Deep Breathing

 The textbook "Business Communication: Process and Product" mentions that every individual who faces something challenging reacts using the famous fight-or-flight response. In case you don't know what this response does, it is the driving force behind bodily reactions including an elevated heart rate and butterflies in your stomach. These are the reactions that are often associated with stage fright. One of the best ways to calm your fight-or-flight symptoms is to do some deep breathing.

 If a person becomes stressed or frightened, as they often would if they are stage fright, you should be able to notice that they like to hold their breath a lot. Another tendency is to also take short, quick breaths. These are the things that make their adrenaline start to rush and go into over drive very quickly. But, when the source of the stress is taken care of, a giant deep breath or “sigh of relief” is let out and this returns the body to a normal state again. This goes to prove how important deep breathing is when trying to avoid stage fright.

 Breathing deeply is such an easy task to manage. It will keep the body calm under pressure and will help avoid spiking adrenaline and making you more nervous than you need to be. There are a few steps that can be taken to take deep breaths easily. These steps should help get you on your way to avoiding stage fright:

1. Take a huge breath in through your nose
2. Hold it for at least 5 - 10 seconds
3. Exhale through your mouth slowly

 So, did you actually try doing it? If not, you should try it, it will really help calm you down when you are nervous.

 Deep breathing is a great technique that does not take up too much time. It is an easy yet effective way of controlling your body’s reactions and ensuring that you do not become too overwhelmed or stressed with your presentations. Overall, deep breathing is a great way to control and avoid stage fright. 

 If you are looking for even more deep breathing techniques, I suggest you take a look at this site:
Deep Breathing Exercises

Sources:
http://www.chinese-holistic-health-exercises.com/anxiety-breathing-techniques.html 

Business Communication: Process and Product Textbook