Stuttering, Meditation and Mindfulness from the IFA in Portugal (Ep. 528)

stuttering, StutterTalk
Tom Weidig and Paul Brocklehurst at the IFA in Portugal

Dr. Paul Brocklehurst joins Dr. Tom Weidig from The International Fluency Association’s 2015 World Congress on cluttering, stuttering and other fluency disorders in Lisbon, Portugal. This event is a collaboration between the International Fluency Association (IFA) and the International Cluttering Association (ICA). Dr. Brocklehurst is asked to discuss his experience studying and using mediation to manage stuttering. Paul explains how meditation can sharpen awareness of one’s responses to stuttering and how mindfulness may be an essential part of living productively with stuttering. Dr. Brocklehurst discusses how meditation can change one’s “wrong” or inaccurate beliefs and how mindfulness can set into motion a process of change. Paul cautions listeners against “mediocre” or “unhelpful” mindfulness groups and encourages folks to read up about mindfulness to better understand it. Dr. Brocklehurst wrote an Introduction to Mindfulness and Stuttering and also recommends The Way of Zen by Alan Watts.

Paul Brocklehurst, PhD is is a person who stutters and is currently working as a director of the Stammering Self-Empowerment Programme, a UK based, not-for-profit organisation that runs educational courses for people who stutter. Dr. Brocklehurst is primarily a researcher, with a background is in Psycholinguistics. His special interest is in relationship between stuttering and speech errors. Paul has 30 years of meditation experience. Dr. Brocklehurst was recently featured on StutterTalk discussing Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) and Stuttering.

Dr. Tom Weidig is the brain behind the popular Stuttering Brain blog. Dr. Weidig’s blog contains more than 1000 posts and 5000 comments over a period of 10 years with 1000 weekly readers. Dr. Weidig has a PhD and has done postdoctoral research in theoretical physics and currently works in the financial industry specializing in private equity and venture capital.