Do movies make you fluent too???

[clark]

Does anybody else speak better after watching movies where they have strong, outgoing main characters, an uplifting story, and great conversations? I usually do better after all movies especially when I get engrossed in them? After watching "Before Sunset" with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy I was talking a lot and very fluently for hours afterwards. Does this happen to anyone else??? If this happens to others, I have a theory on why. (or maybe it's just me.)

[warrick]

Hi clark,
a very interesting question. To be honest, I have never really noticed but I can definitely see how it may help. You know how after everyone watches a rocky movie, all of a sudden they feel they can take on the world. If you emotionally bond with a strong character then you are likely to feel more confident and strong yourself, and this will come accross in your speech. You speech is likely to be more confident, you will have emotion behind your words, and you are less likely to hesitate, block and stutter. Thats my theory. What you think??

[clark]

Lately I've been reading a lot about imagery or visualization. It's basically just like all psychology, it's about changing how you see yourself, situations, and the world. This way is through imagery. How many times have you told yourself "this thing is going to go badly" and that is exactly what happens. (or vice versa) the same thing as when we "scan ahead" we are telling ourselves the exact same thing- "I am going to get stuck on this word" and sure enough we do. So the reverse must also be true-by thinking or imagining things going smoothly we could therefore be able to say things fluently.

So by watching movies, well for me anyway, you become the character by thinking like he/she does. you leave feeling like a super spy or like you just pulled off the greatest heist ever. that's why we cry in movies or feel happy, its because we become the character, so his feelings become our feelings.

imagery isn't some kind off the wall thing. you hear about golfers using it. "picture the shot" or you may have heard of "mental rehearsal". it's like giving instructions to your brain.

what you have to do is just relax and close your eyes and picture yourself the way you want to be. (create your own movie.) picture as clearly as you can what you would say if you didn't stutter and what the other person would say. include surroundings, colors, laughter, get animated with your hand gestures. Basically your "dream conversation."

I tried this myself last night and today was amazing. I'm not completely fluent, but the words seemed to "flow" easier. Before I went to sleep I lay in bed going through that day over again from start to finish except this time imagining what I would say... I was telling these amazing stories to my coworkers, people were laughing, we were having a great time, I was flirting with girls, I went out on a date with one, I told her all about the time I..., and that other time I..., and we were laughing and having a blast. Anyways you get the idea. I was having so much fun I ended up doing it for three hours, then had to convince mysef to go to sleep. At the beggining when I pictured myself speaking I had those "stuttering feelings" but after a while I just forgot about them. I think that that is the key- to swich your mind to "regular speaker" mode.

rules are- try to relax your physical body (that's why before bed is best but anytime during the day is fine). do it as often as you can. try to make your images as vivid as possible (include surroundings, clothes (or not ;) ), smells, tastes, feels.) and remember it's your fantasy so you can do and say anything you want and you can have them do and say anything you want, but be sure to include a lot of conversations saying everything you would want to say.

Honestly, after just one day I am much, much happier and my "overall" speech has improved greatly, though not perfect. I'm still trying to figure out a way to use it specifically-like mid-sentence, when those stuttering feelings do arise. But overall i'm not getting them as often. It may be too soon to tell, but so far i think it's working!

If you want me to explain more and give reasoning just ask. :)

[clark]

they say that stuttering is caused by a holding back of sorts. i think it's caused by the subconscious not wanting to say the word out of fear, fear that comes from past experiences where we did stutter and now we don't want to do it again. but consciously we really want to say the word. which creates the push/pull effect which causes us to get stuck. that's why we stutter on the same words, sounds, in similar situations, with the same people, and vice versa. but the good news is that the subconscious does not differentiate between real events and imagined events. so by imagining that speaking is a fantastic, amazing, wonderful experience we are inputing better, more empowering experiences for the subconscious to use.

[clark]

what you think about or who you imagine yourself to be dictates who you are. that's why I noticed before when my stuttering was bad, it kept getting worse and worse, like the snowball effect. It was because I was thinking about how I screwed up that situation, and how I stuttered really badly, and how embaresing it was. I know now that by doing that I was telling myself to stutter more; which is exactly what happend. In the other posts many of you say, and I agree, that it helps if you are happy. It's because we are thinking about what is going right with our lives and not what is wrong (which probably includes stuttering), which then snowballs into that confidence where we don't even think about stuttering. THINKING/ IMAGINING IS INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR BRAIN.

That's why you should never dwell on those bad experiences, instead you should fantasize about how things should've gone. and do it every chance you get. what we have to do is retrain our brain to think that there is no stutter and we are "just talking".

I think that's also why some techniques, pills or devices work for some and not for others. It's because we either believe or don't believe that they will work. and sure enough that's what happens. since stuttering is all in our heads i've been thinking all along that what we need is a really good placebo... and this is it.

Just make sure that in your images you don't have those "stutering feelings" when you talk. otherwise you're just doing the same thing you've always done. it might take awhile but sooner or later you get to the point where you're just thinking about what you're saying and not how you're saying it. it's usually in hindsight- "hey i just said that without stuttering". the longer you stay in that "just talking" mode the better, because it's retraining your brain to think that way all the time.

[happy7117]

that it helps if you are happy

It helps if you are me, eh!?