As a manager you are probably involved in public speaking, a difficult task that requires adequate experience and personality.

In this article we write about a practical tool that can be helpful when speaking in public: the mantra. Mantra are powerful words. Words, any of them, are projections of thoughts.

A strong word, with a beautiful sound and properly pronounced, corresponds to a crystal clear thinking, vibrant and decisive.

Public speakers know that pretty well. This is the case of actors, who operate an ongoing work on diction, tone of voice, singing. They know they must not talk monotonous when on stage: that would show that they only learned the part mechanically, like a student who learned a lesson by heart.

Stanislavsky, one of the most famous theatre directors of the ‘900s, states that one of the actor’s tasks is to feel the sound of the syllables and letters with his soul[1].

Additionally, in public speaking you are not just talking to the ears of your audience. Since your words describe your thinking (in terms of business we might say your vision), you are communicating to their eyes, you are sharing your image of the world, the way you see things.

All this requires a lot of exercise and here’s how a mantra can help. Those sounds will allow you to enter into a meditative phase and recover energy before getting on the scene: may it be a stage, a movie set, a conference or a meeting with the shareholders.

Technically, it is a short sequence of letters to utter vibrating, with the spine straight and making the vibration start from the abdomen, just as actors and singers do. Like chanting, mantras have a strong healing power.

Find a moment of stillness before your speech and utter your mantra. Or do that a few minutes a day. You will get a renewed focus and energy. One of the best techniques- the yogic traditions say, is to stay focused for a 50% on the enunciation and the remaining 50% on listening to your own words[2].

For the short time you repeat the mantra, it allows you to disconnect and from the swirling flow of thoughts, often a symptom of anxiety before a speech. Vibrating the mantra trains the vocal cords and clears your throat, giving your voice a vibrant and clear sound, suitable to convey your message.

There are various types of mantras from different traditions and languages, you can choose the one that inspires you most, even in your own language.

One of my favourites, also used to make speaking more powerful, comes from the tradition of Kundalini Yoga. The mantra HAR refers in Gurmukhi to primordial creative power, it is great to evoke creativity. It is to be pronounced coordinating the movement of the tongue with a slight contraction of the navel. Three minutes of this exercise will give power and incisiveness to your speech.

And for you public speaking will be real fun.

Alessia Tanzi – Giacomo Ciampoli

[1] Stanislavskij, An actor prepares, 1936

[2] Sadhana Singh, Sadhana – insegnamenti per la vita quotidiana, 2003