If you start to feel anxiety kicking in just minutes before you are due to speak, try this easy breathing technique I call the 'Emergency Red Button'.
Find a space, sit, relax and close your eyes. (I sometimes do this at my seat with the whole audience sitting behind me!). Begin by breathing in and out through your nose, to a slow count of four, (4 in and 4 out), and do so 3-4 times. We do this to put us in the right space. Now we do the big red button.
The Emergency Red Button breathing tool is also called the five-to-ten. Using the breathing ratio 5:2:10, (Breathing IN: HOLD : OUT), breathe in for a slow count of 5, nice and deeply. Do a rest-hold for a count of 2 and then slowly and steadily breathe out for a count of 10. Repeating this even twice, will help engage your parasympathetic nervous system and help take the edge of your anxiety.
If you practice this regularly, alongside other breathwork, then each time you use it, you'll find it works faster and has a greater effect for you.
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