The dread of public speaking
You’ve heard the saying public speaking is feared worse than death. It’s a cliché, however, it holds true. Public speaking strikes deep-rooted fear in most of us. But why are we so fearful of it? Well, that’s a longer psychological and physiological story.
What are you afraid of?
We’re afraid of failing, of looking stupid, of being made fun of, and that brings up the feeling of shame. This fear we feel is basically developed from experiences of vulnerable moments of exposure at any point in our life. This impacts us negatively and our bodies hold on to those destructive emotions over the years. The subconscious consequences of those profound memories and emotions actually impact us in the present. No wonder we’re frightened of public speaking or even relating to our partner!
What happens to you?
When we’re in our fear-based emotions the thought of speaking to, or in front of people, brings up anxiety. Fear and anxiety mingle and that anxiousness shuts down our abilities to access our authentic, charismatic selves. We automatically jump into fight or flight mode and how our brain operates is affected: our frontal cortex slips offline. We stop thinking and stay in that fear; this emotional loop continues until we think our way out. This will only happen when we can calm down enough to bring our frontal cortex back online. Yet when we’re in that moment of fear and dread it’s hard to “think our way out”, so there must be an alternate route? And this is where the breath comes in. Breath can help regulate fear and Ignite Inc. can show you how to re-route anxiety. Join one of our workshops and “Ignite your Freedom”!
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