How to get rid of STAMMERING !

What is stammering?

Stammering is difficulty in talking or hesitation in the speech due to involuntary muscular contraction of the throat and diaphragm.

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What is the root cause of stammering?

The cause of this starts from the childhood by just sheer observation. It’s always believed that the children are the best followers of anything for that matter, be it good or bad, they pick up things very quickly and bring them into practice. It may so have happened that a child is observant about a person around him/her talking in a strange manner and unknowingly might have picked up the style and trying to imitate which in due course of time would have become a habit which is difficult to get rid of. The more you correct the child to speak normally, the more anxious the child would become, conscious in talking. A conscious thought makes the muscle around the throat very stiff thereby would in stammering. There is a saying which translates as "A sapling should always be tweaked and twisted while watering/growing or else when it grows up to a tree, we cannot correct or bend it" Similarly this practice of a child should be avoided in the childhood days itself by diversion to the child either in the environment or the people or else it would be very conscious and difficult effort to correct the stammering when grown old.

The next question would be, as a small kid we never knew whether it was right or wrong, but now as a grown up why can't we correct it..?

The problem of stammering not something that can be seen like a cut wound or a scar. But it’s actually in the mind. Everything is from your sub-conscious. Right from the childhood, you would have experienced people talking about your stammering, making jokes of it and making you feel bad about your habit. This thought of being felt bad whenever you spoke, will make you feel more tensed. Because of this reason you will become more conscious and then enter into the same state of mind of being embarrassed. As a result, you would either speak very less or you would stammer because these thoughts would make your throat muscle very stiff.

Here are few suggestion to help get rid of stammering !

1. Relax your mind frequently in your own ways. For example: meditating, listening to songs or anything that relaxes your thoughts.

2. Initially start talking freely to the person with whom you are comfortable and confident that they won't make fun of your stammering.

3. Always have this thought of "I don’t care what people would think of my talking style" and then talk. This may sound silly but seriously it works. This is because if you have this carefree thought in mind, you are not conscious and thereby your throat muscle won't be stiff and hence the words flow freely and normally.

4. The best help is the self help that anyone can do for himself/herself. Stand in front of the mirror and start talking. Visualize your image in the mirror to be someone else, who is listening to what you are talking and then continue practicing this exercise.

5. Start reading the books, newspapers or anything out loud. By doing this, you can observe and listen to yourself and then pick up any rhythm of speed and the style, that would not result in you stammering.

6. And lastly, breathe properly. Take sufficient pauses when you are talking. You are not in a race of finishing talking quickly and then running away from the place.You should be able to express yourself smoothly without stammering and not matching up the speed of someone who talks very quickly.

This article does not claim to be providing a permanent heal but it wishes the people who are having this problem of stammering to get rid of it sooner by following the suggestions mentioned above. Again, as a closing note of this article, Stammering is all in the mind ! Take control of this thought of yours by following the above steps and surely you will be happy to see a very good significant results within a short duration of time.