I seem to be spending a lot of time working in academic institutions at the moment (see here, for example). Recently I did two half-day sessions at an FE college in my home region. Many of the staff were complaining of problems with their voices; while chatting to another facilitator/trainer over lunch we compared notes. He was working on staff stress levels and it quickly became apparent that the two problems were very strongly related.
Stress does horrible things to your voice.
Having seen the terrible things that Stress can do to its sufferers I’m not for one minute suggesting that these tips are a substitute for a good Stress Management course or good Stress Management techniques but they will help. It’s particularly appropriate to get working on your voice when you’re stressed because the breathing exercises involved in good voice control are great stress relievers – and because the quality of your voice is a good barometer of how stressed you are. Check how your voice is working and you’ll get a good indicator of your stress level even if you’re not consciously aware of being stressed.
Okay – the tips…
Breath slow and low. Make sure you’re breathing in your belly with your diaphragm. You’ll often be told to take “big breaths†to control your anxiety or stress – or perhaps “deep breaths†but if these are at the top of your chest they’ll just make the situation worse, not better. This is because the hormones released by breathing at the top of your chest tend to be things like Adrenaline – which is a pretty good hormone in the right place but can cause stress when it’s present inappropriately.
Drop your shoulders. You’ll be amazed at how often you walk around with your shoulders “hunched†without realising it, almost as if you’re braced for a car crash or something. Not only is that a stress-inducer but it also tightens the muscles in and around your throat. You’ll find that if you try to make a presentation like that you’ll sound nervous, anxious and insincere. Obviously that’s bad, so to avoid it, just make a point of dropping your shoulders – not just when you’re aware that you’re anxious but all the time. I even know someone who’s gone so far as to set a count-down bleeper on his watch so that every 10 minutes he was reminded to drop his shoulders. Okay, that might annoy everyone around you but my friend pretty soon got the habit right and didn’t need to have the reminder any longer! Probably just as well, given how stressed out the bleep would have made all the people he shared an office with! :)
Ungrit your jaw. Just as stressed people tend to “brace themselves†by hunching their shoulders they also tend to clamp their jaws. Locking your jaw locks the stress in. (Quite apart from that, it’s bad for your teeth!) Before you present, waggle your jaw a few times and do a couple of “big yawns†to stretch yourself out a little. In fact it’s probably a good idea to do that whenever you remember to drop your shoulders – so that a relaxed jaw becomes a habit too.
There are plenty of sites online which give you a wealth of good stress-relieving advice (and some which give you some bad advice too!) so I’m not going to spend more time on things – these are the three hugely effective tools based upon your voice as a presenter.
