Vak Sadhana — The Practice of Speech
Vak is speech. Sadhana is disciplined practice.
Sankalpa
I am a great communicator. I give every person my full presence, and so people love talking with me and feel valued with me. I am charismatic, magnetic and humble. I spread only positive energy. When challenges come, they pass through me without shaking me, because Shiva within me stays steady.
The foundation: three habits for 100 days
Before anything else, I build three habits that make a person articulate. See habits.md and track them in 100-days.md.
- Think in structures, not sentences. Words are not thoughts. Build a tree of ideas first. Be clear, not clever.
- Read aloud every day to practise tone and pitch, with a 10-minute pencil warm-up. How I say it matters as much as what I say.
- Explain one idea in three different ways. Information is not knowledge. If I can't explain it simply, I don't understand it.
Every day: pick one idea, explain it 3 ways on paper (30 min), then read aloud: 10 minutes with a pencil as a warm-up, then without it (building up to 45 min in total).
Two tracks on top of the foundation
Track 1: The six communication skills. How I make people feel. See skills.md.
- Full presence
- Making people feel valued
- Clear, compelling speaking
- Charisma and magnetism
- Humility
- Positive energy and steadiness (samatva)
Track 2: English fluency. How easily the words come. See english-fluency.md.
I think in Telugu. That is not a weakness. I already understand English well. What I need is speaking practice, so the words come quickly while I talk. This track trains speed and ease, not grammar.
Files
| File | What it is |
|---|---|
habits.md |
The three habits: structure, reading aloud, explain 3 ways |
100-days.md |
The 100-day tracker for the three habits |
skills.md |
The six skills: what to learn, how to practise |
english-fluency.md |
The daily English fluency routine |
plan/ |
The 6-week plan, one file per week, with a prompt for each day |
daily-log/ |
One short entry a day |
phrases.md |
My growing bank of useful phrases |
recordings-notes.md |
What I notice when I listen to my recordings |
telugu-to-english.md |
Telugu sayings and stories I learn to tell in English |
sources/ |
Talks and transcripts this practice is built on |
The daily routine
| When | What | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Read today's prompt in this week's plan. Choose today's idea to explain. | 1 min |
| Morning or evening | Explain one idea 3 ways with pen and paper (Habit 1 + 3) | 30 min |
| Morning or evening | Read aloud: 10 min with a pencil, then without it, ending with my own explanation (Habit 2) | 20 → 45 min |
| Commute, chores | Think out loud in English: describe what I'm doing | no extra time |
| During the day | One intentional conversation using today's skill. Build the tree before I speak. | — |
| Evening | Daily log: tick 100-days.md, one conversation, one new phrase |
2 min |
| Tue and Fri | Record my idea explained from memory, and review it | 10 min |
| 2–3 times a week | Shadowing a good English speaker | 10 min |
Total: about 55 minutes at the start, growing to about 80 minutes by day 31. Minimum day: one idea one way (10 min) plus 10 minutes of reading aloud.
The 6-week cycle
| Week | Skill | File |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full presence | week-1-presence.md |
| 2 | Making people feel valued | week-2-valued.md |
| 3 | Clear, compelling speaking | week-3-speaking.md |
| 4 | Charisma and magnetism | week-4-charisma.md |
| 5 | Humility | week-5-humility.md |
| 6 | Steadiness (samatva) | week-6-steadiness.md |
After week 6, start again at week 1. The second round goes deeper, because the first round built the base. Each skill keeps growing; earlier skills don't stop when the week ends.
How I measure progress
Every 6 weeks, fill in this table.
| Cycle | Dates | Days practised (/42) | Recordings made | Phrases learned | Words per minute in my 2-min talk | One thing that improved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 |
Monthly steps:
| Month | Step | Done? |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2026 | Start the 100 days and cycle 1. Make my first 2-minute recording (my "before"). | |
| Dec 2026 | Finish cycle 1. Find a Toastmasters club (in person or online). | |
| Jan 2027 | Cycle 2. Visit Toastmasters as a guest. | |
| Feb 2027 | Day 100 of the three habits: record and compare with Day 1. Join Toastmasters. Give my first speech (the "Icebreaker"). | |
| Mar 2027 | Cycle 3. Compare a new recording with my first one. | |
| Apr 2027 | Give a second Toastmasters speech. Phrase bank at 100+. | |
| May 2027 | Cycle 4. Tell 3 Telugu stories in English to real people. | |
| Jun 2027 | Halfway review. Record a 5-minute talk. | |
| Jul 2027 | Cycle 5. Take a speaking role (lead a meeting, give a toast). | |
| Aug 2027 | Phrase bank at 200+. | |
| Sep 2027 | Cycle 6. | |
| Oct 2027 | Record a final talk. Compare with November 2026. | |
| Nov 2027 | Write next year's communication sankalpa. |
Books
- The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane (presence, warmth, power)
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo
- Captivate by Vanessa Van Edwards
- Presence by Amy Cuddy
- Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
Read 10 pages a day. One book every 3–4 weeks.