YOU ARE INVITED.....
THIS IS AN INVITATION FROM US TO YOU TO ADD YOUR OWN VOICE TO OUR CONVERSATION ABOUT STUTTERING. OUR PROMISE TO YOU IS TO READ WHAT YOU WRITE. SOMETIMES WE WILL PUBLISH WHAT YOU WRITE, BUT ONLY WITH YOUR PERMISSION.
Spontaneous writing was the way I came to understand my stutter....my view of speech, my attitudes toward stuttering, how stuttering affected my self-esteem, what worked...what didn't work. Writing became my friend.
Recently scientists have discovered the benefits of translating one's own "inner promptings" into words on the page...and ultimately into his/her own personal voice. First of all, scientists assure us that writing (without concern with outcomes and without judging what is written) connects us with our Source....and as we write words on the page we haven't planned or "thought up"...we become aware of this Source. We also discover that this inner Source has a mind of its own and definitely its very own voice. James W. Pennebaker, a researcher in this area, found other definite benefits: evidence that new neural pathways are being created as we allow this Inner Source to express itself. Pennebaker hooked up volunteers to brain wave measurement equipment as they wrote and discovered that writing connects the "unconscious perception" in the right brain to the symbols in the left brain. As we write for our own understanding, the old neural pathways are unlocked and new neural pathways form.
Stunningly, as this spontaneous original writing occurs, enormous health gains were also recorded as well as gains in mental acuity.
Pennebaker wondered if all forms of self-expression produced the benefits that seemed to accompany this free-flowing kind of writing. He tested other forms of expression (singing and drawing, for example) and found no measurable impact. Next he tried physical movement. (His experiments are well-known and can be easily researched.) After years of experimentation he found that none of these forms of non-verbal expression exhibited those benefits. Dancers, for example, reported that they enjoyed the opportunity to move expressively but "only the movement group that also wrote" evidenced improvements in physical health and mental acuity.
Pennebaker concluded: "The mere expression of a trauma is not enough. Health gains appear to require translating experience into language." He also concluded that the most beneficial writing was writing with the purpose of understanding and gaining new insight into our own questions. For me, many of those questions had to do with understanding the nature of speech and the problem of stuttering....and how I, myself, was holding back....rather than seeing myself as a victim being held back by others. (If YOU have misconceptions, you can rest assured they will show up in your own personal free-writing...when your writing is free of censor and conscious control.)
When my stuttering was at its worst, I often began writing, feeling suffocated and wooden, as if I would never be able to write (or say) another word. But if I steadfastly refused to judge the words I wrote, as well as refusing to compare what I wrote with the popular opinions of Professional Knowers, before long the words on the page once again ran true and deep.
When you write spontaneously without judging what you write and without caring about results, you will make new discoveries at every turn. When you write for your own understanding, when you write in terms of discovery, insight happens between the pen you are writing with and the paper you are writing on, (not a second before in a thought or plan... and not a moment after in an "edit.") When I allowed those spontaneous words to take me off-track if they pleased, where they took me was instinctively where I wanted to be. Most of all, it was fun and refreshing...like riding the waves from old beliefs and old ways of looking at things to a new place, a place I'd never been before...where confusion became resolution.
Writing one's very own perspective and observations about stuttering is often the first totally responsible action taken on the road to recovery. If you need a little arm-twisting on the subject of writing, read John Harrison's interview with Jack Menear in the free ebook "And the Stuttering Just Dies."
CONTACTS:
Richard Parent, a former stutterer, is our Resident French Translator and can be reached by Skype at ricardo123, or by email at richardparent@videotron.ca. Pour communiquer avec Richard par courriel : richardparent@videotron.ca. Par Skype : ricardo123 (si pour la première fois, SVP spécifier que c'est pour le bégaiement).
John Harrison, also a former stutterer, is (as you can see by the reading list) a prolific writer. The personal and detailed book he wrote about his own recovery from stuttering is entitled REDEFINING STUTTERING, What the Struggle to Speak is Really All About and is a highly popular "read" in the stuttering community. John is a presentation coach in San Francisco and runs public speaking workshops for the general public. He also coaches PWS worldwide over Skype. His Skype address is jcharr1234 and his email is stutterhexagon@aol.com.
Ruth Mead can be reached at ruthymead@gmail.com.
If you want to speak to specific individuals, address your email to understandingstuttering@gmail.com and we will be sure you get in touch with that person.
Dr. Bob Bodenhamer is the founder of the yahoo group neurosemanticsofstuttering, probably the liveliest group of people who want to understand stuttering you will find anywhere. He is also the author of numerous books, probably the most popular being "I Have A Voice: How to Stop Stuttering" published by Crown Publishers...and "The Users' Manual for the Brain."
THIS IS AN INVITATION FROM US TO YOU TO ADD YOUR OWN VOICE TO OUR CONVERSATION ABOUT STUTTERING. OUR PROMISE TO YOU IS TO READ WHAT YOU WRITE. SOMETIMES WE WILL PUBLISH WHAT YOU WRITE, BUT ONLY WITH YOUR PERMISSION.
Spontaneous writing was the way I came to understand my stutter....my view of speech, my attitudes toward stuttering, how stuttering affected my self-esteem, what worked...what didn't work. Writing became my friend.
Recently scientists have discovered the benefits of translating one's own "inner promptings" into words on the page...and ultimately into his/her own personal voice. First of all, scientists assure us that writing (without concern with outcomes and without judging what is written) connects us with our Source....and as we write words on the page we haven't planned or "thought up"...we become aware of this Source. We also discover that this inner Source has a mind of its own and definitely its very own voice. James W. Pennebaker, a researcher in this area, found other definite benefits: evidence that new neural pathways are being created as we allow this Inner Source to express itself. Pennebaker hooked up volunteers to brain wave measurement equipment as they wrote and discovered that writing connects the "unconscious perception" in the right brain to the symbols in the left brain. As we write for our own understanding, the old neural pathways are unlocked and new neural pathways form.
Stunningly, as this spontaneous original writing occurs, enormous health gains were also recorded as well as gains in mental acuity.
Pennebaker wondered if all forms of self-expression produced the benefits that seemed to accompany this free-flowing kind of writing. He tested other forms of expression (singing and drawing, for example) and found no measurable impact. Next he tried physical movement. (His experiments are well-known and can be easily researched.) After years of experimentation he found that none of these forms of non-verbal expression exhibited those benefits. Dancers, for example, reported that they enjoyed the opportunity to move expressively but "only the movement group that also wrote" evidenced improvements in physical health and mental acuity.
Pennebaker concluded: "The mere expression of a trauma is not enough. Health gains appear to require translating experience into language." He also concluded that the most beneficial writing was writing with the purpose of understanding and gaining new insight into our own questions. For me, many of those questions had to do with understanding the nature of speech and the problem of stuttering....and how I, myself, was holding back....rather than seeing myself as a victim being held back by others. (If YOU have misconceptions, you can rest assured they will show up in your own personal free-writing...when your writing is free of censor and conscious control.)
When my stuttering was at its worst, I often began writing, feeling suffocated and wooden, as if I would never be able to write (or say) another word. But if I steadfastly refused to judge the words I wrote, as well as refusing to compare what I wrote with the popular opinions of Professional Knowers, before long the words on the page once again ran true and deep.
When you write spontaneously without judging what you write and without caring about results, you will make new discoveries at every turn. When you write for your own understanding, when you write in terms of discovery, insight happens between the pen you are writing with and the paper you are writing on, (not a second before in a thought or plan... and not a moment after in an "edit.") When I allowed those spontaneous words to take me off-track if they pleased, where they took me was instinctively where I wanted to be. Most of all, it was fun and refreshing...like riding the waves from old beliefs and old ways of looking at things to a new place, a place I'd never been before...where confusion became resolution.
Writing one's very own perspective and observations about stuttering is often the first totally responsible action taken on the road to recovery. If you need a little arm-twisting on the subject of writing, read John Harrison's interview with Jack Menear in the free ebook "And the Stuttering Just Dies."
CONTACTS:
Richard Parent, a former stutterer, is our Resident French Translator and can be reached by Skype at ricardo123, or by email at richardparent@videotron.ca. Pour communiquer avec Richard par courriel : richardparent@videotron.ca. Par Skype : ricardo123 (si pour la première fois, SVP spécifier que c'est pour le bégaiement).
John Harrison, also a former stutterer, is (as you can see by the reading list) a prolific writer. The personal and detailed book he wrote about his own recovery from stuttering is entitled REDEFINING STUTTERING, What the Struggle to Speak is Really All About and is a highly popular "read" in the stuttering community. John is a presentation coach in San Francisco and runs public speaking workshops for the general public. He also coaches PWS worldwide over Skype. His Skype address is jcharr1234 and his email is stutterhexagon@aol.com.
Ruth Mead can be reached at ruthymead@gmail.com.
If you want to speak to specific individuals, address your email to understandingstuttering@gmail.com and we will be sure you get in touch with that person.
Dr. Bob Bodenhamer is the founder of the yahoo group neurosemanticsofstuttering, probably the liveliest group of people who want to understand stuttering you will find anywhere. He is also the author of numerous books, probably the most popular being "I Have A Voice: How to Stop Stuttering" published by Crown Publishers...and "The Users' Manual for the Brain."