Yes, it is possible to improve your speaking through a connection to the floor you’re standing on.
Voice isn’t just about what we hear, it’s about physical sensation. We experience a lot of physical sensations when we speak. You can feel breath in the lungs, sound vibrations in the throat and the mouth moving to shape that sound. We can use another physical sensation, the feeling of our connection to the floor, to improve our speaking voice.
Focusing on those sensations high up in your body (lungs, throat and mouth) creates a feeling of physical imbalance. You end up holding unnecessary muscular tensions in the body to keep you feeling more stable and upright! And physical tension isn’t helpful for a free and expressive voice; it dampens the vocal potential. In addition, this higher focus in the body can also lead to the dreaded chin jut; a sure fire step towards vocal fatigue!
So how can we counteract this? Remember the floor! Feeling that connection to the floor underneath you is a great way to improve your speaking for a couple of reasons:
- Lowering the energetic focus in your body and bringing more muscular release and physical stability to the alignment, breath and voice.
- Settling your nerves by, simply, giving you something else to focus on; a place to put your nervous energy!
In short, next time you have to present, record your podcast, or simply get your point across in a difficult conversation; wiggle your toes! Bring your attention down and find your connection. Then work upwards to settle your physical alignment. For example, release your knees, then let your bum drop, your spine feel long, your shoulders fluid and your neck free. There’s a run through on settling your alignment here.
Try it now, and then speak. Can you notice any difference?
