I was having an important conversation with my daughter this week when I became very aware that I was not connecting at all with her. We were standing by a car and I couldn’t find a relaxed, comfortable position. So instead of really listening to what she was saying, I was focused on where I More…
Tag: speaking anxiety
Fear of the first few minutes in public speaking
I swim for exercise. I swim in pools that are kept relatively cool so that lap swimmers don’t overheat when they work up a “sweat”. This means that it’s always hard to get into the pool at the beginning of my swim. Once I’ve been in the water for even one lap, the chill wears More…
Contemplative practices reduce anxiety
Several weeks ago, I gave a talk with Dr. Sara Lazar, neuroscientist and researcher at Mass General Hospital, a Harvard teaching hospital. Sara’s research is centered on changes in brain structures that result from meditation and yoga. Her results are very interesting! Basically they show that regular awareness (or contemplative) practices like yoga and meditation More…
Consciously slowing down can reduce anxiety
I just caught the tale end of an interview on NPR with Michael Tilson Thomas, music director for the San Francisco Symphony, talking about the audition process for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. I tuned in to the interview just as he was talking about how musicians tend to speed up when they are nervous. My More…
Intentional Attention: Insights from the cha cha cha
I took an aerobic dance class yesterday at my fitness center. We were doing the cha cha cha and a series of steps with lots of turns. Long ago as a modern dancer I was trained to “spot” when I turned, that is, to focus on one spot during a turn so that I could More…
Do we need a written script when we deliver a talk?
More thoughts on inauguration presence. I’ve been following the glitch around the presidential oath with some interest. As I understand it, John Roberts didn’t have a written version of the oath with him and was depending on his memory. Clearly, in the pressure of the moment, he didn’t have access to what he must have More…