Speakers: Deb Blum
What were you struggling with before you found Lauri?
Deb Blum: So before I started working with Lauri, I was feeling a sense of like an inner calling that I wanted to share a message, but I wasn't quite sure what the message was and I was feeling some maybe fear and hesitation about sharing and it felt like it was really bold for me. Like it was something that I hadn't been sharing before and it felt a little bit vulnerable. I also didn't want to share in the way that I maybe would naturally share from, which is maybe a little bit more guarded and where I would talk about things from a less personal perspective, maybe I would have shared from um the facts and the information. But I was really wanting to emotionally connect with my audience and I was hoping that Lauri would be able to teach me how to do a better job of that.
What surprised you about the experience?
Deb Blum: How much I enjoyed being in a group. When I really thought that the group was not gonna be good for me. I really thought I wanted one on one because I was intimidated by the idea of talking in front of a group, which is kind of a little bit funny, right? Because if the goal is to be able to speak in front of other people, it's probably a good idea to learn how to group, to speak in a small group.
How would you describe Lauri's work?
Deb Blum: I think one word I would use would be presence because that's kind of what the program is about is getting really present with ourselves, present with the audience, present with our message, present with our bodies, our breath definitely presence. Perhaps something like personalized. I felt like Lauri was able to meet each one of us where we were rather than just imposing a 123 steps kind of thing. This is what you need to do and this is how we all are gonna practice it over and over again. Not only did she seek to extract from us our own unique magic, our own unique medicine or message, she also gave us each unique feedback. So the feedback was based on what we needed, which sounds obvious. But I have worked with people that aren't able to do that, that just have, they were kind of prescribed things that they're having people work on and everyone's working on the same thing. At the same time, I definitely didn't feel that way.
What makes Lauri's work unique?
Deb Blum: It definitely feels different from the kind of public speaking coaching that I got when I was younger where it was a little bit more, maybe masculine, maybe a little more like get up there armor up and be a good public speaker versus getting up having the ability to get centered, to know how to use the breath, to be aware of what's going on, to have a greater capacity to be able to hold the room, to be able to be able to stay present with myself and to be able to then speak my message from that place of authenticity. That seems so different and so much more whole.
How did Lauri help you?
Deb Blum: One thing I loved about Lauri is she held really amazing space like she was able to hold the space for the parts of me that were afraid and that felt shy. But I also sort of called forth the truth and a full expression of what I was trying to say and created a lot of space for that.
