The 7-Day Stuttering Shift

Day 5

 

Day One 👉 Day Two 👉 Day Three 👉 Day Four 👉 Day Five 👉 Day Six 👉 Day Seven

 
 

  1. Practice Base Breathing to disarm the fight-or-flight response.

    1. Do one Base Breath: Inhale for 4 seconds. Hold for 4 seconds. Exhale for 4 seconds. Hold for 4 seconds.

    2. Do three Base Breaths.

    3. Start a timer on your phone and do Base Breaths for 1 minute.

    4. Complete one Challenge Situation using Base Breathing beforehand. It’s a “challenge situation” if it’s a 4 or higher on your Speech Stress Thermometer. It counts once you rate yourself at having at least 8/10 naturalness.

2. Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation to disarm the fight-or-flight response.

  1. Tense your forehead muscles as hard as you can and hold for five seconds (“tense, tense, tense”). Then, relax those muscles for five seconds (“relax, relax, relax”). Do two more times.

  2. Tense your cheek muscles as hard as you can and hold for five seconds (“tense, tense, tense”). Then, relax those muscles for five seconds (“relax, relax, relax”). Do two more times.

  3. Tense your jaw muscles as hard as you can and hold for five seconds (“tense, tense, tense”). Then, relax those muscles for five seconds (“relax, relax, relax”). Do two more times.

  4. Tense your neck muscles as hard as you can and hold for five seconds (“tense, tense, tense”). Then, relax those muscles for five seconds (“relax, relax, relax”). Do two more times.

    (You can keep track on paper in your journal).

3. Practice Continual Muscle Movement to disarm the “Freezing” stage of the fight-or-flight response.

  1. Read the following by yourself using focusing on continual movement of your diaphragm (you can use Online Voice Recorder to see your speech): One sentence from something that interests you. Two sentences from something that interests you. A paragraph from something that interests you. One page from something that interests you.

  2. Read the following by yourself using focusing on continual movement of your vocal cords: One sentence from something that interests you. Two sentences from something that interests you. A paragraph from something that interests you. One page from something that interests you.

  3. Read the following by yourself using focusing on continual movement of the front of your mouth: One sentence from something that interests you. Two sentences from something that interests you. A paragraph from something that interests you. One page from something that interests you.

  4. Read one page from something that interests you, bouncing around between all three.

  5. Have one conversation bouncing around between all three. It counts if you rate yourself having at least 8/10 naturalness.

    (You can look on your List of Listeners Target for potential partners).

4. Practice Voluntary Stuttering to disarm the fight-or-flight response. As you read, choose a word you wouldn’t normally stutter on and repeat the first sound slowly, easily, and gently, then keep moving in:

  1. One sentence from something that interests you.

  2. Two sentences from something that interests you.

  3. A paragraph from something that interests you.

  4. One page from something that interests you.

    (You can keep track on paper in your journal).

5. Try out Cold Water Treatment to disarm the fight-or-flight response.

  1. Fill a large bowl with ice water.

  2. Take a deep breath, and on a long exhale, place the left half of your face in the water.

  3. Breathe long and deep through your nose against the cold as long as you can stand it. Increase by one second per day.

  4. Repeat for the right half of your face.