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From: Ellen-Marie Silverman
Date: 16 Oct 2009
Time: 19:33:43 -0500
Remote Name: 64.12.116.144
[[Are there any techniques you would suggest to help bring a more positive outlook on meditation to someone who is very negative toward the idea? I believe that people need to be open to meditation in order for any change to come from it. Also, it is evident that decreased stress and anxieties can ease or lessen one’s stuttering. Has one ever found meditation to completely rid them of their stutter? It is interesting how much one’s emotions can impact things of this nature, and it is equally fascinating to see how widely varied results may be from meditation, therapy, and the like.]] >>> Dear Ms. Serour, You know all of us humans are more alike than different. In the West, we like to focus on the apparent differences among us. In the East, it is more common to focus on our basic similarities. As the Dalai Lama frequently says, "Everyone (everywhere) wants to be happy." That desire is a common bond. And interstingly enough, Buddhist teachers of meditation remind us that the actions we take to be happy and free of suffering usually are the actions that causes our suffering. That certainly is true of stuttering problems. As the late influential speech pathologist wrote, "Stuttering is an anticipatory, apprehensive avoidance reaction." Namely, the behaviors that constitute a stuttering problem are generally the very behaviors adopted to stop stuttering. >>> With the increasing popularity of hatha yoga in the West, increasing nunbers of individuals are being introduced to meditation, since yoga classes typically conclude with group meditation. Also, a secular form of meditation, mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR)introduced by Jon Kabat-Zinn through classes in health care programs, has found a welcoming audience of individuals seeking non-invasive management of stress and physical pain. But there are many who harbor apprehensions about personally adopting a meditation practice, wrongly believing it is too passive to be helpful or too mystical or too ungodly. Let me state rather definitively that the secular (MBSR) and non-secular (e.g., Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish) approaches of which I have varying degrees of knowledge and experience are not passive, mystical, or antagonistic to personal religious practices. They are rigorous, scientific (in the broad sense of the concept), and complementary to religious life. >>> Like anything else, undertaking a new activity requires a certain degree of openness, patience, and perseverance. That is, we need to be willing to receive the best instruction and to follow it for however long is necessary. A meditation practice is not for the faint-hearted more analgous to an engine overhaul than an oil change. And it is not blissing-out. In fact, a genuine and effective practice leads us to see and accept ourselves, warts and all, rather than hide and to keep on going. >>> So, a meditation practice simultaneously strengthens us and softens us. A useful, slim book for someone just thinking about beginning a practice is Quiet Mind by Susan Piver that was published by Shambhala in 2008. It includes a key audio CD that introduces various forms of meditation such as vipassana, tonglen, zaezen, and metta (loving kindness)among others, each presented by well-known teacher of the particular form. I think it is a good place to start. >>> I need to say that from the standpoint of addressing stuttering problems, meditation is not a technique or treatment as such. Meditation practice offers people with stuttering problems as well as people who do not have stuttering problems an opportunity to become aware of their thoughts, feelings, and sensations as they arise and how to skillfully deal with them. It is this general knowledge that can be put to good use addressing a stuttering problem. And whether or not a therapy program for stuttering is successful has to do with how effortlessly, effectively, and eagerly the individual approaches oral communication following participatin in the particular program. Not stuttering is not of itself such an indicator. It is reasonable to expect to stutter now and again. Doing so does not mean relapse or defeat. How we respond to those eventually occasional moments of stuttering are indicators of how successful the therapy program has been. >>> Thank you for giving me an opportunity to say a bit more about the application of the knowledge and skills gained from a personal meditation practice to the treatment of stuttering problems. And please feel free to ask a follow-up question or two if you wish to dialgoue further. --- Ellen-Marie Silverman