One of the most common times people feel anxious at work (after getting called in to see the boss) is at meetings where you are expected to speak up in front of many others.
Let me give you a few quick tips on how best to approach those meetings:
Generally, these type of work meetings involve a group of people sitting around taking it in turns to speak. Most people anxious about speaking in public dread their turn and hope some divine intervention will save them from having to speak at all.
To get around this try the opposite approach. Pretend to yourself and the group that you are actually dying to speak. Before you enter the room, say to yourself:
“I’m going to speak at any reasonable opportunity that presents itself”
-Be positively itching to speak!
-Before the meeting kicks off, talk to everyone around you. Don’t sit there in silence.
-If you have a short presentation to make and you don’t like the idea of having to do it in one go, break it up by asking those present questions during your talk. This puts the focus back on the group and can help you feel less under pressure.
-If everyone has to speak, it can really take the pressure off to be first up but if you can’t be first then start asking questions of the other speakers when they are finished if that is appropriate.
Come across as really interested and engaged. Give the impression to the room that you want to speak and to be heard. Speaking up works because the anxiety only gets worse if you sit there in total silence waiting to be called upon. Don’t wait for them to call you -speak out.
If you take the above advice on board and it does come to your turn to speak, you won’t feel the same level of pressure because everyone in the room is already used to your voice and you don’t feel the pressure of hearing your voice for the first time in the room.
Everyone is used to you and you are used to speaking to them. Great speakers love an opportunity to talk and present. Believe it or not but you can train yourself to be like that and it starts by pretending to yourself that you really want that opportunity to be in the lime light. Be hungry for it.
Instead of holding back and resisting the opportunity to speak in public, you chase after it! You might think:
“fine but how can I try this out before my next meeting?”
The best way I know of is to join a Toastmaster group in your area (google it) and get started there right away.
If there is no toastmaster group locally find a public meeting or volunteer for something like a research group where you all discuss a topic together.
By Barry McDonagh, who is an international panic disorder coach. He created the Panic Away program to help people around the world deal with their anxiety and avoid panic attacks – a subject that he is personally attuned to because he himself found that he was prone to these issues since he was young. His hatred of his powerless lead him down the path of finding natural ways to treat himself without having to depend on expensive medications.
Public Speaking Anxiety Treatment – Anxiety and Public Speaking
I’ve often observed that many people’s top-ranking fear is not death but having to speak in public. The joke is that these people would rather lie in a casket at their own funeral than give the eulogy.
Public speaking for people who suffer from panic attacks or general anxiety often becomes a major source of worry, possibly weeks or even months before the speaking event is to occur.
These speaking engagements don’t necessarily have to be the traditional “on a podium” events; they can be as simple as an office meeting where the individual is expected to express an opinion or give verbal feedback.
In this case, the fear centers on having a panic attack while speaking. The individuals fear being incapacitated by the anxiety and hence unable to complete what they’re saying. They imagine fleeing the spotlight and having to make all kinds of excuses later for their undignified departure -out the office window . . .
This differs slightly from the majority of people who fear public speaking. With others, their fear tends to revolve around going blank while speaking or feeling uncomfortable under the spotlight of their peers. The jitters or nerves are, of course, a problem for this group as well-but they’re unfamiliar with that debilitating threat, the panic attack, because they most likely haven’t experienced one before.
So how should a person with an anxiety issue tackle public speaking?
Stage 1 is accepting that all of these bizarre and, quite frankly, unnerving sensations aren’t going to go away overnight. In fact, you’re not even going to concern yourself with getting rid of them for your next talk. When they arrive during a speech or meeting, you’re going to approach them in a new manner.
We need to build your confidence back to where it used to be before any of these sensations ever occurred. This time, you’ll approach it in a unique, empowering manner, allowing you to feel your confidence again. Some say that most of the top speakers are riddled with anxiety before an event, but they somehow use this nervousness to enhance their speech.
I’m going to show you exactly how to do this.
My first point is this, and it’s important:
The average healthy person can experience an extreme array of anxiety and very uncomfortable sensations while giving a speech and is in no danger of ever losing control, or even appearing slightly anxious to the audience. No matter how tough it gets, you’ll always finish your piece-even if, at the outset, it feels very uncomfortable to go on.
You won’t become incapacitated in any way.
The real breakthrough happens when you fully believe that you’re not in danger and that the sensations will pass. By asking for more, you’re saying:
“I realize that you [the anxiety] hold no threat over me.”
What keeps a panic attack coming again and again is the fear of the fear-the fear that the next one will really knock your socks off and the feeling that you were lucky to have made it past the last one unscathed.
Because they were so unnerving and scary, it’s your confidence that’s been damaged by previous anxiety episodes. Once you fully understand that you’re not under any threat, then you can have a new response to the anxiety as it arises while speaking.
There’s always a turning point when a person moves from general anxiety into a panic attack, and that happens with public speaking when you think to yourself:
I won’t be able to handle this in front of these people.
That split second of self-doubt leads to a rush of adrenaline, and the extreme anxiety arrives in a wavelike format. If, however, you feel the initial anxiety and react with confidence that this isn’t a threat to you, you’ll process the anxiety rapidly.
Using this new approach is a powerful ally because it means it’s okay to feel scared and anxious when speaking. That’s fine-you’ll feel it, and you’ll move with and through the sensations in your body and out the other side.
Because people are often very anxious before the talk has begun, they may feel they’ve already let themselves down. Now you can relax on that point. It’s perfectly natural to feel the anxiety.
Take, for example, the worst of the sensations you’ve ever experienced in this situation-be it general unease or loss of breath. You’ll have an initial automatic reaction that says:
“Danger-I’m going to have an episode of anxiety here, and I really can’t afford for that to happen.”
At this point, most people react to that idea and confirm that it must be true because of all the unusual feelings they’re experiencing. This is where your train of thought creates a cycle of anxiety that produces a negative impact on your overall presenting skills.
So let that initial “Oh dear, not now” thought pass by, and immediately follow it up with the attitude of:
“There you are -I’ve been wondering when you would arrive. I’ve been expecting you to show up. By the way, I’m not in the least threatened by any of the strange sensations you’re creating. I’m completely safe here.”
Instead of pushing the emotional energy and excitement down into your stomach, you’re moving through it.
Your body is in a slightly excited state, exactly as it should be while giving a speech-so release that energy in your self-expression. Push it out through your presentation, not down into your stomach.
Push it out by expressing yourself more forcefully. In this way, you turn the anxiety to your advantage by using it to deliver a speech; you’ll come across as more alive, energetic, and in the present moment.
When you notice the anxiety drop, as it does when you willingly move into it, fire off a quick thought when you get a momentary break (as I’m sure you have between pieces), and ask it for “more.” You want more of its intense feelings because you’re interested in them and absolutely not threatened by them.
It seems like a lot of things to be thinking about while talking to a group of people, but it really isn’t. You’d be amazed at how many different, unrelated thoughts you can have while speaking. This approach is about adopting a new attitude of confidence about what you might have deemed a serious threat up until now.
If your predominant fear of speaking is driven by a feeling of being trapped, then I suggest factoring in some mental releases that can be prepared before the event. For example, some events allow you to turn the attention back to the room to get feedback, etc., from the audience. If possible, prepare such opportunities in your own mind before the engagements.
This isn’t to say that you have to use them, but people in this situation often remark that just having small opportunities where attention can be diverted for the briefest moment makes the task seem less daunting.
It may even be something as simple as having people introduce themselves or opening the floor to questions. I realize these diversions aren’t always possible and depend on the situation, but anything you can factor in that makes you feel less trapped or under the spotlight is worth the effort.
For more ideas and tips about public speaking anxiety treatment, watch this video –
By Barry McDonagh, who is an international panic disorder coach. He created the Panic Away program to help people around the world deal with their anxiety and avoid panic attacks – a subject that he is personally attuned to because he himself found that he was prone to these issues since he was young. His hatred of his powerless lead him down the path of finding natural ways to treat himself without having to depend on expensive medications.
There is phobia that is linked to the experience of panic attacks, and that is agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places such as shopping markets. It is a fear associated with leaving a safe zone, such as the home.
Because of a feeling of being vulnerable, people who experience this fear often suffer from panic attacks in these “open” situations. It is true to say many people who have regular panic attacks experience different degrees of agoraphobia.
Some have a lingering background anxiety about being away from home should they experience a panic attack. Other people are so immobilized by this fear that they find it very difficult to leave their home for even a short period.
The thinking behind agoraphobia usually follows the line that were a panic attack to occur, who would look after the person, how would he or she get the assistance and reassurance they needed?
The vulnerability grows from the feeling that once victims of agoraphobia are caught in the anxiety, they are suddenly unable to look after themselves and are therefore at the mercy of the place they find themselves in and the strangers around them. In its extreme form, agoraphobia and panic attacks can lead to a situation where people become housebound for numerous years.
Please note, this is by no means a hopeless situation, and I always need to reinforce the fact that something only becomes hopeless once the person really believes that to be the case.
To begin with, the primary issue that needs to be addressed is the belief in the safe zone. To clarify, when I talk about safe zone, I am referring to the zone where the person believes panic attacks do not occur, or at least occur infrequently. As comfort is found there, it is where the person tends to spend more and more time.
The safe zone of anxiety is a myth sustained by the mind. The mind has developed a habit of thinking that dictates that being inside the safe zone is the only place to feel secure and avoid agoraphobia and panic attacks.
If agoraphobia is an issue for you, watch as your mind comes up with reasons why it believes only a certain area is safe and another is not. Those reasons range from being near the phone or people you trust to having familiar physical surroundings to reassure you.
The reality of anxiety is that there is no such thing as a safe zone. There is nothing life threatening about a panic attack, and therefore sitting at home is the same as sitting under the stars on a desert island. Of course, your mind will immediately rush to tell you that a desert island is a ridiculous place to be as there are no hospitals, no tranquillisers, no doctors, NO SAFETY.
You need to review your previous experiences of panic attacks. Aren’t you still here, alive and well, after all those attacks during which you were convinced you were going to die?
It may be that on occasions you have been driven to the hospital where they did medicate you to calm you down, but do you really believe that you would not have survived were it not for the drugs? You would have. If the same bout of anxiety had occurred on this desert island, it too would have passed, even if you were all alone.
Yes, when it comes to conditions that need medical attention such as asthma, diabetes, and a whole litany or other conditions, then having medical aid nearby is a big asset, but no doctor in the world would tell someone with anxiety that there are only specific safe zones in which she or he can move.
As I know more than anyone how terrifying it can feel to move out of your safe zone as the feeling of fear is welling up inside, I do not wish to sound harsh.
This course is not about chastising people for their behaviours. It is a way of looking together at solutions and seeing through the myths that form prison walls. The goal is to enable you to return to a richer and more meaningful life and ultimately defeat your agoraphobia and panic attacks.
I also realize that people around you cannot understand why a trip to shops would cause you such discomfort. You will have to forgive them and try not to be upset by their lack of understanding of your problem.
If an individual such as a partner or family member has not had a similar anxiety issue, that person may often find it hard to understand and empathize with what you are going through. I am sure you have been dragged out of the house numerous times against your will, kicking and screaming. This can then lead to tensions and arguments and is upsetting as it can make you feel less understood by those around you.
People around agoraphobics are often simply trying what they feel is best. If you can see that their intentions are well meaning (although often misguided), then you will be able to relate to them better and help sooth any potential conflicts.
There is one thing I am sure you will agree with, and that is that the only person who will get you out of agoraphobic thinking is yourself. These are your thoughts, and only you can begin to change that pattern.
Dealing with long term agoraphobia and panic attacks is a slow process to begin with, but once the results start happening, it moves faster and faster until you reach a point where you will find it hard to believe that going out was such a difficult task.
By Barry McDonagh, who is an international panic disorder coach. He created the Panic Away program to help people around the world deal with their anxiety and avoid panic attacks – a subject that he is personally attuned to because he himself found that he was prone to these issues since he was young. His hatred of his powerless lead him down the path of finding natural ways to treat himself without having to depend on expensive medications.
But could it be something much simpler, something that looked completely unrelated at first glance?
Yes, says a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association—and it’s connected to snoring.
The study used the data of 789 African-American men and women from the Jackson Heart Study, the largest study of cardiovascular disease in African-Americans.
The average age was 63 years old. Of the participants, 581 were women, 198 had diabetes, and 158 were taking diabetesmedication.
The study gave the participants an actigraph wrist watch to monitor their sleep quality, including long and short sleep duration, sleep disruptions, night-to-night sleep variability, and sleep efficiency.
The study also monitored the subject’s blood oxygen levels to test for sleep apnea severity, grouping them into those with no sleep apnea and mild, moderate, and severe sleep apnea.
The participant’s blood glucose levels were monitored continually throughout the study.
The subjects who suffered from severe sleep apnea had a 14 percent higher fasting glucose score than those without sleep apnea. They also had higher HbA1c levels, which is a measure of long-term blood sugar.
The first step in addressing type 2 diabetes therefore may be as simple as addressing snoring. Almost everyone who snores has some level of sleep apnea.
This Simple, Old Practice Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Easily and Naturally
Recently, West Virginia University and University of Virginia scientists decided to find out if an ancient exercise is genuinely beneficial for type 2 diabetics or if it is just a re-emerging fad.
They identified 159 of the best previously performed studies on alternative methods with a total of 2,178 participants. They published their literature review in the Journal of Diabetes Research.
They found that the majority of these studies supported the effectiveness of yoga for multiple aspects of diabetes, including improvement of glycemic control and reduction of insulin resistance, body fat, and blood pressure.
They also discovered that yoga reduced the amount of fat people carried around their waists, which has often been found to be the most harmful type of body fat.
While there were fewer studies on the other aspects of diabetes, they did seem to be positive that yoga could lower oxidative stress and improve nervous system function, sleep, mood, and quality of life.
Yoga seems able to do this through several mechanisms:
– Relaxes practitioners and thereby limits the negative effects of stress on all systems of the body.
– Shifts nervous system activity from sympathetic to parasympathetic, eliminating stress.
– Activates brain structures responsible for positive mood, anti-inflammatory processes, effective use of glucose, etc.
– Increases strength, fitness, and physical function that, in turn, improves your body’s ability to use glucose effectively, reduces cholesterol, and lowers blood pressure.
Find your nearest credible and affordable yoga teacher and sign up to classes that will teach you enough of this traditional practice so you can continue to pursue it at home later.
Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Easily and Naturally – Permanent, Natural Type 2 Diabetes Strategy – Finally Proven
Many researchers believe that lifestyle modification programs addressing type 2 diabetes suffer from the serious defect of poor long-term compliance.
They believe that people adhere to the new lifestyle changes only at the beginning, but later lapse back into their old ways because of a lack of self-discipline, commitment, time, energy, or whatever other obstacles real life puts in their way.
A recent study, however, suggests that this view may be unnecessarily pessimistic.
The American Journal of Preventive Medicine has just published a study by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh debunking the assumption that natural solutions to cure type 2 diabetes are only temporary fixes.
The scientists looked at physical activity levels of people who participated in the Diabetes Prevention Program in 2002, finding that even over a decade later, they were still physically up to twice as active as the general population..
– reduce their fat intake to less than 25% of calories they consumed
– engage in 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week.
What they found was that people who lost a modest amount of weight together with physical exercise were 58% more likely toavoid diabetes than those who didn’t, and were almost twice as likely to avoid diabetes as those taking metformin.
This post is from the 3 Steps Diabetes Strategy Program. It was created by Jodi Knapp from Blue Heron health news that has been recognized as one of the top-quality national health information websites.
In this program, Jodi Knapp shares practical tips and advice on how you can prevent and cure diabetes naturally. She also dispels myths commonly associated with diabetes, like for example, diabetes being a lifelong condition. There are also lots of information going around that is simply not true and she’s here to correct it.
Diabetes is a disease, and it can be cured. This is just one of the important tips Jodi reveals in her program. Also, she included several ways in preventing the onset of disease, choosing the right food to eat, recommended vitamin supplements, the right time of the day to take the blood sugar and many more.
But the most amazing thing would have to be her program which only takes 3 simple steps to help you to control & treat type 2 diabetes. What it does is cure diabetes without having to rely on expensive drugs, diets that make sufferers crave for even more food they are not supposed to eat, and exercise programs that make people feel tired and depressed.
“I recognize the most happiness comes not from material things or status, etc. but from doing good for others (people and animals).”
Name: Paul Kerton Occupation: Personal Trainer / YouTuber Location: Norwich, England Age: 42 Height: 6’0″ Weight: 252 lb. Type of Training: Bodybuilding, Martial Arts
Q: Tell us the story behind #veGAINism and Hench Herbivore.
Vegainism was a typo! I thought it looked good and conveyed the message that I’m trying to bring to the world, that animals need not suffer for us to excel in the gym.
Similar message with Hench Herbivore. Someone accused me of looking like a hench herbivore one day, and again, I liked the sound of it! Because of the modern vernacular “hench,” I feel like it helps bring veganism up to date too!
Q: What were the steps you took to transition to plant-based nutrition?
After reading “The China Study” and watching many videos on NutritionFacts.org, I went mostly plant-based, save for three servings of wild salmon and two of organic beef per week. About five months later, after learning more about plant-based nutrition, I decided to go after it 100 percent.
Q: What did you eat today?
8 a.m.: Smoothie consisting of 1 Lt filtered water, 400g bananas, 220g dates, 150g raspberries, 66g spinach, 7g chia seeds, 7g flaxseeds, and 30g brown rice protein powder.
12 p.m.: Smoothie (same ingredients)
4 p.m.: Smoothie (same ingredients)
8 p.m.: Snack of 200g steamed kale with nutritional yeast.
9 p.m.: Homemade curry consisting of 1 can chickpeas, 1 can tomatoes, 1 onion, 1 green pepper, 1 carrot, 1 stick celery, spices, coriander, and mint. Served with 200g (pre-cooked weight) brown rice.
I nearly always have a smoothie as outlined above; however, if I feel like a change, occasionally I may have 200g porridge oats cooked in soya or almond milk with a scoop of brown rice protein mixed in, plus 150g mixed berries, 15g milled chia or flaxseeds, and 220g chopped dates.
Q: What does your training look like these days? How much weight are you pushing these days?
Four-day split currently:
quads/hams
chest/calves/bis
back/rear delts/traps
front+side delts/tris/abs/obliques
Been doing HIIT for a while but about to transition into more volume.
My best lifts are leg press 835 lb. x 10, bench press 250 lb. x 10, and pull-down 200 lb. x 12.
Side lateral raise: for shoulder width and the way it burns!
Pec dec: really love the feeling in the pecs when you give them a hard contraction at the apex of the rep and the speed you can transition into drop sets to really finish off a chest session.
Q: Who’s your favorite bodybuilder and athlete?
2014 Mr. Universe Barny du Plesses: he decided to go vegan after a chat we had one day. Spent six months training with him, so we formed a deep friendship.
Watching him speak of his veganism live on stage at the 2015 Pro Universe show is about the bravest thing I ever saw!
Tim Shieff: he’s really mastered his body, is deeply spiritual, vegan, and a force for good!
Q: Tell me a story of the mentor who played a key role in building confidence in yourself.
The person I owe most of my confidence to is my old karate sensei, Ken Bailey. I came to him as a small nervous child, and he gave me the skills/mental abilities to become a successful doorman and later personal trainer.
I didn’t see Ken for a number of years. When I caught up with him next, he was in his 60s. He was sporting a black eye. When I asked what had happened, he seemed a bit dejected, saying that two youths had assaulted him. Turns out he had sorted them both out but was just annoyed that they’d got one in on him!
Q: Fun fact most people don’t know about you?
“One night as a young child, I had a visit from a poltergeist.”
I did not see him, but a deep man’s voice was telling me that the beaker I had next to the bed would not be there in the morning. I remember over and over again calling him stupid. In the morning, I was in the living room playing with my toy cars, and my mum went through to make my bed.
She shouted, “Why have you put your beaker under your pillow?” When I told her it wasn’t me, she wouldn’t believe me and so I got really upset, and I remember crying a lot. I think that’s the only real reason it all stuck in my head, and I wonder if there were other times similar things may have happened.
Certainly, I have had several paranormal experiences during my adult life.
Q: What strange/weird things do you believe in?
The last couple of years, following on from my switch to veganism, I’ve had a deep spiritual awakening. Noticing amazing synchronicities led me to shunning mainstream fitness and marketing myself as a vegan PT.
“I’ve had great success with Law of Attraction, crystals, and seeing a clairvoyant, and I truly believe I am living my life’s purpose.”
Q: How do you wind down and relax at night?
YouTube
Podcasts
Reading
Q: What have you changed your mind about in past 10 years?
I now truly believe that anatomically, psychologically, and bio-chemically, humans are frugivores (a type of herbivore) and NOT obligate omnivores as some would have us believe. I used to think that the more meat and dairy I ate, the more I would excel in the gym.
“Until a few short years back, I feel I was coming from a place of ego (fear) where I wanted to portray this big tough guy image. Nowadays, I like to have an impressive physique, but for a positive reason, to promote the vegan diet in a good light.”
Also, rather than constantly seeking things to please myself, I now have a real attitude of paying it forward and being of service. I recognize the most happiness comes not from material things or status, etc. but from doing good for others (people and animals).
Q: What three pearls of wisdom would you tell your 18-year-old self?
GO VEGAN!
Your thoughts create your reality: get rid of negative self-talk and truly believe you have the power to create anything you wish in your life.
A lot of research has been put in this program. Furthermore, a lot of professional bodybuilders and athletes tried and tested the program, praising its progressiveness and efficiency.
The program is about taking control of your own body and health according to your potential and needs. And worry not; you’ll get plenty of proteins with this system. It will boost you with energy, and you’ll feel just a strong as any carnivore would (perhaps even stronger, depending on how much you invest in your exercise). It avoids vitamins deficiency and provides you with a lot of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Instead of saying things like “I think a plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders,” the V3 Vegetarian Bodybuilding System claims “I know a plant-based diet is good for athletes and bodybuilders, and I have results to prove it.”
