11: Tips for Sounding Heartfelt, Warm, Compassionate, and Relatable.
One way to effectively communicate with others is to speak from the heart. This is especially important when there’s a need to empathize and deliver a truthful heartfelt message. This third of four #BodyPostureVoice micro-learning tips in the #RealTalkingTips series takes us on an emotional heart-warming journey where physicality and movements make a dramatic difference in how #communication is heard and accepted. Here are some tips for relating with others from the heart when you speak, make a presentation, record a podcast, talk on the phone, and record your voice.
Speak from the Heart
From confidant, to proud, to heartfelt. I’m voice-over and communication coach and actor, Elaine A. Clark. This third installment of the Real Talking Tips Body, Posture, and Voice series of emotional stances takes us on a heart-warming journey.
One of the challenges I assign myself as an actor is a body location for each character. If it’s confident, I choose a straight back and strong chin position. For pride, it’s the muscle strength and placement location of the shoulder blades. Heartfelt has a more obvious focus… the heart. If the character is also nurturing, I add an additional focus: one hand closer to the body as if it’s a ‘hug’ and the other hand placed on the heart.
Let’s take a moment to get warm and fuzzy.
This is a pretty amazing trick I want you to do now. Place both hands on your heart and gently press. Breath in and out slowly. After a few moments, you’ll start to feel your body calm down, relax, and center on the heart. If you are giving a speech you can do this exercise as prep before speaking. Then, keep your gestures at heart level until you want to switch gears. Then, you’ll hear your voice change as your move your hands out of the heart location. For example, I could switch from a heartfelt sound, to the chin and shoulders down for confident, and shoulder blades touching for pride.
Practice Assignment #11: SPEAKING FROM THE HEART
Record yourself reading a couple paragraphs of any written material. See if you hear a difference in your voice when you read the copy and place both hands on your heart, drop one hand, and drop the other hand from that area. Then, return both hands to the heart, keep your two thumbs on your heart but lift the fingers off, and lift your thumbs an inch away from your heart. You should hear an amazing difference in all six of those locations.
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