Welcome to this guided practice designed to strengthen your awareness as a speaker.
Find a comfortable position,
Either sitting or lying down.
Allow your eyes to close.
If you're sitting,
Settle back into your chair,
Feet flat on the floor,
Hands resting on your lap.
If you're laying down,
Keep your arms to your side,
Palms up.
Go ahead and make any slight adjustments to be as comfortable as you can right now.
And take a deep inhale through your nose and a long,
Slow exhale through your nose.
Allow your body to relax and just be,
While your senses stay fully aware and alert.
Now follow my voice as we bring awareness to various parts of the body.
If your mind wanders,
Simply return to the sound of my voice.
Bring all your awareness to the inside of your mouth.
Without movement or effort,
Simply feel the sensations already present in the mouth.
The roof of the mouth,
The tongue,
The teeth,
The space between the lips,
The jaw.
Now draw your attention to the ears and be aware of the sensations already present there.
Now the nose.
Feel the air flowing in and out of the nostrils.
Bring awareness to the eyes.
Sensations in the forehead,
The top of the head,
The back of the head,
The neck and throat.
Feel sensations across the collarbones,
To both shoulders,
Upper arms,
Elbows,
Wrists,
Palm of the hands,
And the fingers.
Feel sensations in the thumbs,
Pointer fingers,
Middle fingers,
Ring fingers,
Little fingers.
Draw awareness to the upper back,
The middle back,
Lower back,
The chest and the belly.
Now bring your attention to the hips and thighs,
The knees,
The space behind the knees,
The lower legs,
Ankles,
Feet,
The big toes,
Second toes,
Middle toes,
Next toes,
And little toes.
Now feel sensations in the whole body,
From the crown of the head to the tips of the toes.
Awareness in the whole body.
Now draw your awareness to the breath.
Without trying to control or change it in any way,
Simply notice your body breathing naturally.
Feel the flow of air going in and out,
Flowing through your nose and throat and lungs.
Feel your belly and chest rise and fall.
Your breath is always here,
A place your awareness can return to anytime.
Anytime.
Now use your imagination to visualize yourself in a room,
Up front,
Speaking to an audience.
And try to make this as real as possible.
Don't just think about it.
Try to experience this moment as if you're there right now.
Look around you.
Notice the room,
The lights,
The sound of your voice projecting out to the audience.
See the people in the room,
Their eyes fixed on you.
Feel in your body how important this moment is.
The stakes are high.
Your audience is listening,
Forming opinions.
And as you're speaking,
You feel the weight of this moment and you notice yourself getting nervous.
Maybe you lose your place for a moment and you see people looking at you,
Waiting.
Feel nervousness in your body right now.
What does nervousness feel like?
And stay aware without trying to change it.
Maybe the heart is beating faster.
Let it.
If you feel tightening in the chest,
Allow it.
If palms are sweaty,
Simply notice.
Tension in the body can exist while you stay present and aware.
As you imagine yourself speaking in this moment,
Feeling nervous,
Pay attention to other feelings that may come up.
Fear.
Worry.
Anxiousness.
Maybe there's an urge to rush,
To get back in control.
Or an urge to pull back,
To protect yourself,
To disconnect.
Remember that these are feelings,
Not commands.
You can feel them and stay present and aware.
And nervousness may also bring up troubling thoughts.
This isn't going well.
I'm failing.
The audience has checked out.
Thoughts come and go and you can simply be aware of them without being attached,
Without believing them.
Allow thoughts to float by like clouds,
Across a wide blue sky of awareness.
And now,
From right here,
From this place of spacious awareness,
Imagine yourself continuing to speak to this audience.
Not after the nervousness goes away,
But while it's here.
You are speaking while aware of the body.
You are speaking while aware of the thoughts passing through.
You are speaking while allowing the tension to be there.
Nothing needs to be fixed for you to continue speaking.
This is what it means to be a present speaker,
To be centered.
Notice what it feels like to be in that space.
What does it feel like to be awareness,
To be the one watching everything?
Not the voice that was worried,
Not the body that was nervous and activated,
But the awareness that saw it all happening.
That awareness that didn't panic,
It didn't leave,
But stayed present through all of it.
Feel what that feels like and let it sink in.
Now,
From this place of open presence,
Draw all your attention towards this audience in this room that you're speaking to.
See your audience as individual people with real needs,
Real hopes,
And aspirations.
And notice how it feels in your body to see your audience this way,
To be sincerely oriented towards serving them.
What does that feel like in your body?
As we come to a close,
Take a deep breath and begin to feel the weight of your body again,
The surface beneath you,
The room around you.
Wiggle your fingers and your toes.
Another deep breath.
And when you're ready,
Gently open your eyes.
