grips many of us, ranging from a slight jitter to an overwhelming wave of panic. Max was somewhere between these two extremes. And he was not alone. Many of the students I teach face the same debilitating symptoms when standing in front of an audience. These otherwise calm, self-confident, bright young things were struggling, really struggling, when it came to presentation day. Some voiced similar reactions when broaching difficult conversations with their parents.
Glossophobia was preventing them from flourishing academically and personally, and something needed to be done. Allow me to take you through three unexpected techniques that I applied in these classes, with positive effects.
What is public speaking?
According to Miriam Webster, public speaking is "the art of effective oral communication with an audience". Sounds easy enough. I'm sure we've all watched a TED talk or two and thought "I could do that". Or perhaps you've watched Dragon's Den (the U.K. equivalent to Shark Tank) and imagined pitching your business effortlessly to the astute and steely eyes of Peter Jones, Steven Bartlett, Deborah Meadon, Sarah Davies, and Touker Suleyman. We're all superstars in the comfort of our mind's eye.
The problem with public speaking lies in the last two words of Miriam Webster's definition. An audience. Terrifying. But, why? The American Psychology Association's Dictionary of Psychology describes public speaking anxiety as “the fear of giving a speech or presentation in public because of the expectation of being negatively evaluated by others.” Not even the anticipation, but the "expectation". Our default settings are to presume that we're not good enough, no one will like us, and worse, we will be the laughing stock for the rest of eternity.
No wonder our fight-or-flight response gets triggered. No wonder we sweat, shake, and hyperventilate. No wonder our brain turns to white noise when we try to recall our carefully planned impactful speech. That audience may as well be the tiger our ancestors tried to outrun, and in fact, our brain cannot discern the difference.
An unexpected tool to manage public speaking anxiety
This is exactly what was happening to Max as he bravely tried to navigate his way through public speaking anxiety. As I watched him try to melt unseen into the wall behind him, I pondered where I'd gone wrong.
He'd done everything right. He made sure he knew and understood his topic intimately. He designed slides that caught the eye and that supplemented his words instead of replicating them. He structured his content to hook the audience and keep them engaged. He made the presentation about them, and not him. He practiced and practiced and practiced, right up until the last minute, studying when to speak and when to wait, how to stand and how to move, and how to vary his voice in the right parts. And yet the icy claw of public speaking anxiety had still managed to tighten its grip.
I had to be better at putting myself in his shoes. What was it that had helped me manage my fear of public speaking? What was it that had helped me develop more self-confidence, more clarity, and more focus on the people in front of me than on myself? It was at that exact moment that the answer slowly revealed itself like the first few rays of a rising sun.
Yoga. Yes, you read that right. Yoga has given me all those things and so much more. It is something I love as much as teaching, and yet I'd never thought to blend the two.
Preparation: Your best ally
Preparation for a public speaking event can take many forms. You'll likely have already applied the following:
Getting intimately familiar with the topic: this grants you a sense of control and confidence.
Rehearsing, not just in solitude but also in front of a mirror: this encourages you to observe and improve on your body language.
Designing impactful visual aids: these are a great way to not only engage the audience but also serve as helpful cues.
Enduring a practice run in front of a group of supportive friends: they usually offer constructive feedback. This process also accustoms you to the feeling of being in front of people.
The above list demonstrates just some of the conventional wisdom around overcoming the fear of public speaking. In Max's class, we also added a structured 10-week yoga component that can be applied before and during a speaking engagement.
So, where does yoga fit in?
First, let's get a clear understanding of what yoga is. You'd be forgiven if your mind went directly to an image of young people in tight leggings and a crop top lifting themselves off the floor with one leg gracefully wrapped behind their head and the other perilously close to their nose. They even dare to smile like it's just another Tuesday.
Originating from the Indian subcontinent (with some evidence that yoga was also practiced in Kemet- Ancient Egypt), Yoga is vast, with a rich history that fans out like a river delta. Yet, for many of us, in the West especially, yoga is portrayed as nothing more than a fitness regime with perhaps a couple of crystals and spiritually-themed quotes thrown in for good measure. There is nothing wrong with someone practicing yoga to solely improve physical health, Yet, when applying it off the mat, it's important to understand it is so much more than that.
How does yoga help ease public speaking anxiety?
Tackling the beast of public speaking anxiety demands a multi-faceted approach. We must not only confront the palpable physical symptoms, such as a rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, or sweaty palms but also the invasive negative thoughts that can paralyze us before we even step in front of a crowd. These symptoms appear thanks to our sympathetic nervous system (our fight-or-flight response). When our body or brain detects a threat (in this case, the audience), then it does everything it can to prepare us to fight that threat or run from it.
Shallower, faster breaths paired with a rapid heartbeat quickly deliver oxygenated blood to the muscles
Muscles shake with all that extra energy
The heat generated by this causes increased perspiration
Tightening of the muscles around the vocal cords causes alterations in voice pitch and volume
Functions non-vital for survival, like our digestive system, are temporarily slowed.
Our pupils dilate, readying themselves to be alert for any sign of additional danger.
Certain practices of yoga help to alleviate all of this by stimulating our parasympathetic nervous system – our rest-and-digest response.
When our parasympathetic and sympathetic systems are working in harmony, that is when we are at our most rational, reasonable, and relaxed. This is the desired state of anyone about to pitch, present, or sit in front of a panel of interviewers.
There are many ways that yoga can help. With Max's class, we focused on three.
1. Asana (Yoga poses)
While we may view asana as purely a means to getting stronger and more flexible, this is purely a welcome side-effect to their true purpose. That is, preparing the body to be able to sit steadily and effortlessly in one position for extended periods while we meditate. Yoga poses incorporate a plethora of side bends, twists, forward folds, and backbends. When done in conjunction with deep, controlled inhalation and exhalation, these movements serve to strengthen and expand the chest area. Subsequently, we can then take deeper breaths. Deep breathing simultaneously increases our lung capacity and lung strength. This is what helps to stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system – the one that keeps us feeling calm and confident.
The best part is you don't suddenly have to roll out an expensive yoga mat to benefit. Max and his mates would have run for the hills had I suggested that. Instead, we practiced a few seated asanas using the chairs we already had in the classroom.
2. Pranayama (Breathwork)
Next up, breathing. During the Asana stage of our presentation pre-game, we tune into the breath by making sure we are breathing through the nose in sync with our movement. However, there is more to it than that. This is where Pranayama comes in. In a conventional yoga class, this section is usually explicitly taught toward the end of class. In yoga, it is thought that we can control our "life force energy" through control of the breath. In modern contexts, this means we manipulate our breathing to bring our nervous system back into homeostasis.
There are three categories of breathwork in Pranayama. Equalizing (or balancing), Vitalizing (or heating), and Tranquilizing (or cooling). When it comes to public speaking anxiety, that latter category is where we focus. This means we practice techniques that keep us cool, calm, and collected (in other words, practices that stimulate our rest-and-digest response). In Max's class, we focused on breathing techniques such as Belly Breath, 3-Part Breath, and Humming Bee Breath. These are fantastic at helping to manage symptoms of public speaking anxiety.
3. Dhyana (Meditation)
The final moments of most conventional yoga classes involve some form of meditation. It entails sitting still for a few moments while you train your mind to focus on the present. For the vast majority of us, that won't happen. Your mind will jump to past regrets and future worries. It will remember almost every embarrassing moment you've ever had and it will create cringe-worthy scenarios that you have yet to endure. The whole purpose of meditation is to notice when this happens and gently guide the mind back to the present. The here and now. We do this by making it focus on the breath. We also accept that, in a few seconds, it will hop off again onto another made-up argument with your unsuspecting significant other.
Instead of getting frustrated with how often your mind hops about like a rabbit on caffeine, think of it like a mental decluttering. Eventually, with persistent practice, your mind will run out of things to hop off to and it will begrudgingly come back to the present of its own accord. One day, it may even choose to stay there with you for longer and more frequent bouts of time.
Meditation like this can help alleviate fears of public speaking by reducing forgetfulness, brain fog, and confusion (or what I call the White Noise Effect). It improves clarity and concentration.
In Max's class, we spent just a couple of minutes each session bringing the mind back to the present.
You might also find that engaging in positive visualization (imagining a successful presentation), can often lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. This falls into the category of "guided meditation". It's remarkable how visualizing a positive outcome goes some way to preparing you mentally and emotionally for the actual event.
Does it work, though?
Let's go back to Max's final presentation. He's at the front of the room, with no paper in sight. He speaks with ease. He's engaging with audience members, making eye contact, and treating the experience as a dialogue rather than a monologue. I am feeling insufferably smug.
Suddenly, he falters. He stares at the floor, frozen. That icy claw of anxiety is back. My smugness falls off me like fresh snow being kicked off a tree. From the back of the room I hear his cheeky friend pipe up "I think he's crashed, Miss". We all chuckle awkwardly. Max, though, straightens up and takes two full, deep belly breaths. Catching the eye of his friend, he smiles broadly and states "Sorry, my CPU just needed updating" and then proceeds to successfully carry his team's presentation to the finish.
In one semester, he has gone from someone almost crippled with public speaking anxiety to someone who still experiences setbacks but now has (and applies) the tools to navigate them in real-time.
I'm not suggesting that Yoga is the magic cure to overcoming the fear of public speaking. Yet, it is a powerful tool to have in your arsenal as you make headway toward becoming an excellent public speaker. Other forms of professional intervention, like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, have proven to be a cornerstone for many in mastering their fear of public speaking, especially for those grappling with social anxiety disorder. These approaches lay the groundwork for a mindset shift, enabling us to confront and reshape negative thoughts that fuel our anxieties.
Turning anxiety into an advantage: Your next steps
Often, we view the fear of public speaking as an insurmountable hurdle, a flight response in front of others. With hard work, the right mindset, and sometimes professional guidance, managing this common form of anxiety is within reach. By applying the techniques and principles laid out above, we can reframe our perspective and manipulate the physiology behind public speaking anxiety.
Though the shift doesn't happen overnight, over time, the stage fright and nervous energy that once caused sweaty palms and a rapid heartbeat is transmuted into a source of excitement. The speaking engagement is less a threat and more an incredible opportunity for personal and professional development.
If you're even just a little bit intrigued by what I've talked about here but have never even looked at a yoga mat before, then I encourage you to sign up for my weekly newsletter, "Simply Yoga". It's aimed at helping beginners get started with yoga at home, with some tips on how to apply its practices in everyday life, particularly concerning reducing public speaking anxiety and improving your public speaking presence.
Read more from Ellie Smith
Ellie Smith, Yoga Instructor
Ellie Smith is yoga and breathwork teacher based in rural Japan. Her background is in tertiary education with a focus on communication and cultural studies. She now blends these two professions in her business, teaching clients how to get started with yoga, how to stick with it, and how to apply its principles and techniques off the mat to reduce public speaking anxiety and improve their public speaking presence.
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