Most simple advice to prevent stuttering.

[Stutter]

Relax stomach and speak when exhaling.

[Violinia]

There's some very simple advice there: relax your stomach and speak when exhaling. This is what non-stutterers do and pretty much what stutterers don't do. It's what I suddenly realised I needed to do on the day I overcame my stuttering.

So why's there so little interest in this topic?

Have people here tried it and found it not to work for them?

Violinia

[velvet]

Sometimes my husband tries it. It's a very good thing to do when they are 'blocked' at times.

Violinia, you have overcome it? Do you still stutter occassionally? Or stuttering to you is history?

:)

[zation]

There's some very simple advice there: relax your stomach and speak when exhaling. This is what non-stutterers do and pretty much what stutterers don't do. It's what I suddenly realised I needed to do on the day I overcame my stuttering.

So why's there so little interest in this topic?

Have people here tried it and found it not to work for them?

Violinia

I do relax and inhale/exhale.
But when my words get blocked, it's blocked.
With my mouth open in mid-air, i am really embarrassed.

When my words get blocked, what is the immediate next thing i need go do? Relax? Inhale/Exhale?

I tried that. But when i try to speak again, it's blocked.

Am i missing something out?

[Sulligogs]

Hi everyone.

No zation, you are not the only one.

I last went to a speech therapist some years ago and whilst the advice was mainly on the physically manipulative it meant nothing when I was having "a bad day".

On a bad day all system are shut down, it seems. The advice I had received just would not work. I was told to breath from the stomach and not from chest. By all means, my breathing was probably more proper, but those damned words would still sound like an unheard foreign language to other people around me.

[Violinia]

Hi

Yes I'm a former stutterer and have been told by stutterers I've spoken to recently on the phone that I sound completely fluent. People I've met since the stutter went don't believe I ever had one, even though I stuttered for 20+ years (6-26 or so).

I do occasionally hesitate but very minimally and am happy to teach large groups (jazz) and speak out in front of large numbers of people, something I never imagined being able to do!

So yes, I can say I've overcome it.

Violinia

[Sulligogs]

Fair play to you, Violinia.

My stutter has improved, but I think that's through tolerance and experience.

[carewendy]

Violinia, that's a good news to hear! And very encouraging to any stutters out there!

Sulligogs, i agree with you. Tolerance and experience. I am frustrated with myself many of times. But i learn to accept it and through experience, i think i might have improve too, if not slightly.

[DonR]

Hi

Yes I'm a former stutterer and have been told by stutterers I've spoken to recently on the phone that I sound completely fluent. People I've met since the stutter went don't believe I ever had one, even though I stuttered for 20+ years (6-26 or so).

I do occasionally hesitate but very minimally and am happy to teach large groups (jazz) and speak out in front of large numbers of people, something I never imagined being able to do!

So yes, I can say I've overcome it.

Violinia

I would guess that what you have overcome is your fear of stuttering and that your method of breathing is just a small part of it. Certainly having enough air flowing is essential, but if one becomes tense, that will easily block. I know how you feel about having found the answer you your problem, you can't understand why other suffers don't rush to follow suit. I often feel the same having used self-hypnisis to get rid of mine. That was many years ago (I'm 73 now) and I vowed to spend the rest of my life helping others to release themselves for this terrible affliction. Alas, nobody wanted to know :mad:

[Violinia]

I just read your post about nobody wanting to know about how you cured yourself of stuttering. This is a strange phenomenon for sure and although I have certainly encountered some interest, and some of the people I've recently been in contact with are now practising the method and enjoying very positive results, the majority don't seem too interested.

Thinking back, though, I think I can understand why. Imagine you're still a stutterer struggling away daily. Somebody says "I cure myself with this and it can help you too!" What do you fear? Failure. You might well think, well, it worked for them but what if it doesn't work for me? I'll feel even worse if I pin all my hopes on it and it doesn't work, or I can't do it.

So you'd ignore them, or thank them politely for their offer but decline it. You might even find it patronising, and hope they'd just go away. And unless you met dozens of stutterers who'd tried this method and it had worked for them, you'd
be unlikely to believe their cure was anything more than a fluke.

Incidentally, have you ever managed to help anyone with the method that worked for you? Did you ever set up any workshops? If so, did you charge or were you happy to give it away for free?

All the best

Violinia

[DonR]

I just read your post about nobody wanting to know about how you cured yourself of stuttering. This is a strange phenomenon for sure and although I have certainly encountered some interest, and some of the people I've recently been in contact with are now practising the method and enjoying very positive results, the majority don't seem too interested.

Thinking back, though, I think I can understand why. Imagine you're still a stutterer struggling away daily. Somebody says "I cure myself with this and it can help you too!" What do you fear? Failure. You might well think, well, it worked for them but what if it doesn't work for me? I'll feel even worse if I pin all my hopes on it and it doesn't work, or I can't do it.

So you'd ignore them, or thank them politely for their offer but decline it. You might even find it patronising, and hope they'd just go away. And unless you met dozens of stutterers who'd tried this method and it had worked for them, you'd
be unlikely to believe their cure was anything more than a fluke.

Incidentally, have you ever managed to help anyone with the method that worked for you? Did you ever set up any workshops? If so, did you charge or were you happy to give it away for free?

All the best

Violinia

I posted to the newsgroup alt.support.stuttering some time ago and as a result received a number of e-mails asking for more details, which I freely gave.


Don.

[Vermillion]

Deleted[[[

[DonR]

I would love to know how to got rid of your fears of stuttering. Reply or respond back to neil_c5@hotmail.com. Thanks.

I did it with a combination of relaxation and breathing exercises, and improved on my pronunciation. I also used self hypnosis to convince myself that I could be fluent under all circumstances. I had already proved this because there were many circumstances under which I could speak without a stutter or stammer.

Before I go into any further detail, perhaps you would tell me more about yourself and your problem. I did write all this down, some 20 years ago, to try to help fellow sufferers, but it needs bringing up to date. I think the mention of 'hypnosis' frightens many people off, thanks the stage acts that have given it a bad name. In fact it's little more than achieving a state like, when daydreaming, one is completely relaxed and working within one's sub-conscience mind.

DonR

[alikhan84]

I am new hear ,
and in dire need of anyone's help ,advice on this problem.
i am a student , and this problem is affecting my studies very much.
vermillion or DONR anyone who can help me plz contact me on my email address
arbab_ali1@hotmail.com

[DonR]

I am new hear ,
and in dire need of anyone's help ,advice on this problem.
i am a student , and this problem is affecting my studies very much.
vermillion or DONR anyone who can help me plz contact me on my email address
arbab_ali1@hotmail.com

The whole point of Forums is that we dicuss these things here, not by e-mail. You haven't even said what your problem is. Give some details and I'm sure help will be forthcoming :)

DonR

[alikhan84]

SOrry DonR.
As i am new here i don;t know much about all this.
As u asked about my problems, I am a stutterer .
i developed this habbit accidently ,i think about 6 years back. Ever since then i struggled with it.As time passes on struggle with more and more words.
I think about a word in my mind and start to say in my
thoughts and i stutter and then in the real speech i have the same problem.I developed this habbit(thinking of words in thoughts) about 2-3 months ago.
Secondly i didn;t stuck with words.Now, due to the fear when i start conversation i just forget what i am saying or mix up few words. I am not a permanent stutter , my speech is 70% fluent but there comes a time when i am stuck with a word i think about my life that it is not worth living. :(
U people out there have good Doctors and therapists etc .you live in a information rich society.So people should really help other people out there which i from reading your posts r doing .
i greatly appreciate your help!

ALI

[DonR]

This is my opinion, Ali, I'm sure others will be posting their opinions.

Firstly I think you should try to calm down. Whilst your problem might seem massive to you, there will be many here, including myself, who wish their stutter had been as mild as your's. The road back to fluency would not have been as long or as hard.
You must stop what you call stuttering in your thoughts, which is basically just a fear of stuttering. Having a set of instruction to follow to avoid the stutter will give you something else to concentrate on. Try these:

1. Relax, loosen up shoulders and abdomen.
2. Remember adequate and correct breathing.
3. Shape your words properly, don't mumble articulate clearly.
4. Keep your voice pitch down.
5. Separate words, think of them as bricks in a wall. Later form groups to give rhythm to your speech.
6. Do not go back over spoken words when running into trouble with the next.
7. When in trouble -STOP- establish complete control by relaxing shoulders and breathing deeply.
8. Don't be afraid to use "er" to lead you into the correct word.
9. Always use "ay" rather than "a" (as in way rather than as in hat)
10.Avoid combined words such as "I didn't" for "I did not".
11.Break up longer words rhythmically
12.Note the change of pitch with the breathed "I" as opposed to the 'normal' "I".
13.Sentences beginning with "I" should be taken slowly and emphatically at least for the first three words
14.Exercise deep breathing, vowel sounds, and reading aloud to see how slowly you can read.

If possible consider making an audio tape of yourself reading the above, perhaps with a bit of restful music playing in the background.

It is very important to speak each word
SLOWLY - DISTINCTLY - FIRMLY- DELIBERATELY.

The thing of greatest benefit is to learn to fully and deeply, relax. There are a number of ways of achieving that state of mind, self hypnosis is the one I used, but there are others. Find one that suits you best. You must convince yourself that the above is going to work for you, because I'm sure it will. Probably in a very short length of time in your case.

I am not a doctor or a speech expert of any sort. Just a 70+ man who managed to overcome a bad stutter in time to make something of his life before retirement.

Don.

[alikhan84]

thanks for all your advice .DonR
2 days back i joined this forum and by reading the post from your side and violinia i am feeling very much better now.
especially one of violinia'a post about starting to speak when exaling.
You people often write about breathing exercises . can i have it from the net ???
My problem is only this thought that i stutter .
if i could somehow forget about it then i am going to be hundred percent .Just need a little tuning hahaha
In the end thanx for helping and do keep in touch.

take care and good bye

[Vermillion]

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[alikhan84]

Vermillion u got it ...
Reading your post made me feel like i am telling my story to someone.The whole thing , in my view too is psycological.These therapies make more confident and throught the confidence u control ur anxiety and when your anxiety is controlled then words come out without any effort.
I hope these scientist and doctors come up with something to control our fear or the thought the we stutter .If this is controlled then we are 100 % normal.
My stuttering started at the age of 12-13 (i think), when i was in sixth grade.From then onwards i really struggled for about 6-7 years .Now i find my self much better because u know how to cope with different situations.I too suffered a lot from teacher . I knew answer to every question they asked infact i would know much more then any other student but due to the fear of stuttering i kept silent .I would bear all the punishment .
But know i just let go the fear by saying to myself that he is no better human being then me. Now my only problem is the starting words and i hope i would be better with that too soon.
You too i think would be better when u get about 20 years of age .i am not saying that u will be 100% but u won't be having as much fear as u r having now.
You people speak one language !! u should be very good woth that.
We grew up learning and writing three languages at a time .and just reading the forth one. I am not saying that we have better mind then yours but what i mean is that it would have been easy to cope with one language than 4 at a time .
Ok good bye for now.

Hope these scientisit could help us forget stuttering!!! :( :( :(

[DonR]

Reading the description of your experiences at school took me back over 60 years when I went through the same myself.
I've often heard it said that children today, with the availability of a massive database of information on the Internet, are better placed to obtain help with their stuttering, but I don't believe that to be true. In the UK in the 40's and 50's, unless you came from a comparatively rich family the choice of treatment was from a National Health Service psychiatrist or a private speech therapist. Neither made sense to me. The speech therapist tried to teach me to do what I could already do, under the right circumstances, and psychiatrist prescribed Valium which clouded my mind at a time when I considered I needed it most. I finally came to realise much later, by which time I had endured much suffering and frustration, that only self help would work for me. By this time I was in my late 30's. Today, with so many theories, gadgets and techniques available, one could spend a lifetime trying them all out before realising that the only person who can really help one is one’s self. So calm determination to beat the stutter is the first step.
In my case I was then lucky, I suppose, to hear of a doctor, a local General Practitioner, who used hypnosis to help his patients to overcome a variety of problem, like you I had come to the conclusion that stuttering was all psychological. To cut a long story short, I found the relaxation sessions so helpful, but the fees he charged so high, that I decided to read up on self-hypnosis.
But stuttering isn't really all psychological, the actual act of speaking is it's self physical and along the way we pick up bad habits which go to assisting the stuttering way of speaking rather than the fluent way to speak. That's why I think some simple exercises are needed to help along the way. These I quoted in my previous posting.
When you sit in class waiting for your turn to speak to come closer and closer, what do you think is happening inside you? I would suggest that something is getting tense, some people break out in a sweat under those circumstances, whether it is mental or physical tension is immaterial, it's probably both. Whatever it is you'll do a lot better without it. Being able to fully relax at that critical time will benefit you greatly. Self hypnosis helps you to control your feelings in that way, read up about it, it will cost you nothing.

So back to your question (after all my rambling), how do you get rid of these negative thoughts in your mind?
Short answer, by stopping stuttering. Each time you have a little success, like ordering the food that you really want instead of what you find easiest to say, will be a blow against negative thinking.

As I said before, I'm not professing to be any kind of an expert on this, just a 70+ man who used to stutter himself.

DonR

[alikhan84]

You mentioned about self hypnosis.what do u mean by that and can i have it from the internet???

[DonR]

You mentioned about self hypnosis.what do u mean by that and can i have it from the internet???

There's loads of free imformation on the Internet. Do a Google search on self+hypnosis. Take a look at

www.bcx.net/hypnosis "The 5-Step Self Hypnosis Induction Procedure"

You son't need any complicated stuff, just learn to completely relax.

DonR

[alikhan84]

Every site on the internet charge . No one is willing to give some info that help somebody in his life.
why is this so ???Every site i visit regarding stuttering want to charge u. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[alikhan84]

well DonR u saying that i should work with self hypnosis. Well i don;t understand that in situations like when u get completely tense and u get completely blocked .I am lucky that don;t happen to me now but when i was about 16-17 years old i really struggled.Now my problem is that at the start of sentence i sometimes get stucked . Hope i can fix that too.

BYE and thanks again for helping DONR

[alikhan84]

well DonR u r saying that i should work with self hypnosis. Well i don;t understand how would self hypsnosis help in situations like when u get completely tense and u get completely blocked .I am lucky that it don;t happen to me now but when i was about 16-17 years old i really struggled.Now my problem is that at the start of sentence i sometimes get stucked . Hope i can fix that too.

BYE and thanks again for helping DONR

[DonR]

well DonR u r saying that i should work with self hypnosis. Well i don;t understand how would self hypsnosis help in situations like when u get completely tense and u get completely blocked .I am lucky that it don;t happen to me now but when i was about 16-17 years old i really struggled.Now my problem is that at the start of sentence i sometimes get stucked . Hope i can fix that too.

BYE and thanks again for helping DONR

Maybe one day, Ali, you will get to see the connection between "u get completely tense and u get completely blocked " and using Self Hypnosis to help you relax. Whatever, I wish you all the very best for the future.

DonR

[Vermillion]

How did you start doing self-hypnosis? What time of the day do you do it? How long did it take you to realize you were hypnotizing yourself? What do you think about when you trying to hypnotize yourself?

[DonR]

How did you start doing self-hypnosis? What time of the day do you do it? How long did it take you to realize you were hypnotizing yourself? What do you think about when you trying to hypnotize yourself?

How did you start doing self-hypnosis?

I first went to a local doctor who was semi-retired and practised hypnotherapy. At that time I was married with children and couldn't afford to continue with the sessions, so I bought a book on Self Hypnosis. It's so long ago now that I can't remember the title or the name of the author, but I remember that it didn't even mention stuttering. This greatly pleased me because like you, I had come to the conclusion that the problem was controlling what went on in my head not my mouth. If you print out the pages on the web site I gave in a previous posting, it seems to cover all that is needed to achieve deep relaxation.
However, you are a lot younger than I was at the time, and it would be better for you if your parents could find a good hypnotherapist with experience of treating stuttering to help you out. At 16 you need to get your speech sorted out quickly since it is interfering with your education. You need to explain that you don't want to ascertain why you stutter and get involve with regression and all that weird stuff; you just want to learn to fully relax, gain self confidence, and convince yourself that you can speak without stuttering on ALL occasions.

What time of the day do you do it?

When starting it's necessary to set aside time, say an hour a day, when you can be in a comfortable position, undisturbed and quiet. Early morning is better than evening if that's possible. Once you have mastered relaxing to that degree, it's possible to do it at any time and anywhere. I had a 40 minute train journey, in pretty crowded conditions, to get to the office. I would sit there, eyes closed, looking as though I was asleep completely relaxed. Incidentally many other people were doing the same! You are, of course, fully aware of what's going on around you and can come out of it in a flash.

How long did it take you to realize you were hypnotizing yourself?

Just as you can never judge the moment when you drop off to sleep, it's the same with the hypnotic state. You don't know until you come out of it, then you know by how you feel; relaxed and completely refreshed. I can now relax to that degree by counting ten to myself.

What do you think about when you trying to hypnotize yourself?

That is the difficult part. You try not to think of anything which is near impossible. I used to count down from a hundred, thinking of myself getting heavier and heavier. Some people think of being in a elevator of a high building going down floor by floor. What you must not do is keep wondering to yourself whether or not you are hypontise yet!

Discuss this with your parents and read all you can find about hypnosis, I'm sure you will find it the answer to your problem as I did.
:)

[Vermillion]

Deleted[[[

[Violinia]

This is all very interesting. I think Don's method is probably identical to mine, and it certainly worked for me. I used to sit every morning and night, concentrating on my breathing (it was a meditation I had learned). It put me into a very pleasant, peaceful state but it was years before I realised I could apply it to speech and lose my stutter that way.

It worked. As I kept practising I became so fluent that I no longer needed to use it for speech.

Then it was another few years till I realised I could use it again in a scary situation like having to say my name in front of a large group. My turn was getting nearer and nearer, the old fear and panic were there - and then - I watched my breathing, went into the peaceful relaxed state, and out came my name in total fluency. And I can honestly say that since then, speaking out loud in front of large groups hasn't bothered me AT ALL - in fact I positively enjoy it.

Call it meditation, call it watching your breathing, call it speaking on an outbreath, call it self-hypnosis - I suspect exactly the same thing has occurred for both Don and me. What happened is that by using a technique to become fluent, we quickly lost our fear and anticipation of speech. Using the technique then became redundant because fluency had returned.

I think what puts people off is the thought that they'll have to practise a technique for ever to stay fluent, but this really isn't the case. I can't remember when I last had to watch my breathing so as not to stutter. Probably the neural pathways switched back to normal, so the techniques just weren't necessary any more.

I would recommend ANYTHING that removes the fear and anticipation of stuttering. Watching your breathing can work, being able to put yourself into a totally relaxed, peaceful state at will can work, as can self-hypnosis.

The main thing is that once you've become fluent you don't have to do any of that to stay fluent. I can now be tense, anxious, frightened, you name it, and there's still no stutter, BECAUSE THE HABIT HAS BEEN BROKEN ONCE AND FOR ALL.

Keep asking questions!

All the best

Violinia

[Vermillion]

DonR what were you saying to yourself when you were trying to hypnotize yourself?

[alikhan84]

DonR says i cured my stuttering through self hypnosis, Vioilina also says that she cured her stuttering by watching her breath.
If it is so then why arn't the scientists working on it.
i mean they have the instruments , they have the knowledge . why can;t they find a permanent cure for it??
for example if a person has some problem in his sight , then they can fix their sight in 39 minutes (6/6) . thru laser beams.
If there is some problem with the gene then why arn't they using gene recombinant technology?
why are they struggling with this thing?????
i hope that day is near when they will find the cure for it.
:o

[Asif]

Words, just so many words.
Words drive the stutterer crazy!
I practiced aikido for many years, and there is a spot - in the lower abdomen - called the "one spot". Two inches below the navel and about an inch inside.
One of the tenets of martial arts is to "live" in your "one spot". Practise this: place your attention on this spot, all day, every day, and breathing becomes natural, balance improves, calmness is enhanced, and all of this is a great help to the unconsciously up-tight stutterer.
NEVER close you eyes when trying to speak to another person. Try for eye contact. Love yourself! Relax and realise that you have every right to be however you are.
And if all else fails, stick your finger in your ear, pressing on the blob of meat that covers the hole when pressed.
Musicians do this to enable them to "hear" their voices against a noisy background. It helps a lot!
Now you can go back to sleep :)

[Asif]

Scientists don't work on stuttering probably because they don't stutter.
Can you imagine a severe stutterer becoming a scientist?
We all know what a complete catastrophe stuttering can be, but who else knows this? At best, they can only empathise. Only we brave few can really understand it.
But worse things happen at sea :)

[Barbara Z]

Hi to all

For the past two years I'm almost not stuttering at all, thanks to a great therapy from: http://www.stammeringfree.com

Barbara

[llw03c]

wow, this is an old thread!!

btw, barbara, you're another female stutterer (former) on this forum. i've never met a female stutterer in real life :confused:

anyway, i've now come to believe that everyone stutters in a different way, on different words and in different situation. i believe that the mechanics of the stutter for each person is different. i, for example, don't stutter on single letters in words but either the whole word or parts of it...e.g people becomes pe-pe-pe-pe-people, whereas someone else would say p-p-p-p-p-people. i believe this would suggest that the same technique that would help me would not help someone with the second example stutter above. i think the solution becomes trial and error with all the techniques available.

anyway, thanks for the link. i'm really broke right now so i don't know if i can just pay $67 of money i don't have for something that might not and probably won't work since most techniques are for severe cases and only reduce the severity. i've yet to come across a technique that is for mild cases in which the afliction is completely eradicated.

and where the heck are all those people from earlier in the thread??

[DrLove]

Hi Violinia (Nina),

I have read your article having "Natuaral Breathing Method".In your article you have written;
"After practice saying with peace full feeling "I am feeling at peace at last" & getting used to it, U have suggested to do the same with close friends then in cafe etc. & finally with any body."

I want to know about that: "What to do with other step by step after saying "I am feeling at peace"?
Please explain "Do u mean to practise feeling at peace by going step by step into difficult situations or any things else exactly?
I want to give good try to your method as I think it would give positive result if applied correctly.


Waiting for your reply !!!

Kind Regards,
Ranjeet Kumar.

[Flash]

Waiting for your reply !!!How long do you plan on waiting? :confused: Violinia joined on 5/10/04, last posted on 6/12/04, and was last active on 6/20/04. So I think it's pretty safe to say that she probably isn't coming back here on her own. ;) If you want to get in contact with her, you could try emailing her. To find her email, look at her profile here: http://www.stutteringforum.com/forums/member.php?u=20

[studentdoc]

Hi to all

For the past two years I'm almost not stuttering at all, thanks to a great therapy from: http://www.stammeringfree.com

Barbara
I call spam on this one... becareful guys and girls.

[weingro2]

I would guess that what you have overcome is your fear of stuttering and that your method of breathing is just a small part of it. Certainly having enough air flowing is essential, but if one becomes tense, that will easily block. I know how you feel about having found the answer you your problem, you can't understand why other suffers don't rush to follow suit. I often feel the same having used self-hypnisis to get rid of mine. That was many years ago (I'm 73 now) and I vowed to spend the rest of my life helping others to release themselves for this terrible affliction. Alas, nobody wanted to know :mad:


Could you tell me what you did to self-hypnotize yourself. How long did you have to do it for before you were "cured"?

[weingro2]

Hi

Yes I'm a former stutterer and have been told by stutterers I've spoken to recently on the phone that I sound completely fluent. People I've met since the stutter went don't believe I ever had one, even though I stuttered for 20+ years (6-26 or so).

I do occasionally hesitate but very minimally and am happy to teach large groups (jazz) and speak out in front of large numbers of people, something I never imagined being able to do!

So yes, I can say I've overcome it.

Violinia



So did this just happen all of a sudden to you one day? One day you woke up and decided not to stutter anymore? If not what else was involved?

[johnrob2]

i would like to just put my two cents in about the whole relaxing your stomach to speak fluently. The stomach really does not have anything to do with speech. Breathing does matter in terms of stuttering. If you are trying to force the words out and pushing to get the words out then your stomach will tend to tighten up. I think that is really associated with lack of breath. When breath is lacking you have to tighten you stomach to force air out. Stuttering is much more about the vocal folds and how the vocal folds tighten up produce stuttering. What I have found is you want to look at manner of articulation in terms of voicing vs. devoicing. When voicing you want to you use a normal and relaxed breath rate but to say to relax the stomach to produce fluent speech is not accurate. We have to look at what is required for motor tasks, specifically speech, and we see that the stomach is not a part of speech behavior. It is much more likely that you are using relaxed breathing and when you use relaxed breathing you will not tighten you stomach muscles.

[Jaykon]

Relax stomach and speak when exhaling.

Appreciate the tip. But if it were that easy none of us would be on this forum.

[kanon]

stutterers often say sentences faster than the average person yet they do not realize this.

[Punjabi]

Just to add my two-pence worth. Last week, I read this thread with interest,
and decided to see if I could 'relax' my throat and lyrnx, and see what impact
it would have. Strangely, within a day I was speaking with a lot less stutter.
I was still stuttering of course, but the blocks were fewer and of less
severity. This was 6 days ago, and I've been finding speech much easier
since, and even made phone calls (whihc I find difficult). Today, the speech
had beena lot harder than for the previous 6 days, I beleive maily because
of the extra stress I am under at work.
I'm hoping that this honeymoon period doesn't end soo, and that this relaxing
of the throat can benefit me long-term.

Best regards.

[kanon]

From my point of view, stuttering worsens with more pressure, stress and anxiety. I asked myself, why do I stutter when I'm talking with my crush? Why do I stutter when I feel overwhelmed? Why do I stutter when me and my friends are talking about exciting things? Why don't I stutter when I just woke up? Why don't I stutter when I'm talking to my close friend?

Certainly there might not be a silver bullet for stuttering but I believe there are ways to lessen it. What I often do is every morning, I do a simple breathing exercise which my boss taught me to lessen stress from work. The breathing exercise is simply a series of deep breathing with a bit of timing.

Although the breathing exercise didn't completely gave me fluency, it has indeed helped in lessening anxiety which in turn lessened my stuttering. Even in the middle of the day when all the anxiety build up and I'm having a hard time speaking, I take 3 seconds off, deep breathing, and I can usually go on with the conversation with less stuttering.

I hope it helps. To summarize:

"When you're feeling stress, overwhelmed and having a hard time speaking, just take 3 seconds off, inhale deeply, exhale deeply" :)

[kanon]

^Oh yeah to add with that breathing technique, my boss told me something about it before.

Breathing and anxiety are interconnected. When you are anxious, you breath faster, when you breath faster, you get more anxious. That might explain why we feel much more relaxed after a quick deep breathing :)

[takinyede]

My most simple advices are:

1) Don't ever be rushed, feel entitled to your turn to speak
2) Learn how to speak all over again. Television is not Tevsun but Te-le-vi-sion so learn to take your time pronouncing every styllables just like in kindegarten.
3 Never be conscious of speaking as this awareness increases anxiety which in turn induces stuttering frequency. Practice in your practice time and just speak at your speaking time.
4) Minimize locations/things that unnessarily raise your anxiety level (loud music, backgroud noise, too many other loud talkers). Learn to live zen :)
5) Never force words ever but learn to stutter easily and less tension.
6) Stutter openly and intentionally and broadcast that you are a stutterer, sooner they all know the better. Also mention it before presentations and interviews.
7) Lastly speak slowly, I know some are a little apprehensive about this but its a virtue to all speakers (stutter or not). This has three benefits. One is people can understand you better when you speak slower. Secondly, a slower way of speaking counters anxiety and induces relaxation. Thirdly, speaking slowly give you better control over your speaking, you can calmly make corrections on difficult words i.e prolongation.

Goodluck. I used to stutter alot but now I am 80% fluent.

[philostam]

I'd recommend to every surfer DonR's and Violinia's posts in this thread.

Today, with so many theories, gadgets and techniques available, one could spend a lifetime trying them all out before realising that the only person who can really help one is one’s self. So calm determination to beat the stutter is the first step.

Very true.

Probably the neural pathways switched back to normal, so the techniques just weren't necessary any more.


You were relaxed --> you could speak more fluently --> suddenly the lightning hit you: 'My stutter is in my hand', than what DonR and Violinia might have not shared with us: 'I'm normal' (neurological changes are just the effects of that insight) --> relaaaaaaaxing: in big-big waves all your life's stress leaved --> total fluency.

The task is very similar to that one: how to beat the desire to make love? The stutterer in a speech-situation is like an - excuse me - fella' in front of the lover. Can he/she relax? How, if he/she wants it soo bad!

My way is thinking. As a philosopher I had to deal with the -task either, not just stuttering. To cut it short: a thinker just can't afford himself such fun. So: it was definitely not easy. Like the stutterers, I tried techniques, tricks first; fell back severily; forced myself like Demosthenes; but years passed and I was the same guy as always had been. - Then came the lightning: I studied with a very icy thinking, questioning why we do what, what happens in the brain, in our body, and above all: what is that I am starving for seemingly uncontrollably?

"If you had looked into a mechanism of a desire, you broke it" - says the saying. And it's true. Since the moment I understood uality in its core, I have been completely immune to every temptation. I see coquettish women with pleasure - but not that kind of pleasure.

I know you're now scratching your heads wondering why I did such a thing, but the important now is that if I could do it with the mechanism what media and science shouted out as can't be outwitted, because it's "automatic", then I can do it with stuttering either, which also is shouted out as "brain thing" or "breathing issue".

[chris2112]

My way is thinking. As a philosopher I had to deal with the -task either, not just stuttering. To cut it short: a thinker just can't afford himself such fun. Why not? Why can't someone enjoy contemplating the big picture while enjoying his natural instincts as well?


"If you had looked into a mechanism of a desire, you broke it" - says the saying.
I would guess this would be the essence of your answer to the first question, but I've always seen a flaw in that reasoning. I think understanding the nature of something deeper can only enhance the experience of it. It has been said that the scientist destroys the beauty of say a flower when he/she studies its workings and complexity, only those ignorant of anything else but the sense of the flowers surface form fully appreciate it. I could never agree with that, I think there's more beauty in looking at a flower and understanding where it came from, your relation to it, that its only a slow process in an illusionary freeze frame of a bunch of little living components complexly interacting with each other to form a symmetrical, colorful emergent structure that we finally see. Understanding the phenomena of life deeper is awesome in itself and only enhances the beauty of the experience.

[philostam]

I answer with an enigma.

Life is a woman. How could I get to know her, if I see other women?!

[philostam]

"If you had looked into a mechanism of a desire, you broke it."

It's very important, that I put everything in a strict meaning. Thus that saying is indeed from a great philosopher, but I say it because it holds logical necessity that I have discovered too. And if it's true, you can discover it either.

That saying is the touchstone of my statement that anybody can just stop stuttering, if my other big puzzles are right (for example that stuttering is just a side-effect of wanting fluency; and that fluency-addiction is fed by something else); and of course it doesn't matter that I'm asserting that it worked for me not just in but in stuttering as well, - the nature, the logic of this thing is that you have to see for yourself. That's why scientists can't deal with not just stuttering, but every anxiety-related problem, such as personality disorders (psychiatry is the biggest scandal on earth, I give it 10 years and finally it falls apart): because these are so called "existencial issues". The psychological and physical side of them are just effects. Thus science can portray stuttering, but can't cure it, while you often see ordinary guys who just stopped it.

Remember my "method", the puzzles? You might wonder, why I don't just tell my theory. Well, because the most important puzzle of all is you setting it out.

[chris2112]

I answer with an enigma.

Life is a woman. How could I get to know her, if I see other women?!

I don't know, I like to think the woman I fall for would be willing to three-way with life LOL... enigma solved ;)

"If you had looked into a mechanism of a desire, you broke it."
It's very important, that I put everything in a strict meaning. Thus that saying is indeed from a great philosopher, but I say it because it holds logical necessity that I have discovered too. And if it's true, you can discover it either.

That saying is the touchstone of my statement that anybody can just stop stuttering, if my other big puzzles are right (for example that stuttering is just a side-effect of wanting fluency; and that fluency-addiction is fed by something else); and of course it doesn't matter that I'm asserting that it worked for me not just in but in stuttering as well, - the nature, the logic of this thing is that you have to see for yourself.

I do agree that quote has some truth to it, unless you understand and so are self aware of the psychological mechanisms that make you up, your only a blind product of them. So understanding your primitive instincts/desires certainly allow you to tame them for the better, but I disagree that understanding them makes them any less important or enjoyable, I'd say the opposite. Similarly, understanding why you started and do stutter would definitely give you more control over it, but unfortunately I have very little idea why, maybe that's your "secret" to your "puzzle"? why not enlighten me?