Stage fright

[Chuff80]

It's a common enough occurance. You stand up in front of a room. You look out at all of the people and your vision starts to swim a little as you realize that the people out there actually expect you to speak coherently. They expect you to be entertaining. They're waiting on you.

Uh oh.

Believe me, I know how you feel. In the acting world we call it stage fright and it's a perfectly normal physiological response. I always tell my students it's a good thing: it means you're still alive, still breathing. You haven't died from fright or passed out yet, so you've made it past the first step.

The second step is to figure out how to get control of your racing heart and heavy breathing. That's something I can help you with. Concentrate on relaxing those tense muscles in your neck, allow the tension to flow from your body. Relax your legs, unlock your knees. Now, breathe deeply and evenly and imagine the air reaching down into every part of you. As you exhale, release all of your tension with that breath. Better? Good.

For more information on dealing with stage fright or speaking in public, visit my blog and leave me a comment with your specific question and I'll do the best I can to answer as soon as possible.