Breaking the myths..

Are we living with some Myths? are they really true?
Hold on to the questions the answers are due!

The last meeting of year 2015 took place in the picturesque cubbon-park. The morning mist, the cacophony of birds and the fresh air devoid of any traffic pollution sets the stage for an very exciting Sunday Morning.

The meeting was attended by Soma (Shoma!), Jonali, Swarnalatha, Pratibha, Mansi, Teja, Dinesh, Rajesh, Sudhanshu, Kavish and Mohit.

Let the game begin, no game begins without any rules, so the Ground rules were!
1) Phones to be switched off for next 3 hours – Be physically and mentally present  in shg and observe each other very carefully!
2) No word substitution during the meeting – take your time
3) The entire meeting will be in the form of “Dialogue” – no monologue please!

We kicked off the intro round and the third point was clarified further, instead of doing a monologue introduction, the speaker was requested to throw some questions and queries to the audience during introduction and keep them involved.

Each introduction was in the form of discussion – “Can you guess..”  “what do you think about..” etc were the kind of questions were thrown at the audience by the speaker.. The audience was nervous for a change!

From the Grand SHG, the major take away for everyone was acceptance and now it was the time that we built on that, we got bit more technical this time and tried to understand the physiology during stuttering.

In the first activity, a volunteer was first asked to exhale completely and then talk – there was lot of struggle and no voice at all.. From the group discussion that followed, we concluded that “No air, no sound” and air (or breath) is very vital to produce sound!! Eureka!

In the second activity, a volunteer was asked to carry another group member (lift him) and then talk.

 From the group discussion that followed, we concluded that the body when it is under physical exertion it is very difficult to communicate and that mode is used for physical activity and not to communicate.. The same happens when fear over takes the n the body is in mode to fight or flight and it not equipped to communicate at that time. Unless the fear which constitutes – fear of stammering, what others might think, will I be able to complete the talk etc is addressed there is little we can do about our communication. We concluded that, Stammering is the “effect” and not the “cause” and unless the cause is taken care, we are going no where.

In the third activity we discussed about the body block. Not only mind is in block but also body is in block as well, a free flowing body movement during communication brings down the effort needed for communication.

After these activities, we headed to the number one myth associated with stuttering –
“Can only a fluent person be a confident communicator?” or to put is other way “can someone who stutters be a confident speaker?”..
Rightly there was confusion to start with and then the discussion followed..
After discussing with few examples, we concluded that communication (or confident speaking) is not related to stuttering!!! one can still stutter and be a confident speaker.. Communication is altogether a different ball game and not related to being fluent!

Mohit wonderfully shared his experience and benefits about being in shg.. the crux of his discussion,I would put it in following way!

Dukh me to sab shg aaye, sukh me  aaye na koi..
Sukh me agar shg aaye toh dukh kahe ko hoi!!

It means, its only during a relapse, or during interviews or during other important events of our life we think about the wonderful platform we have.. If we can be proactive about it, there is lot to gain without much pain 😉

On behalf of Bangalore team, wish you a very successful 2016 –  break all the myths, set your own rules and be unstoppable!!

To be part of the meeting, please reach out to..

Contacts :
Sharath:  7411090880 – sharathchandra1360@gmail.com
Nishil: 9008416379 – nishil.shetty1@gmail.com