Emergency Stage Fright Cure

This public speaking training article will teach you a deceptively simple technique to cure an emergency attack of stage fright.

What's an "emergency attack of stage fright"?

That's when you're up in front of people speaking and suddenly you're hit with fear.

Warning: if you have severe stage fright, this technique may not be appropriate for you - you should try stage fright prevention techniques first or in extreme cases, seek professional counseling.

This technique is perfect for a sudden attack of fear because it works with the parasympathetic portion of your nervous system which is the calming portion of your nervous system.

You have 2 portions to your nervous system:

1. The Sympathetic Portion - is like the "gas pedal" and this kicks in when you are under stress. Your heart beats faster, your breathing becomes shallow and your system flushes with adrenaline.

In other words, the Sympathetic nervous system is the stress response.

2. The Parasympathetic Portion - is like the "brake pedal" and this is active when you're relaxing on vacation, or enjoying a nice hot relaxing bath.

In other words, the Parasympathetic nervous system is the relaxation response.

If you have an attack of stage fright, you want to activate your parasympathetic nervous system so you can calm down and relax quickly.

If you breathe deeply, you activate the Parasympathetic nervous system - but deep breathing is not always easy if you're up in front of people speaking.

Another way to activate your Parasympathetic nervous system is to defocus your eyes and go into peripheral vision - this is very easy to do on stage without anyone knowing you're even doing it.

This works fast too:

One of my students made a presentation at a very large and prestigious University. Her biggest fear was that she'd lose her place in her speech, and sure enough, someone asked a question which she answered, but then she completely forgot where she was! She panicked and went into Sympathetic nervous system stress response. But, she instantly defocused her eyes as I trained her, and she became calm very quickly and remembered right where she was and continued calmly and confidently with her presentation.

Don't let the simplicity of this technique blind you to it's effectiveness because this easy technique works like a charm.

Bonus Tip:
Practice this technique first: hold your hands up to either side of your head but keep your eyes straight forward and practice part of your speech. Keep your visual attention on your hands in your peripheral vision as you talk. Get comfortable with doing this - just a little practice is required to master the "feeling" of staying in peripheral vision while speaking. Practice defocusing your eyes and going into peripheral vision while talking to friends. Soon it will be easy and second nature for you.