Empowered Public Speaking: Cultivating Confidence With Mindfulness

By Karla Jensen, PhD

I’ve been a public speaking instructor for 35 years. You may think that teaching skills such as engaging nonverbals or compelling language would be the foundation of my work. Though these skills are useful, helping my students investigate and address their communication apprehension is the key to building confident,
authentic communicators. 

Public speaking apprehension affects individuals across all walks of life. Its impact extends far beyond the podium, influencing our relationships, diminishing our comfort in social settings, and even affecting our mental well-being. No matter our stage of life, we all possess the innate desire to connect, to share our stories, and to contribute to our communities. Whether it's delivering a toast at a celebration, accepting professional recognition, sharing hobbies, or advocating for a cause, your lived experience is a gift worth sharing even if you are feeling nervous. The good news is this apprehension can be effectively managed
and overcome. 

But communicating in public can become even more challenging for seniors who may experience heightened anxiety due to physical or cognitive age-related changes. So, what can you do to boost your composure? Try adding mindfulness to both your preparation and your presentation to help you feel more relaxed and empowered. 

Mindfulness is the ability to purposefully pay attention to your thoughts and actions in the present moment which helps you recognize if you are dwelling on past mistakes or fretting about the future, rather than the task at hand. This is a critical skill when confronting stress and anxiety in all situations, including speaking in public. Research-backed mindfulness strategies such as deep breathing, body scanning, and careful observation of thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations can be used to calm the nervous system in stressful situations—including planning a speech—and foster a state of relaxed alertness during a presentation. 

Observe Your Thoughts and Feelings

Public speaking apprehension may involve a cascade of negative thoughts such as "I'm going to mess up." or "People are judging me." This can create a self-perpetuating cycle of anxiety, where feared incompetence leads to increased apprehension even before speaking and poorer performance while speaking. By cultivating a non-judgmental awareness of these thoughts, we can recognize these as unhelpful mental patterns rather than absolute truths. This cognitive shift can reduce their power to fuel anxiety and in turn, promote a more positive, realistic, and self-assured mindset. 

Strengthening Your Cognition

Research demonstrates how the ability to recognize and then shift away from negative thinking improves cognitive function, particularly in the areas of the brain that help us pay attention and recall information. Imagine yourself giving a speech—you must simultaneously pay attention to your content, the audience, and the environment. If you’ve been practicing present moment awareness, you’ll be better able to maintain focus in the face of potential distractions, whether from internal worries or external interruptions. This ability to stay centered in the here and now can improve the coherence and delivery of your speech and reduce the likelihood of losing track of key points. Even if you do stumble, your mindfulness skill of “focusing on the now, not what just happened” will get you right back on track, probably without anyone noticing anything was amiss. 

Understand and Sense Your Body

You are probably familiar with the "fight-flight-or-freeze" response we all experience when faced with a perceived threat. In a stressful situation like public speaking, the body's sympathetic nervous system naturally activates to protect us. Although we don’t need to fight, run away, or stand stock-still to avoid a flesh-and-blood menace, the fear of giving a speech can manifest in the same increased heart rate, rapid breathing, sweaty brow, etc. So, if we are paying attention to our mind (“Gosh, I’m worried about this.”) and our body (“Wow. My mouth is dry, and my palms are wet.”) rather than becoming distracted by these thoughts and sensations, we can acknowledge them as a normal part of the experience and refocus attention on authentically sharing our message. Additionally, using simple techniques such as deep breathing can counteract these physiological responses by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes a sense of ease and control in the body and mind. 

Try A Little Tenderness

Mindfulness can also foster self-compassion—treating oneself with kindness and acknowledging that mistakes are part of the human experience. As previously noted, public speaking often triggers self-criticism or embarrassment about perceived errors. Mindfulness fosters self-compassion by helping us first recognize, and then detach from, negative self-judgments and embrace imperfections—we are all human after all. As a result, we are more likely to approach public speaking with a growth mindset where we view mistakes as opportunities for learning rather than threats to self-esteem and find joy in the act of connecting with those who are learning from us. 

The butterflies you feel before and while you are giving a speech are 100% normal. By enhancing present-moment focus, cultivating non-judgmental awareness, regulating the stress response, and fostering self-compassion, you can assuage those butterflies and develop greater confidence in public speaking situations. So chill out and speak up with the composure a mindful mindset can provide. Your voice is needed! 

Karla Jensen, PhD,  is a professor of Communication Studies and Contemplative Practices and a certified meditation and yoga teacher. She invites readers to investigate mindfulness by checking out reputable organizations and authors who support this practice.