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Advice on applying the flow speaking exercises to focus on specific content?
Advice on using any of the flow speaking exercises to focus on the ways that we are involved in “public speaking”? For example, I lead small groups and would like to bring more flow and flexibility into how I express what needs to be expressed/explained/taught in the groups. Or, is that too reductive or restrictive for where the flow speaking exercises need to come from?
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9 Replies
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Not at all. I use it for that all the time. And I have coached lots of teachers and speakers using these practices. There are lots of things you can do.
But the simplest is to is to have flow speaking practice sessions (by yourself as preparation) where:
1) Your question or prompt is focused on the material you want to share with your groups. So you just flow speak on your material, in order to explore the ideas, breathe life into it, and to infuse yourself with more flow, presence and confidence and so on, so it becomes more and more the way you show up.
2) Your question or prompt focuses on how you want to show up for your groups, such as “how can I flow more, feel more free, be more present with my groups’ and so on. Anything along those lines. “Where does confidence flow from?” “What do I most want to share?” “What’s most alive about this?”
Make sense?
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Yes brilliant! Thank you so much
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Now if I could just apply flow speaking to the Clockwork Orange-esque task of having to review recordings of myself : )
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That is not something I have EVER done. I’m not interested. If you enjoy it, or if you have a very specific important reason to do it, maybe it’s worth it. But if you’re just doing it because some people say you should, and you hate it, I would not bother : )
It can just make you more self-conscious and critical. And lead you to focus on more superficial things.
I’d focus on practicing more, being more present, being more alive and honest, connecting to your audience more, breathing life into your material more….lots of things, before I’d look at videos.
That’s just my take of course : )
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Yes, I so hear you. For various reasons, occasionally reviewing recordings is a part of the agreements in my co-teaching situation. Our focus is meant to be on reviewing what is occurring in the room (how are people being affected, etc.) rather than focusing on ourselves or our “performance”. But it is truly a challenge (and a kind of practice) to non-judgementaly focus on the phenomenon of the whole, instead of focusing on my “self”.
Thank you again for the reflections!
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Interesting. I too need to, however, not in a strict sense anymore review recorded sessions. But instead of focusing on the big picture I often see mostly the mistakes and flaws. I did not realize I was still being affected by this until this recent discussion. Thanks!
Leslie
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If you have any breakthroughs that make reviewing videos of yourself easier, let me know : )
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No huge revelations but the overriding goal of watching my video-recorded sessions is to learn, review, and be able to better consolidate the conversations and everything that took place during the session. So in turn I’m able to rise to a higher level. I’m helping to create order from an event that I would have ordinarily only been able to recall partially..
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I also thoroughly enjoy what I’m watching which is young children playing with their parents. So often I find myself smiling throughout as I watch which brings me joy!!! Flow speaking “I love my imperfections and my imperfections love me back” or “I love my speech impediments and my speech……” Helps me to move forward and not stay as stuck!
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