To understand how this technique works, it's important to fully understand
that fear of public speaking is something that starts and "lives" in your mind.
Sure, your body feels the sweating and the nervous stomach, but what happens
BEFORE the sweating and nervous stomach?
The answer is that you are running pictures and movies in your mind that are
making you sweat and causing that knot in your stomach.
I've discovered in the public speaking trainings I teach that the movies are
different for everyone – everyone has their own "recipe" to create fear of
public speaking:
Some people picture the audience laughing at them.
Some people picture the audience getting up and walking out.
Some people picture themselves making horrible mistakes.
Some people even picture the audience as being like giants, and picture
themselves as small and insignificant.
Although the movies and pictures are different for everyone, the common
denominator is the fact that they are picturing total failure, horrible
humiliation, or painful rejection of some sort.
That's what causes fear of public speaking.
Now let's get to how to get rid of fear of public speaking… but first I want
you to rate your fear of public speaking on a scale of 1 to 10 - 1 being least
and 10 being most fear.
Imagine the worst possible thing happening when doing public speaking.
Now, how do you rate your fear on a scale of 1 to 10?
Okay, now let's get rid of that fear: sit or lie down comfortably where you
won't be disturbed for a few minutes.
Take the fingertips of each hand and place them directly above your eyebrows
about an inch.
Touch your forehead on those 2 spots lightly - DO NOT press and DO NOT
spread out your fingers.
Now start breathing deeply into your diaphragm so that your abdomen rises
and falls as you breathe.
As you breathe deeply, begin to think about doing public speaking.
Run the movies in your mind of failure, rejection - whatever bothers you
most of all.
Don't hold back, really let yourself imagine the worst most painful things
you can imagine.
BUT KEEP BREATHING DEEPLY!
That is super-important.
Keep your fingers on your forehead and imagine the worst-case scenarios.
Keep touching your forehead and breathing deeply to your abdomen
& keep running worst case scenarios over and over.
After a few minutes, you'll be surprised and delighted when you notice that
those scenarios don't bother you anymore!
Now - sit up, take your hands off your forehead, and now rate your fear on a
scale of 1 to 10 - It's much, much reduced, isn't it!
Repeat the ESR Technique until thinking about public speaking worst case
scenarios don't bother you anymore.
This technique is ostensibly very simple, yet extremely powerful, and it
really works! And what have you got to lose? At the worst, you'll lose a few
minutes of your time. But the upside is that you might discover that your fear
of public speaking no longer has a stranglehold on you any more.
For more public speaking training articles visit http://www.bestpublicspeakingtraining.com