I\'m also a software developer, and know exactly what you mean. This sort of anxiety is a very common problem for people in our industry, and by no means signifies that there is something wrong with you.

To begin with, most people are completely terrified by the thought of public speaking, and it is normal for the heart rate to increase before speaking.

As you know - the first step in addressing any problem is to acknowledge it, so the fact that you have reached out for help is an excellent indicator of your willingness to overcome your challenges.

We all have these sort of reactions that popup at different times. Often there is some jarring event that we may not even be aware of that causes us to associate all such events with the primary event, making us over-react to seemingly normal situations. Whatever the cause, there is nothing to worry about. It happens to all of us. For me it comes and goes from time to time.

Fortunately, there are some very effective techniques for addressing this sort of anxiety. In my experience, the simplest is this short exercise:

Try this, and let me know if it helps:

Five minutes before speaking, sit down somewhere quiet where you can be alone.

Close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths.

As you start to relax, check your body for signs of tension, and send your breath into these areas. As you are doing this, you may notice your heart beat - which is normal.

Just keep scanning your body for tension, keeping your attention on your body\'s sensation and relax your muscles one by one starting from your face and working all the way down to your feet.

Try it out, and feel free to reply or message me anytime.

Sincerely,
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

Firstly thanks for your reply - I'll try your exercise to see if it helps.



I'm not sure of your situation, but the weird thing with my situation is that I haven't had this problem.. I've spoken publicly at a few places over the year (although I'm by no means a proficient public speaker), including addressing the entire engineering class, doing various presentations, etc... it's just lately that this started to happen.


But by acknowledging it I've made myself more aware of the problem, and thus have made it worse


I can't help but worry, but I'll try not to - as I said, this hasn't happened to me before, and I would have thought I'm past the awkward teenager years

Thanks again for your help, and I'll see how your exercise go. Hopefully the situation will resolve itself in the same manner that it begun - cyclic construction of confidence rather than the cyclic destruction of it.

Trent

You're absolutely right about the cyclic re-construction of optimism. The interesting thing is that this progress can actually be quantified on a biophysical level, so can anxiety.

There are several ingredients - the heart rate, heart rate variability, the breath, and the mind.

There is a very interesting relationship between the breath, the heart, and the mind. Different patterns of breathing can actually determine our state of mind and vice versa. Most of the time this happens on a completely subconscious level.

If you encounter danger in the wild (ex: a wild animal such as a bear), your breathing pattern and heartrate will change immediately in order to accomodate a flight or fight reaction by the mind and the body.

The same thing happens during the anxiety episodes you are describing. Whatever the cause of the emotional reaction is, this is what is happening on a biological level.

The brain activity patterns can be mapped to the pattern of your heart rate variability, which in turn can be linked to your pattern of breathing.

Often, when we are uncomfortable, our breath shuts down. We go into a protective sort of breathing pattern, where we either hold our breath, or take very short shallow breaths.

On the other hand, when we are at peace, our breath is typically long, deep, and slow.

Here's what I would suggest. Tomorrow at your daily meeting, don't do anything out of the ordinary. Just observe the quality of your breath. Is it shallow, is it deep, do you make pauses? Is the pause on your inhalation or after your exhalation?

Then on monday try the breathing exercise before the meeting, and again pay close attention to your breath as you speak.

This will give you a baseline measurement without intervention and one with.

There is an excellent site that describes the scientific research which describes the heart mind breath interaction. You may find it interesting from the scientific point of view, and also in the ways in which this may apply to your situation.

http://www.heartmath.org/research/science- of-the-heart-head-heart-interactions.html

Feel free to write back, and let me know how it went.

All the best,
Daniel