Presence is a palpable sense of being all here – physically, mentally, and emotionally. It gives you a masterful command of yourself and it commands the attention of others.
Presence is spiritual in nature. It is the embodiment of spirit. Through simple mental and physical practices, you can develop this power.
Actors develop presence as natural outcome of their training. Actors are trained to stay focused in the feelings in their bodies while holding the center of attention. You can use techniques established by actors to develop the power of presence to support your professional and personal life.
- Get out of your head and into your body.
Learn to ground yourself in your physical body. Cultivate awareness of being fully relaxed in your skin all the way down to your feet. Contact the energy in your head and let it flow slowly down through your entire body, filling every part of you until it fills your feet. Anchor your energy into the arches of your feet. Then drop energy into the earth as if you are growing thick, deep taproots. Grounding Exercise Cassette Tape. - Breathe. I mean really breathe.
Deeply and fully until you feel high on oxygen. Breathing increases aliveness. Relaxes stress and flows psychophysical energy through the body. Ten minutes of deep breathing will make you radiate an expanded presence. - Explore the tension of being the center of attention.
Find out where you tense up and block energy in your body when others focus attention on you. Give yourself permission to really “feel” it, relax into it until it releases into a flow state. - Move your body.
The more you move, the more you relax. The best way to still the mind is to move the body. Movement that expresses emotion is best. It clears you of stored tensions and quiets your mind. - Be real with yourself.
Give yourself permission to contact your authentic thoughts and feelings. People with a powerful presence are present to and aware of their real thoughts and feelings. - Be real with others.
Allow others to see who you really are rather than projecting an image that you want them to see. Others are drawn to authenticity. They sense it in you and trust you. - Let go of perfectionism.
Expectation of perfectionism creates tension in you and in others. It makes people afraid of you and it makes you afraid to give your gifts to others. Give up trying to be perfect, now. - Receive others.
Open yourself to take in their energy. Use a soft eye focus when making eye contact. A soft eye focus shifts you out of judgement and into acceptance of others. It creates a sense that you are drinking others in through your eyes. It reduces the resistance to others and literally draws them to you magnetically. - Contact your passion.
Look for things that excite you. Pursue them, even if in small ways. Touch into something that excites you everyday and risk sharing it with others. The energy of passion lights up your energy field. - Practice being in this moment.
Being in the now moment means being aware of how it feels to be inside your body. Focus on body sensation. Pay attention to everything you can feel with your five senses. What do you smell, taste, touch, see, and hear right now? Take “being here now” breaks several times each day.