"Calm Your Nerves and Your Public Speaking Anxiety" with Deb Dana
Nov 19, 2024
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In this enlightening conversation, Deb Dana, a licensed clinical social worker and Polyvagal Theory expert, shares insights on managing public speaking anxiety. She discusses befriending your nervous system to find calm amidst nerves, emphasizing the importance of preparation and audience connection. Deb highlights transformative hosting experiences, the power of sighing to ground oneself, and recognizing 'glimmers'—small moments that uplift. This journey of self-discovery can empower individuals to navigate anxiety effectively and embrace their authentic speaking voice.
Understanding how to regulate your nervous system through Polyvagal Theory can significantly ease public speaking anxiety and enhance performance.
Creating a supportive environment by identifying cues of safety can help speakers feel more comfortable and prepared before taking the stage.
Deep dives
Understanding the Nervous System and Public Speaking
Public speaking anxiety often arises from the body's sympathetic nervous system response, characterized by physical sensations like rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, and chaotic thoughts. When preparing to speak, individuals may feel the tension of anxiety, which is an adaptive survival response signaling potential threat. Such a state of dysregulation is common among speakers, as it can disrupt both mental clarity and physical comfort. Recognizing these sensations as rooted in nervous system activation helps speakers understand that they can work toward regulation and readiness instead of succumbing to panic.
The Impact of Environment on Performance
The environment greatly influences how a speaker feels and performs, with cues of safety and danger being crucial for navigating anxiety. For example, familiar and friendly faces in the audience can provide reassurance, contributing to a sense of safety that promotes a regulated state. By engaging in exercises like looking around the room to identify comforting elements, speakers can enhance their feelings of safety before stepping on stage. Additionally, utilizing personal anchors such as objects or memories can help ground speakers when they feel overwhelmed.
The Role of Polyvagal Theory
Polyvagal theory provides a framework for understanding how the autonomic nervous system affects emotional and physical states during public speaking. It identifies three organizing principles: neuroception, which detects cues of safety and danger; a hierarchy of bodily responses based on perceived threat; and the concept of co-regulation, highlighting the importance of connection with others. Speakers can benefit from being aware of where they might fall on this hierarchy—whether in a state of safety, fight or flight, or shutdown—and learn techniques to navigate towards a more balanced state. The theory emphasizes that our nervous systems can shift between these states, allowing opportunities for recovery and adjustment during speaking engagements.
Utilizing Resources and Techniques for Management
In addressing anxiety prior to speaking, techniques such as practicing 'If-Then' scenarios can empower speakers to handle unexpected challenges effectively. Planning potential responses to anxiety-inducing situations ensures that speakers have concrete strategies to rely on when nervousness arises. Incorporating tools like sighing or finding glimmers—small moments of joy or reassurance—can also help ground speakers and bring them back to a regulated state. Ultimately, these proactive strategies encourage a deeper understanding of one's nervous system and promote a sense of connection and safety during public speaking.
You’re about to take the stage and your palms are sweaty, your mouth is dry and your heart is beating in your ears. In these high anxiety public speaking situations, how can you calm your nerves and quell your public speaking anxiety? Today’s guest Deb Dana teaches you how to befriend your nervous system so you can understand what’s going on in those moments and find calm in a sea of nerves.
Deb Dana, a licensed clinical social worker, uses Polyvagal Theory to understand and resolve the impact of trauma and create ways of working that honor the role of the autonomic nervous system. Dana is well known for translating Polyvagal Theory into a language that is both clear and accessible, and for pioneering Rhythm of Regulation® methodology, tools, techniques, and practices for people from all walks of life — including public speakers.