PRACTICE

My colleague, coach Melissa West and I were on our weekly Greenlake walk, and spied this bright fellow whizzing by on his unicycle - wow! So colorful and well-balanced . . .

So the next time he came by we talked with him. How did he choose the unicycle? He, Sanjay, told us he was a bicyclist who found himself passed by a unicyclist last year on the annual Seattle to Portland trek, the famous STP ride. So he vowed to learn it. He said it took him 3 months of daily practice to master the balance aspect of it.

Daily practice - yes! That is what it takes for mastery - daily practice. The unexpected benefit he said was more life balance as well.

There are always unexpected benefits from daily practice -
whether it is a work out at the gym, running, the breathing exercises I am always touting, meditation, flossing . . . .

Inner strength, mostly . . . confidence.

Try it!

BREATHE . . .

The word “inspiration” means to inhale, to take in, to breathe.

Breathing fully, deeply and consciously is perhaps the most important habit we can cultivate for our health, happiness and effectiveness as speakers.

Our brains run on oxygen, supplied by blood from our lungs. The pattern of breathing, the in and out in a consistent rhythm, keeps us balanced, free of anxiety.

When we are tense, we hold our breath, breaking the pattern, and depriving our brains of fuel.

We go blank and cannot remember what we were thinking about. We panic, forgetting who we are, where we are, and what we wanted to say.

The only antidote is to take a deep breath.

Our audiences also need to breathe in order to understand, to fully integrate and to later accurately remember our conversation with them.

To be most effective, take a full breath before beginning to speak, pause and breathe between ideas to refresh your mind and theirs, and take a full breath at the end during the applause.

Breathe!

© 2008 Constance Miller All rights reserved.