What is the influence of the reptilian brain on public speaking and stage fright?
There is a part of our brain called the reptilian brain or lizard brain. Watch this video for more details.
Basically, the lizard brain or reptilian brain is responsible for survival, anger, and reproduction. We all know how our minds get hacked by the lizard brain during the reproduction process and we will not going to go in-depth with it. So what happens is, whenever we try to do new things which we have yet to do on a regular basis or in other words while we try to come out of our comfort zone.
The natural process of the lizard brain takes over and says “Hey, hey, hey, buddy what are you doing? What’s that new thing you’re trying? It might be dangerous, you will fail, we have not done this before, and people are looking at you. Why don’t you do the things which you always do, it’s SAFE HERE”
While you are on stage and you see all the eyeballs gazing at you, your lizard brain goes into survival mode to protect you. So it
1) Heightens your response rate and awareness
2) Your heart beats faster
3) Sweat dams are open throughout your body
4) Your movements will be quicker than usual
5) Thoughts emerge faster than usual
If you ask a Bollywood actor, he would say, it’s the sign of falling in love.
So basically you can’t get rid of the adrenalin rush. This energy needs to be used in a positive way. All you can need to do is acknowledge it, calm down, and use its energy to help you when you are on stage. The day you won’t get that adrenaline rush while you are on stage that’s the day you won’t be enjoying being on stage.
Pro tip:
- Adrenalin rush heightens your awareness, and thoughts emerge at a rapid pace. Use this to your advantage. Learn to control it. You need to go to the stage more often to have control over it.
- To calm yourself, observe your breathing and slow it down consciously. In the world of meditation observing the breath means you are in the present. There are a few other simple aspects about being in the present, so don’t get carried away by all this marketing stuff going on regarding being in the present.
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