I want to share a technique that I have been experimenting with, I first came across it on Dr Maltz’s Psychocybernetics course.
This unusual method for improving any skill was described by Maxwell Maltz as "Theatre of the Mind". He developed it into a course on sales techniques but it can be applied to mentally practising speaking in public to an individual, a group or even a large audience, using the power of your imagination.
Sit quietly with your eyes closed. Maltz suggests that you imagine a theatre where you can perform on stage and rehearse your performance, perhaps giving a talk in French or Spanish to an eagerly receptive audience about a topic you are familiar with. The beauty of this approach is that you are in charge of every aspect of your imaginary performance, you can rewind, go into slow motion, overwrite as often as you want until it is exactly as you want it. Then strangely the skill and confidence from your mental rehearsals will start to bleed through into your everyday reality. You will find yourself confidently using the words and phrases that you have rehearsed without even trying.
The method is not limited to theatre performances, imagine yourself in a sports stadium practising your football skills, or in a gym reaching a personal best on your favourite machine, or on the golf course or tennis court, playing the perfect shot over and over again, or better still imagine yourself in a social situation confidently speaking beautifully fluent Spanish.
Don’t just take my word for it – try it for yourself. As an experiment I suggest trying it for 10 minutes every day for a couple of weeks and then you will have some idea of the power of this method.
 New Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr Maltz and Dan Kennedy |
I am posting this question on behalf of “MP”
“It was with great interest that I read your post on the theatre of the mind http://www.thirdlanguage.co.uk/audio/psycho-cybernetics/the-theatre-of-the-mind/
Im currently starting to use Dr. Waltz’s method for public speaking/improving my self image but not sure one the exact method.
What I do is 1) close my eyes 2) focus on my breathing 3) count backwards from 50 4) at 15 i try to relax one bodypart at a time 5) at 0 I try to imagine myself speaking in public or making a presentation
I would be interested in hearing about your technique in detail, are you doing something similar? and what were your results?
Thanks for any assistance”
This is a good question:
The way I used Dr Maltz’s technique was very close to the way he describes it in his book. Sitting or lying quietly, eyes closed, I imagine a pair of closed doors. Like the doors in an old fashioned theatre. When I am ready I open the doors and walk through the theatre and onto the stage. The stage is already set, in my imagination as the place where my real life action will occur. From then on it is like a dress rehearsal with all the actions and events that I want to rehearse. I can alternate between being director and actor, even arrange prompts, and try out a variety of gestures and phrases. At the end of the virtual rehearsal I thank my helpers and leave the theatre, back the way I came. I am fairly unaware of any audience involvement most of the time
My particular challenge was to be able to stand up in front of a group of thirty people at a meeting and deliver a formal greeting, in Spanish, without notes. At the time I had only been learning the language for 15 months. I used the rehearsal technique about 6 times at roughly 4 day intervals and I’m happy to say it worked very well.
I hope this helps.
Best wishes
Bill
On behalf of “MP”:
“Hi Bill, thanks for the extensive and interesting reply. IM going to try your technique, were you reading the original book by Dr. Waltz?”
Yes, the original book was my first encounter with psychocybernetics. I bought the audio version more recently and I find it suits me better to listen, than to read.
Please let me know how you get on with the technique.
Bill