It started with a lessons to control stuttering when I was 8 years olds. They put a drop of strawberry paste on the roof of my mouth to give my tongue a target.
And somehow, in the midst of it, they taught me to create a little space in my brain to pause before talking. A timing issue; I needed a gap there.
And – it helped. By 4th grade, I had my stuttering mostly managed [it never goes away – it’s always a self-control issue].
In the cacophony of words in my mind, I now had a little space in time to think, to “let words fall to the floor” and pick up better ones in the very few precious seconds available in conversation.
There was a slight extra delay before I spoke; it felt like an ETERNITY to me (still does) – but I could watch the words fall and pick up who stands out.
So that was the start for me.
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At 11, biofeedback/guided meditation was the same thing but for emotions. Watch the emotions forming. Watch the body react with the emotions. Allow them to dissipate.
So that’s where the little nugget of workspace grew a little bigger, a little more skilled.
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“Breath in for six seconds, hold for six seconds, exhale for six seconds”.Part of the training was known as the “QR technique”. Quieting Response. ah! Yes, this is part of the technique. From an article in 1980. [my training was in 1983]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/05/09/and-the-quieting-response/f7371315-e7a9-4650-951c-1cd9ee2b03a9/
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For me, it snaps me away from what I’m hyperfocused on and back into the present moment. Awareness of body posture, awareness of location on the planet earth.
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Nevertheless, it was an available option in 1983 for me to be part of a study to be hooked up to a computer and taught these techniques; computerized basic buddhism – and it’s helped me.
Nobody else was providing it.
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