Public speaking fear: 10-minute grounding meditation, in a five-minute break

About this practice

For the times in a five-minute break when public speaking fear takes up more room than you would like — 10 minutes, grounding. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: public speaking fear

Speaking to a group triggers the same response as physical threat: shallow breathing, a dry mouth, and a voice that rises and speeds up.

It tends to show up as:

• Voice wobbling on the first sentence
• Speaking too fast to get it over with
• Shallow breathing high in the chest

Lengthening the exhale slows speech and steadies the voice. Physically, this is a breath practice before it is a confidence practice.

Doing this on a break

• Leave the room if you can
• Do not start anything else in the same gap
• Set a timer so the break has an end

A break spent half-engaged with a screen is not much of a break. Guard the whole five minutes.

How grounding works

Grounding brings attention to physical contact and the immediate environment. It works on the principle that the body cannot be somewhere else, so contact with the surface you are on is always available as an anchor.

• Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back — and let them take your weight
• Use the senses deliberately: what you can see, hear, touch
• Return to solidity whenever attention drifts

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00You don't have to empty your mind. Nobody has ever managed that, including the people who wrote the instructions.
2. 0:16Name what you can see, hear and touch. Counting senses is not a distraction; it is the practice.
3. 0:32Settle into the fact that for the next few minutes, nothing is required of you.
4. 0:46There's no correct speed. Slower isn't better. Steadier is the only aim.
5. 0:59Let the breath be shallow if shallow is what your body wants.
6. 1:12Let the exhale empty you a little more than usual, but not to the point of strain.
7. 1:27Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
8. 1:38Notice your eyebrows. They're probably doing something small right now.
9. 1:50Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
10. 2:01Feel your upper back against whatever is behind it.
11. 2:12Notice the space around the wobble in your voice. It is there, even if it is small. Put your attention in that space.
12. 2:30the room full of faces may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
13. 2:48If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
14. 3:01Press down slightly and feel the push back. Your body already knows where it is.
15. 3:15Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
16. 3:25Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
17. 3:37Feel the contact points — feet, seat, back. That contact is the whole anchor.
18. 3:51I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
19. 4:03If a song is stuck in your head, let it play in the background.
20. 4:17The floor is holding you right now. You do not have to hold yourself up.
21. 4:31No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
22. 4:42You might be planning something. Notice the planning, then come back.
23. 4:54Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
24. 5:05No rush to move on.
25. 5:14Feel the outline of yourself, from the top of your head to your heels.
26. 5:28Let the breath move at the speed of a sleeping person.
27. 5:40Let the pause stretch out.
28. 5:49Notice your ears, which mostly just receive things.
29. 6:00Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
30. 6:13Nothing changes for a moment.
31. 6:22Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
32. 6:35Let the out-breath be a little longer than the in-breath, without forcing it.
33. 6:48A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
34. 6:59Feel the weight of the urge to rush off the stage somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
35. 7:17If the wobble in your voice has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
36. 7:35Let the exhale fall out rather than pushing it.
37. 7:46Give the room full of faces a shape, a colour, a temperature. Turning it into something specific makes it easier to hold.
38. 8:04Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
39. 8:18Notice how quickly your mind labels things: good, bad, boring, nice.
40. 8:30Silence. Let your shoulders drop again if they've crept up.
41. 8:42If your mind has gone somewhere else, the floor under you has not moved. Start from there.
42. 8:57Take the next breath slowly.
43. 9:06Give your hands a stretch before you go back to using them.
44. 9:19Notice the room again: the sounds, the temperature, the light.
45. 9:31Remain here for a few more breaths.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.