Situation guide
How to stay steady when anxiety builds in a meeting
You are twenty minutes into a meeting. The conversation has turned to your work, and you are next to speak. Your pulse is up, and you cannot step out.
“Everyone can tell I am nervous.”
Your mind is running ahead to what could go wrong, or to what words to say.
What usually fills the next minute
Most of us handle it in one of two ways:
- Trying to hide it: tightening up, speaking faster and hoping nobody notices.
- Checking out: nodding along while you stay in your head.
If it builds in the room
Pratipaksha Bhavana
Cultivating the Opposite
Silently, name what is present in one sentence: Everyone can tell I am nervous. Then find something that is also true and that you can stand behind, such as: Nobody has said a word about it.
After the meeting
Nadi Shodhana
Alternate Nostril Breathing
If you can step somewhere nobody is watching, this slow breath gives your attention a simple physical task to follow when thinking clearly feels out of reach. One to two minutes.
Also fits, opens with Your Practice
These open when you unlock Your Practice.
If it builds in the room
Prana Sakshi
Pure Breath Witnessing
For when you cannot leave and cannot be seen to do anything: watch the breath without changing it, eyes open, so nothing about how you look changes. It works while others are speaking.
After the meeting
Ujjayi
The Victorious Breath
If you have somewhere private and still feel wound up: a slow breath through the nose with a soft sound at the back of the throat, which gives an agitated mind something to follow. About two minutes.
For when you are put on the spot
Meet the Moment: When You Don’t Have the Answer
It peaks when a question lands on you and the room goes quiet.
This scenario starts with what to ask yourself before you respond: What do I know, what don’t I know, and what happens next? Then a short script to adapt, what to say if they push back, and space to write the words in your own voice.
Afterward, write how it landed. The next time you are put on the spot, you have your own notes to read instead of your memory of it.
About Dhyanved
Dhyanved helps corporate leaders build the attention and clarity that hard moments ask for.