Page 100 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Chapter 3 Managing Speech Anxiety 67

Exercise
The fi rst way to help your body relax is to engage in some form of intense exer-
cise one to two hours before you speak. The effects of physical exercise on physi-
cal and mental well-being are well known. Intense exercise assists us in decreas-
ing signs of stress and has been linked to improved thinking and performance,
regardless of the task.

Relaxation Imagery

If exercise is either inconvenient or impractical, another way to induce relax-
ation before speaking is to use relaxa tion imagery. Imagery is not the same as
merely thinking. Imagery involves pictures, whereas thinking is a ver bal pro cess.
Relaxation imagery involves visualizing pleasant and calming situations. Lying
in a hammock or on the beach during a warm summer day are two examples
of such pleasant and calming situations. If you were to visually linger on such
situations, you would fi nd your body becoming increasingly relaxed. As a result,
you would signifi cantly lower the level of arousal customarily felt as a result of
the day’s activities.
This latter point is important. As a busy college student, you may fi nd your
upcoming speech to be the most signifi cant but not the sole source of arousal you
experience during the day. By practicing relaxation imagery before you speak,
you can reduce the arousal that began to climb with the start of your day.

Muscular Relaxation
This technique involves systematically tensing and relaxing the various muscle
www.mhhe.com/brydon6
groups, as is visually demonstrated on our Online Learning Center Web site
(www.mhhe.com/brydon6). It usually begins with the muscles in your face and To view a video for an example
neck, then gradually moves to your middle and lower torso. The idea behind this of relaxation techniques, click
on the Speech Coach link
technique is to teach your body the difference between tension and relaxation. By
on our Online Learning
fi rst tensing and then relaxing your muscles systematically, you can also condi- Center Web site, and go
tion your muscles to relax even under the most stressful circumstances. to Segment 3.1.
There’s a good reason for practicing muscular relaxation. When we tense up,
the range of movement in our muscles is restricted. They don’t work as they are
intended. In a game of basketball, this is seen when a free-throw shooter hits
the front of the rim, loses “touch,” or puts up an air ball. With a speaker, this
is evident either in the absence of movement or gesturing or in movement and
gesturing that are awkward and unnecessary.

Combining Techniques

By combining relaxation with visual imagery, you can enhance the effectiveness
of both techniques. You will come to associate the speaking situation with relax-
ing images rather than anxiety-producing ones.
These techniques also work best when they become a habitual routine that
you practice as you prepare to speak. Elite athletes don’t use them only before
they are about to compete; speakers shouldn’t put off using them until the night