Public Speaking Anxiety
Fear of public speaking is a debilitating fear that can negatively impact the quality and enjoyment public speaking. Even if you have been performing or giving presentations for years, nerves can suddenly kick in and sabotage your flow. Feeling nervous is a valuable and normal reaction to performing.
As the adrenaline pumps through our bodies, we can feel ‘butterflies’, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, and palpitations, or sometimes we will ‘freeze’ or get ‘mental blocks’. Just as you are about to present, your mind may negatively forecast that things will go wrong, and so it continues to sustain the fight or flight response to try to force you to avoid the situation and run away, or stay and fight.
These are all symptoms that show us that we have activated our fight or flight response. We need the adrenaline to keep us alert and on the ball; it can also help with recall, and focus. However, sometimes the panic response is so intense, that it takes over and we feel unable to cope and experience a loss of control.
“I went to see Annette to overcome an anxiety issue related to public speaking and situations where I felt under stress. I felt the issue was stopping me from being as effective at work as I could be. What I got from the sessions is so much more however. Annette helped me to change my perception on a number of levels. With the work we did together I came to realise that I had developed some bad habits in terms of how I thought about certain things. I’ve always spent time and money on making sure I’m physically healthy, but never before had I done this for my mind. It’s been the best investment I could ever make. After just a few weeks of seeing her, I feel so much happier, less stressed, more in control, relaxed and confident. It’s touched every area of my life, not just work. Annette has equipped me with a great toolkit for understanding and coping with public speaking anxiety, so much so that I’ve signed up to speak at a conference in the near future! I can’t recommend Annette’s work highly enough. If you’re unsure whether to get in touch with her, I would say it’s likely to be the best investment you could make and you’re worth it – get in touch with her! I wish I had done it years ago.”
We work together to create a strategy of psychological and physiological tools, helping you manage fear and nerves so you can deliver your presentation more calmly and effectively. A typical session begins with asking you a series of strength building and goal-oriented socratic or solution-focused questions that encourage you to think and find clarity for the best way to move forward. Then, we create a strategy that uses solutions, tools, and techniques from our conversations. These strategies, or tools if you like, are easy to understand and simple to apply and can be used outside of the sessions to help you manage nerves, anxiety, or when you encounter fear.
What follows our chat is a relaxing and positive trance state of Hypnosis. During Hypnosis, your brain acknowledges the goals we’ve discussed during our session and begins the process of working out how to put them into practice. It is a very positive and empowering experience, where you are guided by the practitioner into a relaxed state and then asked to listen to positive suggestions, visualise positive outcomes or scenarios. Hypnosis works by tapping into the power of the subconscious mind, directing that energy towards achieving our goals. The brain waves slow down to beta, alpha or theta – when the brain is most suggestible and open to hearing new ideas and perspectives. It’s totally safe, and very enjoyable.
I have helped international clients with a fear of public speaking and performance anxiety, including Lawyers, Account Managers, and established Actors to perform to the best of their ability. You can read some of their accounts and stories here.
Please contact me at hello@annettesloly.com or 0117 214 0706 to make an appointment. Read about the sessions, recent reviews and keep up to date with recent blog posts here.