Speaking from the Center of the Earth

By Lee Glickstein

The way to connect authentically with any audience is to not try to connect. Rather, when you orient yourself to the reality that you are already connected, you make them, not yourself, the focus of attention. This is how you plug into your natural power and instantly dissolve any anxiety.

The most solid connection we already have with our listeners is underground, since we have common roots in the earth. So take at least a full breath before speaking to imagine your presence flowing down your arms and legs into the earth. The ultimate common ground with our audience is at the very center of the earth!

After all, our body's center of gravity is strongly attracted to the earth's center of gravity. When we talk of "falling in love," are we not reporting a sense of free-falling together to the center of the earth? When we talk of a "meeting of the minds," are we not reporting a shared sense of seeing the world from the center of it all?

In front of a group, all we need do at any moment is to breathe from the connection at the center of the earth with one person at a time, without attachment to whether or not any particular listener takes us up on the no-pressure invitation to join us. We thus become an irresistible magnet for authentic connection.

From this connection, our words naturally arise, though they may also be said to descend. Instead of needing to project them out across the room, they resonate down into the earth and up into our listeners' center of gravity. Our voice deepens. We flow. We do not rush, and as a result we are naturally articulate and powerful.