Summer tips – how to develop your oral communication while you relax
Newsletter #2
Your breathing is the golden principle to better communication
Research tells us that it takes 3 weeks to establish a new habit. So if you give yourself just a few minutes each day to practice your breathing, it will be anchored in your body once you are back at work. The key to expanding your vocal range is to engage a more embodied voice based on a deep diaphragmatic breathing.
As you enjoy your summer holiday, you can easily train this golden principle to great oral communication and presence, and the good news is that it will also
Relax your body
Calm your mind
Provide general wellbeing
And well, you’re going to breathe anyway, so why not start exploring?
The 3x3 breathing is a great mind and body-setting breathing technique to prepare yourself before you enter a meeting room or start a presentation.
The magic of smelling the flower
You need something more subtle and elegant however when you are in the heat of a situation and you suddenly feel the pressure building up, perhaps after a critical question has been asked or if you feel some kind of resistance towards your message. Here, an instant technique to body-set yourself is imagine smelling a flower.
This is a fantastic pausing technique and a great way to recentre yourself in the present if you feel yourself starting to speed up. By ‘smelling the flower’ you are actually taking that deep belly breath inwards, and the trick is to now speak on the out-breath.
You can train this each time you are in a queue in the supermarket, are waiting for something or simply whenever you have a spare moment – try smelling the flower – ahhhhh...
To really experience those belly muscles and that diaphragm working for you to support your breath, you should imagine smelling the flower and then releasing the air little by little by saying szzzzzzz, and when you are almost out of breath, release, and then you are ready to smell the flower again.
See how to do the two breathing techniques here
In the article Lisa’s vocal gateway to strengthening her leadership, newsletter #1, I touched on some of the oral communication techniques that you can explore to develop your vocal expression, spice up your oral communication and make it easier to listen to and remember your message
If you wish to dive deeper into the secrets of successful oral persuasion invented by the ancient Greek rhetoricians almost 2500 years ago, then I can highly recommend my all-time favourite book on the subject:
Lend Me Your Ears, All You Need to Know about Making Speeches and Presentation
by Max Atkinson, professor in oral rhetoric and former speechwriter for Reagan. It’s full of practical advice on how to apply and have fun with these great, ancient techniques as your prepare and present your oral message. I fell in love with it back in 2000 when I studied oral rhetoric and I always keep an extra copy so I can share it with people – perhaps as a relevant summer read.
Do you wish to train body-setting and vocal dynamics to enhance your communication and leadership?
See your training options here
