Costal Breathing - McGuire Programme?

[Maverick]

Anyone knows how to do the costal breathing technique used by the McGuire Programme?

[YouWhat7]

HI,

Take fast and full breaths, using your exterior intercostal muscles to expand your chest.

There is a convoluted theory behind it. Basically it's a trick that works for a while.

Wesley.

[Aesop]

Do you mean we just breath using our upper chest?

Are we supposed to breath like that always or only breath this way when we speak?

What's exterior intercostal muscles?

What's the convoluted theory you mentioned?

Thanks.

[TenaciousD]

I actually attended a Mcguire program course a little while ago. And They have a whole list of practical techniques that your taught to use while speaking. The primary technique is the Costal breath( the costal breath is a deep breath in which you inhale rapidly). Its very easy to perform. Although throughout the day they can become tiring. Its basically the oposite of deep slow breathing used in meditation. Your taught to breathe the way an opera singer breathes before belting out a note. Somehow this way of breathing does seem to help some with stuttering. Your encouraged to use it at all times ( even when your not speaking). But not on every breath ( every few breaths or so). But in difficult speaking situations you would use it basically on every breath to help you get through the situation. The techniques that they teach doesn't cure your stuttering. But they do help alleviate the severity and craziness that wreckless unstructured stuttering speech causes. They give you practical tools to work with and a really good support group ( to help you stay focused and motivated to further increase your speech fluency).------- I actually stop using the costal breath technique a few months after I went through the program. The costal breath helped me alot with mild blocks... but it didn't help me that much with severe blocks. So Im back to continuing my own research( trying to find techniques/ medication to help me with severe blocks )

[Adrian]

I am also a McGuire grad. Costal breathing is a very good tool, but it is just a tool and it is not a cure. I am a big supporter of the program, but I agree with much of what TenaciousD says. Keeping it up takes an almost obsessive amount of dedication and effort. I know some people have had tremendous success long term, but many (perhaps most) tend to drift back into thier old speaking patterns after some time. I'm not knocking them, most people have other priorities and focusing on your speech every waking hour is difficult to do long term.

I would still recommend the program. But I would caution those who are not willing to make it a top priority in thier lives.

[TenaciousD]

If only an obsessive dedication to the costal breath/Mgr.prgrm. checklist was needed to obtain long term fluency I would of continued with the program. Im a very hard worker. But like I said before, the technique works great for mild blocks.... but when I'de experience a severe block( in spite of using the costal breath technique perfectly) I would still stutter. So during this severe block I would have to resort to the hit and hold technique in order to slide past the block. The hit and hold technique is a form of controlled voluntary stuttering in which you perform, until the block that your experiencing dissipates, and your then able to proceed to your next word. This is one of the techniques they teach in the Maguire program. Knowing this combination of the costal breath and the hit and hold technique is better than not knowing of it ( in my opinion ). But when experiencing severe blocks your speech is still completly shaped by length of time it takes for the involuntary block to dissipate- ( While performing a hit and hold ).
On occassion - Ive had to perform a hit and hold for up to 3 to 5 seconds until the block would finally dissipate. Now this is better than some of my crazy blocks that Ive had before knowing this technique, but it still can destroy a conversation---- especially if you have several severe blocks in a row. The other main technique that they teach as part of the Maguire program is the block release (when you start to stutter-- you exhale all of your air-- perform a costal breath-- and start the word over again). Again this technique works great for mild blocks, but when experiencing a severe block I've had to perform 4 to 5 block releases in a row... which is very time consuming. This also can obviously destroy a conversation.

[Adrian]

If only an obsessive dedication to the costal breath/Mgr.prgrm. checklist was needed to obtain long term fluency I would of continued with the program. Im a very hard worker. But like I said before, the technique works great for mild blocks.... but when I'de experience a severe block( in spite of using the costal breath technique perfectly) I would still stutter. So during this severe block I would have to resort to the hit and hold technique in order to slide past the block. The hit and hold technique is a form of controlled voluntary stuttering in which you perform, until the block that your experiencing dissipates, and your then able to proceed to your next word. This is one of the techniques they teach in the Maguire program. Knowing this combination of the costal breath and the hit and hold technique is better than not knowing of it ( in my opinion ). But when experiencing severe blocks your speech is still completly shaped by length of time it takes for the involuntary block to dissipate- ( While performing a hit and hold ).
On occassion - Ive had to perform a hit and hold for up to 3 to 5 seconds until the block would finally dissipate. Now this is better than some of my crazy blocks that Ive had before knowing this technique, but it still can destroy a conversation---- especially if you have several severe blocks in a row. The other main technique that they teach as part of the Maguire program is the block release (when you start to stutter-- you exhale all of your air-- perform a costal breath-- and start the word over again). Again this technique works great for mild blocks, but when experiencing a severe block I've had to perform 4 to 5 block releases in a row... which is very time consuming. This also can obviously destroy a conversation.

Tenacious, I agree. As I said these techniques are tools not cures. No technique is completely bullet proof or works for everyone. This is true of Costal Breathing, Fluency Shaping, Schwartz/Greenstein, or any other technique. Anyone who tells you otherwise does not know what they are talking bout.

[TenaciousD]

No technique is completely bullet proof or works for everyone. This is true of Costal Breathing, Fluency Shaping, Schwartz/Greenstein, or any other technique. Anyone who tells you otherwise does not know what they are talking bout.


I completely agree. Right now Im just searching for something that will work better for me.
But I will say that even though I don't use the tools taught by the Mcquire program I would deffinately recommend it to others. The support group alone is almost worth the initial fee for the course. Im glad that I went through the program.

Oh and Adrian.... which course did you go on (Year/ city)