What if You Are Shy? Does Toastmasters Work?

I am naturally a fairly reserved person-- quite introverted (meaning, my expert friend told me, that I have lots of internal stuff going on and too much external stuff coming in can be 'overload')and I think I could describe myself as "shy" in many situations. As I have gotten older, I find that it is becoming easier to let go of some of the "false" personality traits, such as a kind of forced gregariousness that I used to wear at parties in my youth. My mother was a 'talker'-- in fact, she was one of those people who could talk non-stop for hours. I am not. I like a good conversation, but mostly I enjoy listening. However, many times in my life it has been important for me to summon up my confidence and get up and speak in front of others. Doing some acting at school was helpful (I was told I was quite good, which built my confidence) but as a middle-aged adult, joining Toastmasters and using the energy psychology or meridian tapping technique called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) was VERY helpful in allowing me to present in front of groups (or even just to 'speak up' in group situations about things I felt strongly about). The video clip that follows shows EFT Master Sandy Radomski talking about how even she had to overcome a fear of public speaking.

Getting a Voice and Feeling Acceptance with EFT

In one of my Toastmasters' meetings there was a fellow who 'dragged' himself to the meeting because his daughter was getting married in the summer and he was terrified of getting up at the wedding and speaking in front of the wedding guests. At the end of the meeting he was very shiny (sweating profusely) and shared with me that he could just not "imagine" himself speaking out in the TM meeting and just could not come back. I offered him information about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and am assuming that he might have looked into that. What interested me was that this fellow was a successful realtor-- he was fine working one-on-one, but saw 'public speaking' as a fate worse than death (we have all heard of that). Take a look at this clip of a fellow who is getting under his fears to 'the suppressed thing' that prevents him from feeling confident and whole: