Stuttering can be an embarrassing and emotionally frustrating experience. It can begin at an early age and prove to be a challenging impediment for children in school. Speech therapists throughout the years have developed techniques to help stutterers overcome their speech defects. Focusing on your breath and doing breathing exercises can play a key part in transforming your speech patterns.
Regulated Breathing
Speech therapists have developed regulated breathing patterns to help people overcome stuttering. Taking equal length inhalations and exhalations have been found to be useful in treating nervous habits and tics. The goal of taking deep and regulated breaths is to reverse speech habits that you have developed. You take a deep, gentle breath to prevent a potential stutter.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
There are two ways to take a breath. One is thoracic breathing, which is rapid breathing into the upper cavity of your chest or lungs. This occurs during a flight or fight response. The other is diaphragmatic breathing, in which an inhalation expands the lower belly. This is the type helpful for stuttering. Place a hand on the lower belly and take a deep, relaxed breath in. Your belly should expand out and your chest should remain fairly still. Diaphragmatic breathing can relax your entire body, including your lips, jaw and tongue, which is helpful for preventing stuttering.
Yogic Breathing
Raja yoga is based on the yoga of the mind, or training of the mind to stay focused and clear. The book "Yoga for Stuttering" states that meditation can help to change neurological patterns that have formed, such as stuttering. Raja yoga meditation exercises involve sitting down in a comfortable, crossed-legged position and developing an open attitude.Lay your palms lay face up on your knees. Sit very still and breathe in long deep breaths. Focus inwardly, and do this for at least five minutes.
Practice
Practice speaking while using one or all of these breathing techniques. Allow yourself to become still and quiet for several minutes while taking deep breaths in before you begin to speak. Get your favorite book, and practice reading it aloud while taking diaphragmatic breaths between each sentence.
References
- "Handbook of Child Behavior Therapy"; T. Steuart Watson, Frank M. Gresham; 1998
- "Speech Language Pathology - Stuttering"; T.D. Kehoe; 2000
- "Yoga for Stuttering: Unifying the Voice, Breath, Mind & Body to Achieve Fluent Speech"; Josephine Balakrishnan
