Withness Speaking

Effective communication is more than just words—it's about presence, body language, and engaging authentically with your audience. Withness Speaking is a unique approach to help professionals feel more confident and connected when speaking.

Feedback

This feedback method, developed in New York over 30 years ago, focuses on group input without being personal or advice-driven. It eliminates unnecessary tension, offering clear insights to help teams move forward productively.

Emotional Intelligence & Empathy

Emotional intelligence and somatic awareness help leaders recognize and manage their own emotions, while fostering empathy and resilience within their teams.

Team Flow Dynamics

Through embodied, practical activities supported by neuroscience, teams can improve communication, collaboration, and trust, paving the way for enhanced creativity and innovative problem-solving. These exercises help teams recognize their individual strengths and work more efficiently together, allowing them to move forward with flow.

Stress Management & Resilience

Can you manage stress and avoid burnout? Practical techniques like mindfulness, somatic exercises, and breath awareness help you stay grounded and resilient, better handling the pressures of a fast-paced work environment.

Inclusivity & Diversity

Embracing the diversity of human experience is essential for true inclusivity in leadership, as it allows teams to recognize and value the unique strengths and perspectives each individual brings. 83% of Gen Z consider an employer's commitment to inclusivity and diversity important.

There are no interacting minds or brains, but only interacting bodies and persons.- M. Johnson

More details of each topic

Emotional Intelligence & Empathy

Extensive studies from Google and Harvard have found that SOFT SKILLS are the 7 out of 8 top skills needed for success. But it is just assumed we know how to be socially sensitive and create a work space of psychological safety. Soft skills need to be learned and practiced! "We don't change just because we understand something, we change when we put our understanding to use." - Walt Odets.

Strengthening Non-verbal Communication

• How: Through somatic exercises, teams will improve their ability to communicate non-verbally and read between the lines in interactions.

• Outcome: These practices foster greater understanding how their body holds emotions that can help them be more in control of what they want to communicate.

Group Intelligence in Team Dynamics

• How: Through activities like partner breathing, group mapping, and exercises that emphasize listening beyond words, participants will explore group dynamics.

• Outcome: Teams will develop stronger interpersonal trust and a clearer understanding of group roles, leading to better collaboration and a more harmonious team dynamic.

Enhancing Emotional Awareness

• How: Through experiential activities that highlight emotional awareness, participants will learn to recognize and understand their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others and how that influences their interactions.

• Outcome: Teams will cultivate empathy, leading to deeper understanding and stronger, more compassionate team relationships.

Withness Speaking

Public Speaking as an Embodied Skill
Most business training focuses on technical aspects like structuring speeches or rehearsing. However, true confidence comes from integrating mind and body. Drawing on a background in performance, movement, and a PhD in communication, I teach leaders and teams how to use their voice, body, and mind to deliver clear, powerful messages that resonate. I understand the subtleties of how bodily movement affects voice, presence, and connection with an audience. This provides an edge over traditional methods because it's about authentic engagement, not just performance.

Whether it's a manager delivering feedback, someone presenting at a conference, or a team member sharing ideas in a meeting, speaking with presence impacts how messages are received and understood. Understanding the concept of contextual awareness—recognizing how space, audience, and intention impact delivery, my training helps business professionals build authentic connections and communicate with ease, even in high-pressure environments.

This Approach:

• Combines performance skills with cognitive science and movement to offer a unique, embodied solution to public speaking issues.

• Offers personalized coaching to help individuals move past nerves and find their authentic voice.

• Focuses not just on what people say, but on how they inhabit their body and space while saying it.

This translates to:

• Authentic leadership: Leaders who are fully present and connected with their team.

• More effective presentations: Business professionals who engage their audience rather than merely speaking at them.

• Confidence under pressure: Techniques to maintain composure and presence, even in high-stress situations like client pitches or executive meetings.

What you'll learn:

• Embodied Confidence: Techniques to feel grounded and present in front of any audience.

• Body Language Mastery: How to use posture, gestures, and movement to reinforce your message.

• Voice & Breath Control: Practical exercises to project your voice confidently and manage anxiety.

• Context Sensitivity: Understanding how to adapt your speaking style to different environments and audiences.

• Building Rapport: Learn how to engage with your audience or team through eye contact and presence.

Feedback

In this feedback approach, I focus on peer-to-peer communication rather than traditional top-down or upward feedback. Drawing from methods used in the arts and Nonviolent Communication, this process isn’t about critiquing behavior but about how we talk about the work itself. By focusing on the material—whether it's a report, project, or presentation—assumptions and misunderstandings are minimized, creating a clearer path for improvement. This method empowers the individual to take responsibility for how they choose to adapt, fostering autonomy and growth, making it a powerful tool not just for creative projects but for any professional environment. In turn, when a culture has a safe way of communicating with each other, then these methods can be used in interpersonal situations.

• Peer-to-peer feedback that avoids hierarchical dynamics.

• Encourages participants to speak about the work itself, fostering clarity and avoiding misunderstandings or assumptions. Focus is placed on information that is tangible and useful.

• Empowers individuals to take responsibility for implementing changes.

• Ideal for fostering open, non-judgmental dialogue. By revealing how a person sees, one's values and goals are expressed.

• This method helps people hear and give honest, critical feedback without being reactive or defensive.

• The method provides tools so participants learn to be accountable for what they do and say.

• By only speaking to what is presented, this method encourages critical thinking and unbiased reflection.

• The result is improved communication and clear next steps to take so one can keep working immediately.

Why this method:

Team Flow Dynamics

Movement is the first building block of anything. Ideas don't do anything on their own unless movement gets involved.

Neuroscience shows us that empathy and metaphor are critical for effective communication within teams. When individuals and teams lack empathy and communicate poorly with each other or across departments, business suffers and innovation stops. Empathy and metaphor exercises allow team development to be accelerated and enhanced. My approach focuses on exercises that strengthen abstract thinking within groups, which increases creativity and at the same time develop tools for team relationships.

Think in New Directions

Thinking on Your Feet

Creative tasks that strengthen abstract and collaborative thinking provide tools to help one recognize and express their thought process which result in innovation & better leadership. Trust, listening skills and confidence are strengthened by using metaphor to work with your team more efficiently. Metaphoric thinking helps keep teams reaching towards the same goal because they understand each other better.

Research also reveals that specific areas of the brain influence our ability to empathize and build relationships, which can be enhanced through creative, non-competitive exercises. These activities encourage individuals to discover their strengths and weaknesses, while reducing stress to improve cognitive function and collaboration. When the body is at ease, people are more open to others and can work more effectively as a team. By incorporating these principles, teams can achieve stronger cohesion and more innovative, non-linear thinking.

Stress Management & Resilience

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." -Viktor E. Frankl.

In today's fast-paced work environment, stress is inevitable, but building resilience can make all the difference. By becoming more aware of physical and emotional stress signals, employees can develop strategies to remain calm, focused, and grounded, even under pressure. Simple techniques like somatic awareness, breath control, and mindfulness exercises are effective tools for managing stress and enhancing resilience.

• Body Awareness and Grounding: Techniques to help reconnect with physical sensations and remain present during stressful situations.

• Tension Release and Relaxation: Simple movements and self-massage methods to reduce muscle tension, particularly from sitting or working at a desk.

• Mind-Body Connection: Understanding how physical posture and movement impact emotional and mental well-being.

• Breath Control for Stress Relief: Practical breathwork exercises to calm the nervous system and improve focus.

• Embodied Resilience: Learning how to build resilience by integrating physical awareness with emotional regulation strategies.

What you'll learn:

Inclusivity and Diversity

Recognizing the diversity of human experience means embracing the reality that there is no "normal." True inclusivity in leadership is about working with the differences each person brings, not against them. It’s not just about fitting certain groups into a box, but about creating environments where everyone can contribute and grow. I believe that when we stop holding ourselves to rigid standards of sameness and accept the dynamic nature of our lives—our flow—we unlock more space for creativity, empathy, and collaboration. Whether someone is neurodiverse (or as I like to say, neurospicy), part of the LGBTQ+ community, or living with a temporary, unseen, or chronic disability, each person’s experience adds depth and nuance to the way teams operate. Often we don’t always know what different resources we need or can offer because there aren’t often opportunities to speak openly.

• Empathy Mapping for Diverse Perspectives: Guiding teams to recognize and appreciate the unique challenges faced by individuals, especially regarding unseen disabilities and minority stress, while fostering a culture of support and understanding.

• Flow as a Measure of Agency: Investigating how flow transcends mere mental states, highlighting the diverse ways various groups experience and exercise their agency, and identifying strategies to eliminate barriers that hinder their flow.

• Inclusive Communication Strategies: Equipping teams with the skills to practice nonjudgmental, inclusive communication, enabling them to embrace their diversity and strengthen connections through mutual understanding.

Why work with me?

What do I offer?

With a PhD in Embodied Commuincation and over 25 years of experience as a performing artist and movement expert, I bring a unique perspective to leadership and team dynamics also pulling from my work as a somatic therapist. My approach blends the science of communication with embodied practices, helping leaders and teams unlock their full potential by connecting mind, body, and emotions. Having developed my methods through both artistic and academic paths, I offer a fresh take on soft skills training, drawing on techniques that support neurodiversity and inclusivity. My workshops are designed to be deeply practical, rooted in real-world applications like stress management, communication, and emotional intelligence, while also fostering a sense of flow and connection. Whether working one-on-one or engaging entire teams, I believe in viewing a company as a living, breathing entity, and I tailor my offerings to create healthier, more resilient work environments.

Executive Flow Shaped Leadership

• Tailored 1-1 sessions designed for leaders and executives to enhance personal effectiveness, decision-making, and leadership presence using somatic practices. This is to solely work with the team leaders and strengthen potential skills that will support them as a leader.

Team Flow Dynamics

• Workshops and programs aimed at improving team synergy, communication, and collaboration through movement-based activities and inclusive practices.

  this is where I work with a larger group, viewing the team as an entity and how all the parts working together can be improved. Withness speaking, feedback methods, creative embodied practices and personal 1-1 can be combined to strengthen specific needs of the group.

Stress & Resilience Training

• Training sessions focused on overall mental health and stress management, incorporating mindfulness, somatic techniques, and resilience-building strategies to promote well-being in the workplace. Our thoughts are embodied, so understanding where we hold tension and learning ways to bring awareness to all aspects of our body can significantly enhance our overall well-being.

Each team is different, because each person is different. Using the 6 themes presented here, they can be combined and implemented to meet the needs of each company, team, or manager. It might be best that I work with your whole team, or perhaps you are attracted to one specific aspect and are looking for support as the team leader. I believe developing a plan to fit your needs is the most useful—and I am happy to discuss the possibilities.

Price: upon request

Email me at the address listed on the contact page for a free chat to discuss the team size and goals.

Testimonials

"Michael was able to contribute with a really skilled facilitation. A lot of times the questions he would ask, the contributions he would make would stimulate new ideas and conversation. I was really impressed with his ability to sense the needs of the group and determine when to provoke it and when to support it. I think that's a very difficult thing to achieve."

Christopher Morgan—Program Director Dance OMI

"Michael seamlessly marries research and practice."

Jennifer Edwards— Facilitator, Educator, CEO JenEd.

"Michael set up the experience through a series of exercises that I found very well thought out. It created for me a deep cognitive and physical experience, that was satisfying for a one time workshop but also intrigued me for a long-term type of practice."

Stephanie Miracle—Independent Artist, Teacher

"I really enjoyed it and found it very useful!"

Didi Kerkhofs—Community Manager/ MindSpace

"It was uplifting to connect with my senses and think about different actions and what they could communicate or what energy they give off. I learned a lot and Mike is very calm and engaging which also creates a comfortable and trusting environment."

Helga Simixhiu—Community Manager/ MindSpace Berlin

"The thing that struck me the most about Mike's feedback workshop was his attention to detail and the way he held the space, so it was an open space for talking about work and a real attention to how language was used. Through this attention, it allowed for an opening."

Elizabeth Ward—Independent Artist