Movement
Working with dancers at the Laban College, London, I learned the importance of timing with the movement of the body, and most importantly, the concept of muscle memory. This is when a movement is learnt and remembered from being physically repeated, and not from being remembered in the mind. In this way, learned movement gets taken inside the body and stored up for future use.I believe stammering memory works in a similar way. People who stammer have a series of muscle memories, learned responses. When I knew I was going to stammer, my heart went as fast as a techno beat and my jaw went weak, but my lips grew tight and stiff. This was the way my body responded to the anxiety of stammering. Every person who stammers has their own set of stammering memories. These include:
a) Tongue getting stuck at top or bottom of the mouth
b) Lips turning inwards
c) Throat contracts
d) Chest tightens and burns, including sternum
e) Skull tightens, feeling gripped
f) Chin juts forward and hardens - " Jimmy Hill chin " - or chin goes weak and watery.
These small, excruciating movements are called on in times of stress in speaking and hold the person in check from speaking clearly.
One of the tasks of my work is to externalise all these symptoms into one, simple positive physical movement that helps people who stammer speak without stress.
