When I became a hypnotherapist, I used self hypnosis to overcome my terror of public speaking. Never mind “fear.” I was terrified to speak to groups. And if I was talking to one person and someone else joined the conversation, I would stop talking because, to me, that was a group.
Oral reports in school were a nightmare. The more nervous I felt, the faster I talked. The faster I talked the more nervous I felt.
I’ve gone from being terrified to realizing that I like speaking to groups because I get to do most of the talking and I get to tell people what to do. (just kidding)
This is all fresh in my mind today because I worked with a new client recently with this fear. She thinks about it 24/7. Her negative self talk keeps her stuck in her fear so that was our starting point. We worked together to write positive suggestions which I recorded.
In our next session I will help her to erase her past negative experiences with public speaking. She has a delightful personality. I know that when she becomes a comfortable, composed speaker the group will really enjoy her input.
If you need help in this area, start by changing your self talk. And visualize yourself the way you want to be in front of a group. Sound simple? It is.
copyright 2014 Katherine Zimmerman