Your Voice Reveals Everything, Master it and Transform Your Influence
- Brainz Magazine
- Dec 3
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 8
Vikki St Leger is a highly respected Vocal Coach and Mentor, renowned for her expertise, extensive knowledge and unique style. She has coached a diverse range of clients including Olympic Medalists, Royal Choreographers and winners of prestigious TV shows such as The Voice Uk, BGT and The XFactor.
Most people think confidence lives in the words they speak, yet it lives in the body long before the voice ever opens, in the breath, the posture, and the hidden micro-signals that tell an entire room what you truly believe about yourself before you have even said hello.
The silent epidemic in boardrooms and conference halls
Performance nerves are not limited to stages or music studios, they show up everywhere people feel exposed, from boardrooms to team meetings, conferences to client pitches, and interviews to virtual calls. And the moment the attention turns to you, your body begins speaking its own language.
As a voice coach who has trained performers, executives, consultant surgeons, and high-achievers, I see the same pattern daily, the voice gives you away before your mind even catches up. It exposes fear in the smallest crack of tone, it broadcasts confidence the moment your breath deepens and your posture settles. Your voice tells the truth long before your words finish.
And people feel it,in your tone, your rhythm, your expression, and the micro-gestures you do not realise you are making. Performance anxiety is not about competence, it cuts across all levels of seniority and personality types, and it impacts people who are exceptional at what they do yet suddenly feel stripped bare when they have to speak.
Why performance nerves hit harder than you expect
Speaking is exposure, the kind of exposure that makes the nervous system react as if something important is at stake because it is. Your reputation, your credibility, your place in the hierarchy, and your sense of belonging are all being quietly evaluated. The brain interprets scrutiny as potential danger, and the body responds instantly, firing adrenaline, tightening the throat, lifting the breath, interrupting thought, and giving the inner critic a microphone. This is not weakness, this is biology, and you cannot out-think a body that believes you may be unsafe.
The root cause nobody mentions
Performance anxiety is rarely about the material itself, it is about the fear of losing control, control over your breath, control over your voice, control over your face, control over your gestures, and control over how you assume others are reading you. The moment that internal grip loosens, even slightly, the body contracts. Gestures shrink, the face tightens, the voice compresses, and the posture retreats. People sense this shift long before they consciously register your words.
What happens when your voice shakes
Your voice is directly connected to your nervous system, and when the nervous system enters a defensive state, the voice follows. It becomes thinner or tighter, breathy or rushed. The breath rises, the jaw stiffens, the hands lose fluidity, and the posture folds inward. Human beings are hardwired to read these signs in each other, a flicker around the eyes, a twitch at the corner of the mouth, a shallow inhale, a frozen moment in the breath, or a lifted shoulder that betrays tension. These cues are not analysed consciously, they are felt.
And they shape how your message lands. If your body retreats, your message retreats with it. But when your body stands firm, your message carries weight, clarity, and presence. This is embodiment, your physical state shapes your delivery, and your delivery shapes how the world responds to you.
The vicious cycle
Most people prepare obsessively for what they want to say, but forget to prepare themselves. They practise scripts without preparing their breath, their voice, their presence, or their internal state. Then, when the pressure rises, the body reveals everything it hoped to hide, and the performance unravels, not because the content was wrong, but because the state delivering it was not steady enough to hold it.
Self-belief: The element that changes everything
Self-belief is not optional when you are communicating under pressure. It is the foundation that holds the entire delivery together. As a voice coach, I can hear self-doubt instantly, it sits between the words, in the split-second pauses, in the slight tightening of tone, and in the breath that catches at the wrong moment. Audiences feel it in your eyes, your hands, and your smallest hesitation. One intrusive thought, such as “Am I doing this right?”, “They can hear my nerves,” or “I am not delivering this well enough,” can shift your entire physiology. The tone tightens, the face hardens, the gestures lose purpose, and your message softens.
This is why I train performers to suspend doubt, to step out of the fearful self, and into a steadier identity, allowing the body to lead the mind into a confident state. When self-belief deepens, the voice changes, the breath drops, the gestures stabilise, and the presence grows. Conviction is not a personality trait, it is a trained physiological state.
Embodying the performer: Stepping into absolute conviction
When my clients step onto a stage, whether that stage is a conference hall, a boardroom, a virtual call, or a theatre, they leave the non-performing part of themselves behind. They step out of the version of themselves that doubts, hesitates, or questions, and they step into a state of total embodiment. Their body becomes the message. Their gestures carry intention. Their micro-gestures speak certainty. Their voice holds strength and conviction. They suspend self-doubt in the same way a performer steps into a role, except this role is not a disguise, it is the fullest, fiercest, clearest version of who they truly are. When that state clicks into place, their delivery hits the listener right between the ears and the eyes because conviction is felt before it is heard, and when someone speaks from embodied self-belief, the whole room leans in.
The fix: Rewiring your performance response
These methods work because they train the nervous system, the voice, and the embodied state simultaneously, allowing you to deliver with steadiness, authenticity, and real authority.
Break the adrenaline loop: Slow your breath intentionally, inhale for four, exhale for eight, allowing the exhale to soften your physiology and settle the system. The jaw loosens, the shoulders drop, the voice steadies, and the internal tension begins to melt.
Reclaim your voice physically: Relax the jaw. Drop the shoulders. Let the breath sink lower. As the breath deepens, the tone becomes richer, the rhythm steadier, and the delivery more grounded.
Anchor confidence: Touch your thumb and forefinger together while recalling a moment of real strength, training your body to associate that gesture with power and calm. Then, use it discreetly to stabilise your state before speaking.
Replace the old script: Speak clearly to your nervous system, "I am safe. I can do this. I belong here." These are not affirmations, they are instructions.
Neutralise the inner critic: When the familiar inner voice appears, respond internally with “Thank you, but I have got this,” cutting the spiral before it takes hold and returning your focus to the moment.
Use directed imagery: Visualise yourself speaking with clarity and presence. The body rehearses what the mind imagines, grounding you long before you enter the room.
Deep trance identification: Step into exceptional performance
Choose someone whose presence you admire. Observe how they breathe, move, hold themselves, and use their voice, then step into their identity in your imagination and borrow their steadiness, certainty, and command. Anchor it by touching your thumb and forefinger together so your body remembers the state. DTI works. One of my clients, stuck earning low fees for years, stepped into the identity of someone who commands high-value work after a single session. Days later, he landed a £25,000 job for an afternoon’s work. That is the power of embodied identity.
Final thought: Your voice is your advantage
Your voice is one of the most powerful psychological tools you possess. Your body amplifies it, your micro-gestures reveal it, and your presence shapes it. Train your breath, your voice, your body, and your internal state, and you transform your influence from the inside out.
Call to action
If you want to transform your voice, your presence, and your internal state so you can speak with real conviction and powerful influence, connect with me.
Read more from Vikki St Leger
Vikki St Leger, Voice Coach & Transformational Mentor
Renowned Vocal Coach and Transformational Mentor, Vikki St Leger has spent over 35 years empowering thousands of individuals, including Olympic Medalists and clients who have had the honor of working on high profile events such as The Kings Coronation, The Queen's Jubilee and the opening and closing ceromonies of The Olympic Games. Her impressive expertise has also led her to coach the winner of The Voice Uk and contestants on BGT and The XFactor. Vikki has been personally recruited by two of the music industry's most esteemed music mangers and industry leaders to provide exclusive coaching services.
