Dear Friends,
The Chennai chapter meet on 26.04.2009 were attended by 8 PWS. May be due to
summer holidays, many PWS might have gone to their native places. But one silver
lining of the meet was a 18 year Pawan Kumar who came from Bangaluru (320 kms
from Chennai) along with his Cousin to attend the meet. Thanks to Mr.Munishankar
another Cousin of Pawan Kumar from UK who has taken this initiative. He called
me from UK, know about our next meeting date, instructed his brother to go to
Chennai along with Pawan Kumar and attend the meeting. Â Pawan Kumar attended
the meeting. Amazing technological development.
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Coming to our subject, if every PWS got the motivation like Pawan kumar is
having, there is no reason for us to cry over about stammering. Yesterday
another technique was adopted which I got it from the book “REDEFINING
STUTTERING “ by JOHN C.HARRISON. In that book, he used the technique of
‘Claiming your space”. In that book he insists each PWS to imagine that the
stage is owned by the speaker. A brief narration about this as given in the book
is given at the end of this mail for the benefit of others,
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We asked every PWS to do the following for one minute without speaking– like
sit on table, sit on chair, drink water, reduce fan speed etc as if each inch of
the space is owned by him. After one minute, the PWS asked to speak by
continually doing the one or another  above activities for 5 minutes. To
everyone astonishment, all were spoken excellently. This is due to the fact that
by doing other activities while speaking, we are forgetting about our stammering
and hence we speak without stammering.
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Coming to Pawan Kumar, we have taken a separate 1 hr class to him with more
emphasis on accepting our stammering, how to react with others etc. We  also
given him some notes. As Pawan Kumar is very young, he is readily accepting our
suggestions and promised to follow. We also advised him to form a self help
group at Bangaluru, as it is not possible to fight with stammering alone and if
you do so, you fail miserably on this account. We  advised him to attend
Chennai chapter meetings once in a 2 months until Bangaluru self help group
commence its full activities.
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Excerpts form the above book.
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As you talk from different places in the room, begin to place your hands on
things: the sofa, the table, the doorway. Put both hands on the back of
a chair and lean on it. Notice how that makes you feel. If it feels strange,
make it okay. After all, this is not something you’re used to doing.
What else can you touch? Is there something on the table you can hold
for a moment: a ruler, a pencil, a cigarette box? Pick the item up and allow
your fingers to explore it before you put it back down.
Is there anything you can place your foot on — a stool or the crossbar
of a chair? Resting your foot on something is what people do when they’re
comfortable and at ease. Notice how this feels. If there’s a little voice
whispering, “You’re not supposed to be this free and easy when you speak.”
n     simply notice that the voice is there. But don’t stop speaking.
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As you walk around the room touching things, you’ll begin to observe
that every place you stand and everything you touch is “yours.” Not in a real
sense, of course, but in an emotional sense. The things you touch become
a part of you. Through touch, you’ve actually been transforming the area
from foreign (and perhaps hostile) territory into friendly territory. You’ve
been acting as if you were in the comfort of your own home. (After all, your
home doesn’t have “DO NOT TOUCH” signs posted all around…unless you
live in a museum.)
Of course, although these activities will help you become more
grounded, you’ll probably still be experiencing a degree of tension. This is
expected. Even after you become an experienced speaker, some level of
tension will always be there. Let’s see why.
Most of us grew up believing that polished speakers are totally relaxed
in front of an audience. Not true. When really good speakers and
professional actors are before an audience, they’re usually operating in a
state of high energy and excitement. It’s releasing this energy during their
presentation that creates their charisma. Ask any speaker or actor — when
that feeling is missing, when they are too relaxed and low key, they give a
lackluster performance.
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Last but not least, our thanks to Dr.Sachin, who has constantly supporting and
guiding us not only in stammering but in other issues also. I request every one
to invite Dr.Sachin to their respective chapters and get benefited. By simply
observing him, we will learn a lot. This is my personal wxperience.
That’s all from Chennai.
 Regards,

V. Manimaran
Mobile: 098842 89989