blog

Containing Anxiety or Nervous Energy

Many presenters experience a bundle of nerves before they get ready to present. It can feel like a tsunami of feelings and racing thoughts about to drown you under its power.

I won’t tell you such feelings will completely go away, but it is possible to control and manage them through an easy exercise.

Anxiousness is a bundle of energy which typically is concentrated one of three areas: the throat, the chest, or the stomach. Where does it reside for you?

Step 1: Picture that energetic bundle as an object. Is it a ball of fire? A heavy brick? A fidgety porcupine?

Step 2: Surround that object with a brilliant and powerful white light. The object is no longer an out of control mass of energy you have now safely contained it.

Step 3: Use the white light to gradually shrink the object you pictured in Step 1 so that eventually there is more light than the object itself. The white light makes the energetic mass smaller and smaller until you feel in control and that the anxiety is managed. The energetic mass does not need to disappear completely, just minimize it.

This exercise is quick, easy, and more importantly it works. You can do it before presenting and if the feelings come up as you present just surround the object in white light and shrink it again.

It has worked for a number of my clients. Let me know how it works for you by emailing me at hilari@highimpactcommunication.com.

Need some coaching to get rid of bad habits or take your presentation skills to the next level? Give Hilari a call at 602-795-5400.